Posts tagged NEA
Op-Ed: The Teamsters betrayed their own workers — and Republicans fell for it again
July 31, 2026 // Brown is a Democrat running in a state that President Donald Trump has won three times. With this endorsement, the Ohio Conference of Teamsters did not weigh which candidate could best deliver for their members in a closely divided Senate. They chose the Democrat. That choice should be considered against the image the broader Teamsters organization has carefully cultivated to appeal to Republicans.
Teachers’ Unions Are Losing One of Their Government Perks
July 22, 2026 // The question is not whether teachers unions should exist, but whether taxpayers should subsidize organizations that subsequently seek more taxpayer subsidy, often for actions the taxpayer wouldn’t otherwise support. Removing public subsidies forces unions to rely on voluntary member support, increases accountability, and keeps government resources focused on their proper purpose: educating children. The reforms in Idaho, Florida, and Arizona mark the beginning of a necessary correction.
Teachers Pay Dues. Union Leadership Funds Activism.
July 20, 2026 // The Department of Labor proposed a remedy in 2019. Under the proposed rule, public-sector intermediate union bodies subordinate to national organizations would file detailed annual financial reports like those required of private-sector unions. That change would give teachers, parents, and taxpayers greater visibility into how dues are spent, where political spending occurs and how much money flows through organizations that frequently rely on taxpayer-funded facilities, payroll deduction systems, release time and administrative support. Some states have acted. Florida prohibits payroll deduction of union dues for teachers. Connecticut requires unions to provide members a copy of their financial reports, a requirement enforced inconsistently for years, until public scrutinyand litigation by the Fairness Center pushed the state Department of Labor to begin enforcing it.
While NAEP scores hit 20-year lows, teachers’ unions were debating ethical veganism
July 16, 2026 // Recognizing ethical veganism as a protected philosophical belief; glyphosate has no place on student food and beverages; opposing merging US military operations, intelligence, and/or defense technology with those of any foreign military; comprehensive immigration reform; banning the use of AI in the decision-making process for the use of nuclear weapons; investigating fires for evidence of microwave energy attacks through the use of “direct energy weapons”; prohibiting weather modification to be injected into the stratosphere; calling for the impeachment of Trump before the November election, at a campaign cost of $5.2 million; and ending the war in Iran. For an entity that cloaks itself in sanctimony for defending the rights of teachers, it seems very much that the welfare of average union members might not be the C-suite’s top priority.
Commentary: ADL and JCPA clash over teachers union, exposing a divide over how to fight antisemitism
July 16, 2026 // They added a caveat: “Yet that experience does not yet reflect the reality facing many Jewish educators in their own communities. We continue to hear from educators across the country who report marginalization within their unions, hostile rhetoric, intimidation, and exclusion…That reality requires continued attention and action at every level.” The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also joined the ADL’s statement, which did not include JCPA. The JCPA “chose to have their own press release in the beginning and kind of break with what we had already decided as a group, and so that was why they weren’t part of this press release,”
Editorial: Randi Weingarten’s book sleaze might mean the end of corrupt teacher-union power
July 13, 2026 // Under Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Rick Allen (R-Ga.), the committee is following up on Post reporting on dubious transactions uncovered by the Freedom Foundation that amount to hundreds of thousands of AFT dollars spent to help produce the book Of course, that’s just a fraction of how union higherups profit from members’ dues: Weingarten’s pay is now $470,000 a year, not to mention ample perks. Maybe she’s worth it — to the union itself, at least: She’s been a Democratic Party powerbroker for decades, using that influence to protect the power of the AFT and its larger ally, the National Education Association.
Opinion: The Faster Labor Contracts Act could enable antisemitism
July 8, 2026 // The FLCA’s cure is worse than the disease, and in today’s union environment, the disease is increasingly political. According to a recent study by the Gevura Fund, “Combined [National Education Association] spending on political activities, lobbying and contributions to outside organizations totals approximately $175 million in FY2025, nearly four times the $45 million spent on direct member representation.” The National Education Association is a public-sector teachers’ union, but its conduct represents a broader pattern, considering how politicized unions have become. The FLCA would essentially fast-track union contracts built on ideological activism rather than workers’ rights.
Op-ed: Why teachers unions fear, and fib about, new federal program
July 7, 2026 // Perhaps the unions are right to be scared. Anything that introduces competition into the educational landscape threatens their monopoly. When you read between the lines of Weingartner and Pringle’s letter, you can almost hear the death rattle. But in the end, this isn’t about the unions. This is about kids who deserve a high-quality education regardless of their household income or zip code. And anybody who gets between them and their parents would be wise to choose their words more carefully.
Op-ed: 8 years after Janus, unions are still trying to keep workers in the dark
July 6, 2026 // The National Education Association’s headquarters dues revenue fell from $370 million in fiscal 2017 to an inflation-adjusted $310 million five years later — a decline in real terms of about 16 percent. Nationally, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show public-sector union density slid from 33.9 percent in 2018 to 32.2 percent in 2024, before edging back up to 32.9 percent last year. States that gave workers more direct control over their own dues saw the effect even more clearly. After Florida ended government payroll deduction of union dues in 2023, the Florida Education Association lost more than 20,000 members in a single school year. When workers must actively choose to pay, rather than having dues quietly deducted by default, a meaningful share of them chooses not to.
New Jersey’s Sean Spiller Wants to Lead the NEA. These Teachers Say Follow the Money
June 29, 2026 // Spiller is seeking the presidency of the National Education Association (NEA)—the NJEA’s national affiliate—roughly a year after unsuccessfully running for governor. Roselle teacher Dr. Marie Dupont and Hamilton Township teacher Ann Marie Pocklembo allege in a lawsuit that Spiller and other NJEA officials backed his primary campaign with $40 million of union members’ mandatory dues without their consent. The teachers argue that by funneling their dues through a union-controlled PAC and political organizations with union ties, the NJEA violated its contract with members.