NEA Doubles Dues for Politics

On February 28, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

From Hot Air (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/26/nea-to-double-member-dues-contribution-to-political-war-chest/)

Amid substantial membership losses and a $14 million shortfall in its general operating budget, the National Education Association plans to double each active member’s annual contribution to the national union’s political and media funds.

Currently, $10 of each active member’s NEA dues is allocated to these special accounts. The more than $20 million collected each year is then disbursed to state affiliates and political issue campaigns – such as last year’s SQ 744 in Oklahoma. A portion of the money also pays for state and national media buys to support the union’s agenda.

But the most recent numbers show NEA lost more than 54,000 active K-12 members since this time last year. Coupled with less-than-expected increases in the average teacher salary – upon which NEA dues are based – the union will find itself with $14 million less revenue than it had planned. This includes about $500,000 less in the political and media funds.

Faced with unfriendly legislatures and governors seeking to roll back the union’s influence, the NEA Executive Committee decided to double down – literally. It proposed raising each active member’s assessment to $20, effective in September 2011. The union’s board of directors ratified the decision, and it will go before the NEA Representative Assembly for a vote this July in Chicago. If passed, NEA’s national dues for teachers will total $178.

The increase in the assessment has a five-year sunset clause, but this is just eyewash, since the last time the contribution was doubled – from $5 to $10 in 2004 – it also had a five-year sunset clause. The 2007 NEA Representative Assembly made the $10 contribution permanent.

NEA is already the top political campaign spender in the nation. This increase will give the national union an additional $40 million per election cycle. The increase alone is larger than all but two other groups spent during the entire 2007-08 cycle.

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Posted in: Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, NEA and Affiliates, Political Activity, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees
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Lame Duck Session: Teachers Union Boss Upset over “hijacked legislative process”

On December 29, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Teacher Unions Must Collect their Own Dues

Governor Bob Riley speaks to a gathering of lawmakers and citizens before signing into law a series of sweeping anti-corruption reforms. Photo credit: Robin Cooper, Office of the Governor.

Alabama’s News 13: “A new era for state corruption reforms”

Governor Bob Riley signed what he called, some of the strongest anti-corruption laws in the country.

The legal departments at both unions are rechecking Senate Bill two.

Take a look at what some them will do: Ban the practice of secretly funneling money to political candidates, through political action committees, called “pac to pac transfers.” They also limit what lobbyists can spend on public officials and requires them to register and file disclosures.

Now a week old, Senate Bill 2 is being double and triple-checked by the legal departments of the state’s teacher unions. SB2 ends the practice of deducting union dues from paychecks. The unions say it’s political payback. Governor Riley calls it an end to financing political activity by special interest groups.

Jefferson County AFT President, Vi Parramore said, “I think hurrying an ethics bill through has been a disaster.”

Both unions agree, Hyche with the regional Alabama Education Association and Vi Parramore, President of the Jefferson County American Federation of Teachers, that senate bill two – ending the practice of deducting union dues from paychecks – was an attack on the AEA.

Parramore said, “But I think the bill is mean-spirited…”

Hyche said, “…the governor and Bradley Byrne hijacked the legislative process for political gain and for political payback.”

Where were these concerned union officials to be found when Harry Reid tried to ram through federally mandated monopoly bargaining on states during the Lame Duck?

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Posted in: Alabama, Exclusive Representation, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, Police Firefighters EMTs, Political Activity, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees, Union boss power, Union Membership
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Teacher’s Union Fight Reform and Teachers

On November 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Los Angeles Times looks at the teacher’s union “well-deserved reputation for exercising political clout” and “nearly unparalleled ability to raise cash and organize their ranks.”  But the Times also note that their money and power has stifled pro-student reforms —  ”A nationwide school reform movement with bipartisan support has collided head-on with unions over three ideas that labor has long resisted: expansion of charter schools, the introduction of merit pay for teachers and the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations.”  

