Posts tagged LM-2
When workers in Michigan had a choice, they left unions
April 17, 2023 // Although the state has seen a 20% increase in the number of jobs since 2012, union membership has declined by 26.4%. Some 143,000 members chose to leave their unions while they had the right. The state’s largest unions shed an additional 5,250 members last year, according to their Form LM-2 financial reports for 2021 and 2022. Freedom will come to an end for many workers. Employees at unionized workplaces will likely be forced again to pay union dues as a condition of employment. The American Federation of Teachers lost 15.3% of its Michigan members during the right-to-work era, the biggest percentage loss of any union in the state. Membership in the teachers union crashed from 20,063 to 16,994 between 2012 and 2022. AFSCME Council 25 had the second biggest percentage loss at 14.4%, losing 150 members.
The UAW lost members in Michigan last year
April 6, 2023 // ccording to the UAW’s recently released federal LM-2 form, the international union went from 372,000 members in 2021 to 383,000 members in 2022. That’s an increase, but the number is still down from the 700,000-plus members the union had in 2001 and the 430,000 it had in 2016. The Michigan branch of the UAW declined by about 50 people last year, from 133,999 to 133,946. UAW-Michigan is down from 270,000 members in 2001 and 154,000 in 2016. These losses came even though, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in auto manufacturing in Michigan are up about 20,000 over the past decade. While there are more jobs in its core industry, UAW-Michigan lost more than 10,000 members during that time, likely thanks to workers exercising their right to get out of union membership under Michigan’s right-to-work law. The UAW has been dealing with massive corruption issues including convictions for federal crimes that sent many of its top leaders to prison in recent years.
FEA: Where Do Your Union Dues Go? A LOOK AT Florida Education Association SPENDING 2019 – 2021
March 20, 2023 // Spending on political activities and lobbying remained relatively steady over the past three years. In 2021, the union spent $5.3 million on political activities and lobbying. About $800,000 of this went to employees and officers as compensation for their political activity and lobbying efforts. Other expenditures went to public affairs advertising ($2.7 million), the union’s “Fund Our Future” project ($672,715), and to outside firms for lobbying ($119,993) including $50,000 to Florida Pastors for Children for state legislative issue advocacy. The union also gave $567,000 to the FEA Advocacy Fund, the FEA’s political arm.
Florida labor reforms have not strengthened unions
January 5, 2023 // In other words, Florida’s largest teachers union is down more than 9,000 members since 2019, or 6.3%. The labor reforms Florida is pursuing are good for teachers and other workers. Nobody should be forced to be represented by a political organization they oppose — so the Workplace Democracy Act, requiring unions to be recertified regularly, makes sense. And taxpayers should not be funding the withholding of money for political organizations — so Paycheck Protection to put an end to that is sound policy.
More Than 140,000 Michiganders Have Left Their Unions Since 2012
December 14, 2022 // Unions have lost more than 143,000 members since Michigan’s right-to-work law went into effect, according to analysis of state and federal reports from 15 major unions. Numbers compiled by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy found that there are 26.5% fewer people paying dues to the state’s largest unions today than there was in 2012. “As the new Legislature debates whether to repeal Michigan’s right-to-work law, they should wrestle with the fact that the law is overwhelmingly popular — supported by Michigan voters 3-to-1 — and that more than 143,000 people have decided their union wasn’t working for them,” said Jarrett Skorup, senior director of marketing and communications at the Mackinac Center. “Forcing many of these workers back into unions against their will is bad policy and a violation of their rights.”
Michigan teachers unions continue to shed members
December 9, 2022 // The latest report from the state’s largest education union shows that the Michigan Education Association shed 1,000 members since the previous year, continuing a trend. The number comes from the LM-2, a financial report the MEA and other labor unions must file with the U.S. government. According to the report, MEA’s revenue decreased to $84.2 million, and its membership stands at its lowest in at least 22 years. Michigan has a right-to-work law, which prevents unions from getting a worker fired for not paying union dues or fees. When the law was enacted in 2012, the MEA had 117,265 members. The number has dropped consistently in the last ten years, reaching to 79,839, a 31.9% decline.
Opinion: Paying unions: Recurring opt-in requirements protect public workers
August 31, 2022 // Much of the political spending is used to encourage and support ideologically aligned politicians in opposing badly needed reforms to public education such as addressing tenure policies, offering performance-based merit pay and alternatives to traditional public education like charter schools and tax-credit programs. A big chunk of those “dues and agency fees” also are used to advance controversial curriculum like critical race theory, divisive bathroom practices and abortion policies that go against the wishes of parents and communities.
THWARTING UNION’S THEFT OF VACATION TIME WAS NO SMALL MATTER
August 1, 2022 // What at first seemed to be insignificant ended up being very consequential indeed. The architects of this scheme knew the courts would have no sympathy. They had been caught and exposed for cheating nonmembers out of vacation time and violating their First Amendment Rights. So the unions chose instead to settle and restore the vacation time of this city Health Department worker and end this unlawful practice. This legal victory means that several union contracts in Ohio will have to be revised. And countless public employees across the state will have their vacation time returned to them.
Freedom Foundation: ‘Education union spent more money on political activities than worker representation’
June 15, 2022 // “It includes lobbying government officials, get-out-the-vote activities, and even internal targeting or messaging towards union members in getting them to try to vote a particular way,” said Maxford Nelsen, director of labor policy at the Freedom Foundation. “It’s a fairly broad range of activity that falls under the heading of political activities and lobbying and it is broader than just writing checks to candidates for office.” The tax form also revealed that the NEA spent more than $55 million on benefits for union officers. “By the time you get to the NEA headquarters, salaries for full-time staff working in the NEA headquarters are definitely far higher than most teachers are getting,” Nelsen told Legal Newsline. Juliette Fairley, Legal Newsline, Rebecca Pringle,
AFT: Where Do Your Union Dues Go?
June 10, 2022 // During its 2020-2021 fiscal year, AFT collected $196.7 million in dues from school employees, a $10 million increase from last year, despite having 13,390 fewer members. AFT members pay $235 each year in union dues. AFT spent $49 million of members’ dues on politics last year, according to the union’s own reporting. The union spent an additional $6 million on “Contributions, Gifts, and Grants,” with much of this money going to political organizations. In total, this accounted for about 27% of AFT’s spending in 2020-2021. Only 36% of AFT’s spending went towards representational activities, Contributions, Gifts, Grants, Fedrick Ingram, Evelyn DeJesus, Michael S. Powell, Michelle Ringuette,