Posts tagged union dues
NJEA Appears to Concede Some Recent Use of Teacher Dues Was Political, Says NJ Policy Center
September 7, 2026 // “Our client’s IRS complaint appears to have forced the NJEA to finally report its most recent contributions to Garden State Forward as political activity. That is a major step toward the transparency that our client seeks for New Jersey teachers and taxpayers,” said Nathan McGrath, President and General Counsel at the Fairness Center. “But the shift also makes it harder for union officials to explain to their members and the IRS why they failed to report tens of millions of dollars in past contributions as political activity over the previous decade. Our client welcomes this news but insists that the NJEA must come clean about its prior reporting, too.”
Frequently Asked Questions About the Faster Labor Contracts Act
September 4, 2026 // Collective bargaining has always been a consensual process where the two parties mutually agree on a contract that works for them both. It was never intended that government would get involved and mandate an agreement, but the FLCA puts Washington at the center of negotiations.
Guest Column: Virginians should celebrate Right to Work law
September 3, 2026 // According to a recent analysis from the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, from 2015 to 2025 private sector employment grew by 15% in Right to Work states compared to a stunted 5.8% growth in forced-unionism states. Over the same 10-year period, Right to Work states’ manufacturing jobs grew a steady 7.7%, while states without Right to Work lost 2.9% of existing manufacturing jobs. Right to Work laws consistently rank as one of the most important factors business leaders consider when deciding where to relocate or expand, creating new jobs. Consequently, from 2012 to 2023, workers and residents in 23 forced-unionism states have migrated to Right to Work states, resulting in an accumulative $2.05 trillion loss in adjusted gross income for forced-unionism states.
NTEU sets deadline for its members to resume paying dues
August 18, 2026 // According to three union officials, NTEU members who do not sign up for dues payments by Sept. 5 will lose access to the union’s benefits until they resume paying dues. This includes eligibility for NTEU representation, either individually or as part of a group, the opportunity to receive remedies or settlements won through NTEU litigation, as well as member-only information and updates.
Illinois Federation of Teachers educators aren’t getting what they’re paying for
August 5, 2026 // Less than 28% of IFT’s spending in 2025 was on representing teachers, according to the union’s annual report filed with the U.S. Labor Department. The rest was on politics, overhead and other union leadership priorities.
Calif. In-Home Workers Accuse Unions of Coerced Dues, Shakedowns
July 15, 2026 // May, 39, received training to become a home worker through Medicare’s In-Home Support Services, or IHSS, to care for her then-infant. In the summer of 2023, as a mandatory part of her training, she attended an IHSS orientation. May was expecting to learn about the program’s rules, payroll procedures, and her legal responsibilities for compliance. Instead, she says that 75% of the orientation was devoted to pressuring her to join the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union. At the end of the presentation, May said a representative from the Service Employees International Union local 2015 locked the doors of the orientation room and told attendees that “no one is leaving until everyone signs” a union membership card.
Americans For Fair Treatment Exposes AFT Ahead of D.C. Convention
July 15, 2026 // A new “Where Do Your Union Dues Go?” report examines the national union’s most recent IRS filing, federal lobbying disclosures and Federal Election Commission records. The findings reveal an organization that paid its president nearly $600,000, spent $72 million on its own workforce, suffered consecutive operating deficits and directed nearly all contributions from its separate federal political action committee to Democratic-aligned recipients. The report arrives as delegates prepare to consider a 204-page book of proposed constitutional amendments and resolutions at the union’s biennial convention.
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.
WATCH: Eight years later, quiet opt-out rules can’t stop millions saved in union dues
July 1, 2026 // But according to Washington Policy Center’s Director of the Center for Healthcare and Worker Rights Elizabeth New, many employees still don’t understand they have an “opt out” option. “A lot of workers still don't know about this right. It isn't included on required workplace posters about a worker's rights. It's not listed on a state website where other rights are listed," said New in a Thursday interview with The Center Square. "So, if your membership is truly voluntary, and we care about all workers' rights, employees should receive neutral information about membership before a union gives them paperwork to sign up.”
The Name Game: How Connecticut Teachers Union (AFT) Keeps Dues Spending in the Dark
June 29, 2026 // That reality helps explain why Congress passed the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), Public Law 86-257. Enacted by a bipartisan Congress in the wake of well-publicized union corruption scandals, the law was designed to protect rank-and-file workers by requiring financial transparency and accountability from labor organizations. Its centerpiece was the Form LM-2, a detailed annual financial report that larger unions must file with the U.S. Department of Labor, disclosing assets, liabilities, salaries, receipts, expenditures, loans, political spending, and significant disbursements. Filing false information carries criminal penalties under federal law. The promise was straightforward: union members should always be able to see how their dues are spent.