But progress is being made; though real progress won’t happen until teacher’s have the right to opt-out of using their union dues for the union bosses partisan spending political jihads.

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Posted in: Economic Impact of Unionization, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, Political Activity, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees
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Keeping the Gravy Train Rolling

On October 17, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

After bailouts and billions of dollars worth of taxpayer handouts, the big public employee union bosses are spending freely to keep the train rolling.  From the Wall Street Journal:

The National Education Association, the largest U.S. teachers union, has independently spent more than $3.4 million that must be disclosed, including ad buys and direct-mail campaigns, for the key electioneering period from Sept. 1 to Oct. 14. The NEA spent $444,000 during the same stretch in 2006.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has nearly matched its 2006 midterm outlays. It has spent $2.1 million on electioneering since the beginning of last month, according to FEC filings for two campaign committees associated with the union. That is just shy of the $2.2 million spent for that period in 2006.

Unions that represent government workers say this year’s election is crucial to them, given the uproar over public-sector budget issues. Officials elected this year will face tough choices on matters such as further fiscal assistance for the nation’s cash-strapped states and local governments.

The issue of campaign-related spending by public-sector unions has received more attention in recent years, as state and local governments struggle with pensions and other costs. Conservative critics and business leaders have said the unions largely seek to expand their influence at taxpayers’ expense. Some states have approved restrictions on political use of union dues, for example requiring unions to obtain permission from workers before spending dues on campaigns. (more…)

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Posted in: AFSCME, AFT and affiliates, Economic Impact of Unionization, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, NEA and Affiliates, Public Employees
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Coincidence? Billion $$$ Bailout – Revved Up Political Activity

On August 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Some dare call it a coincidence.

The same day that House Democrats return to Washington to hand state and teacher union bosses a $26 billion bailout, teacher’s union announces a “plan to rev up recess action to protect Democrats’ majority.”  See what $26 billion dollars can buy you?

A coincidence — surely not.

Don’t forget that out of the estimated 3.3 million public school teachers nationwide, teachers unions were expecting about 160,000 layoffs this year — just 4.8 percent of all teachers. 38.1 percent of those layoffs are centered in just three states: 9,000 in New Jersey, 16,000 in New York and 36,000 in California. About 57 percent of those 160,000 teachers are unionized as noted by the Heritage Foundation, with contributions to state and local unions averaging $300 per teacher.  Add another $162 per teacher to the National Education Association and $190 per teacher to the American Federation of Teachers, as reported by Education Next, and the Senate easily has voted to give a minimum $40 million to the public teachers unions’ political coffers.  That money will be mobilized into campaign ads, direct mail, phone banks, you name it, all to help elect Democrats.

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Posted in: Big Labor Ethics, Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees
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When Big Labor plays with fire, taxpayers get burned

On July 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Empire State pupils enrolled in K-12 public schools fell by more than 121,000 over the last 10 years, schools added 14,746 teachers and 8,655 non-teaching professionals to their payrolls

 NRTW President Mark Mix commentary in the Washington Examiner:

July 8, 2010 Near midnight last Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow forced unionism apologists in the U.S. House of Representatives disgracefully amended a “must-pass” war funding bill to include language that is designed to force police officers, firefighters, and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) into “exclusive” union bargaining in every state in the country.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that policies expanding public sector monopoly unionism have played a major role in driving many states to the verge of insolvency. (more…)

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Posted in: AFSCME, Economics, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Legislation, National Right to Work Committee, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees, Union boss power
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Waiting for Superman — Should You Hold Your Breath?

On June 15, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

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The most powerful force for failure and the status quo in education today are the teacher union officials who use their monopoly bargaining power to thwart even the simplest reform in the government school system. Things are so bad that the liberal producer of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth has produced a movie about America’s education system and Big Labor’s efforts to stymie reform. It’s called Waiting for Superman. This awaited movie comes on top of another pro-reform documentary “The Lottery.”

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Posted in: Big Labor Ethics, Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, NEA and Affiliates, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees, Union boss power
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