Posts tagged union dues
Op-ed: Blue States Are Insulating Unions From Debate
April 8, 2026 // My research shows that teachers and other public-employee unions have long been state-subsidized political actors. Beginning in the 1970s, many states adopted labor laws and bargaining arrangements that made it cheaper and easier for these unions to recruit members, collect dues and mobilize members in politics. Those policies gave unions a built-in advantage. Reform groups—including parent activists, school-choice advocates and the Freedom Foundation—must organize and compete from the outside. By contrast, public-sector unions operate from the inside, with advantages created by the state itself. For example, in most states, public-sector unions aren’t required to win re-election and instead get the privilege of representing all employees (even dissenters) year after year.
Op-ed: Florida made public-sector unions more accountable — Oregon did the opposite
April 7, 2026 // In 2023, Florida passed a law requiring a recertification election for public-sector unions that fail to maintain the support of 60 percent of their dues-paying membership. What followed was revealing. Between June 2025 and January 2026, there were 218 such recertification elections in Florida. In 192 of them — 88 percent — fewer than half of eligible employees bothered to vote. Under existing rules, the unions were certified anyway. For example, at the University of South Florida, exactly 41 employees out of 2,169 eligible cast votes for union representation. Nonetheless, the union now holds exclusive bargaining authority over all 2,169. At Florida A&M, three votes out of 202 eligible employees had the same effect. In one Broward County unit, two votes bound 51 employees to their union. The new bill will change that.
NBC 10 I-Team: State pays union dues for thousands of employees after paycheck mistake
March 30, 2026 // The state of Rhode Island paid $220,000 in union dues for thousands of workers as the result of a paycheck problem last month. The Department of Administration confirmed to NBC 10 News that union dues were not withheld from the Feb. 27 paychecks of approximately 9,000 state employees.
NYPD sergeants union honcho gets zero jail time for tax fraud tied to disgraced ex boss Ed Mullins
March 30, 2026 // The bogus tax returns were filed in 2018 and 2019, as his former boss and longtime friend Mullins was being probed for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in union dues to splurge on high-end meals, clothes and other goodies. Ostermann kept his job as the union’s controller even after he’d already pleaded guilty in the case — a fact that Judge Schofield said she factored in while deciding not to jail him. “The union still trusts you, which I think is noteworthy,” Schofield said in court Tuesday.
9th Circuit Case Against UTLA Fully Briefed, Awaiting Oral Argument
March 28, 2026 // “UTLA’s position boils down to this: Accept our representation or give up your career,” said Shella Alcabes, Freedom Foundation litigation counsel. “That’s not a choice the Constitution permits the government to impose. These teachers opted out of this union for good reason, and no court has ever said the First Amendment allows what California is doing here.” Among the actions the plaintiffs attribute to UTLA: spending $700,000 to elect a school board candidate who promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories; funding members’ attendance at anti-Jewish rallies; endorsing a “Teach Palestine” curriculum that misrepresents Jewish history; and, passing resolutions supporting the BDS campaign against Israel.
IBEW Union Bigwig James Burke Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Union Funds
March 23, 2026 // James Burke, Financial Secretary of IBEW Local 549, has pleaded guilty to embezzling over $40k from union funds.
Opinion: The Morning Routine That Just Vanished: Lunches Unpacked, Coffee Gone Cold and Kids With Nowhere to Go
March 22, 2026 // California teacher unions, with access to significant taxpayer-funded dues, implemented a coordinated strategy to maximize their bargaining power. They instructed teachers across multiple districts to walk out of classrooms simultaneously as part of a deliberate effort known as “We Can’t Wait.” This wasn’t spontaneous; it was the culmination of a strategy to coordinate actions for maximum leverage, leading to synchronized strikes across the state. According to the California Teachers Association, local educator unions intentionally synchronized the expiration dates of contracts in dozens of districts. The aim was to allow multiple districts to negotiate on the same core issues at the same time.
US Department of Labor launches data visualization tool for union reporting forms, providing valuable insight on union spending
March 19, 2026 // The data visualization tool release follows the department’s launch of a modern open data portal at data.dol.gov that is providing more transparency and efficiency for users to access data related to the American workforce. Both updates help bring the department into alignment with the Federal Data Strategy established during President Trump’s first administration.
Commentary: $45 Million, No Answers: NJEA Leadership Still Owes Teachers the Truth
March 11, 2026 // How would you feel if you joined a union and paid $1,400 in dues each and every year, and the union’s president decided to run for governor and used $47 million of your and your fellow teachers’ dues without asking you? And then came in fifth place in the primary? Well, that’s what the NJEA’s president, Sean Spiller, did. How would you feel if $10 million of the $47 million was sent to a little-known firm, AP Consulting, for canvassing operations? No one spends that kind of money on canvassing in a primary. It raises legitimate questions about who authorized those payments, what services were provided, and why such an extraordinary sum was routed through a firm with limited publicly known political field experience.
Vernuccio, Institute For The American Worker on The William Wallis for America Show
March 10, 2026 // Vernuccio, Institute For The American Worker on The William Wallis for America Show Vinny Vernuccio is the President of The Institute For The American Worker. In this interview at The Pelican Institutes Solutions Summit he talks about legislative ideas he is working on in DC to help the average American Worker.