Government unions put politics before workers

OPINION:

This year’s contentious New Jersey gubernatorial race dominated national headlines. Although Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli were the headliners, another candidate tells a much more fascinating and revealing story that reveals a troubling national trend with organized labor.

On June 10, Sean Spiller, who had received only 11% of the primary vote, ended his long-shot campaign, finishing fifth place. His term as president of the New Jersey Education Association also ended shortly after his primary loss.

Though his candidacy never gained traction, Mr. Spiller managed to siphon $48 million in NJEA union dues, about 20% of the union’s assets, in support of his campaign. Yes, you read that right: Mr. Spiller spent teachers’ dues money to fund his failed political vanity project. NJEA funneled these funds through opaque organizations, such as Garden State Forward and Protecting Our Democracy, the latter of which Mr. Spiller served as chairman.

Unfortunately, the rank-and-file teachers footing this bill weren’t even aware of how their union was using their money. Many didn’t even know Garden State Forward existed. Some were so outraged that they filed a lawsuit, alleging that the NJEA had actively misled them.

“When I signed my union membership card, I did not check the back saying I wanted to contribute to the union political action committee,” said Marie Dupont, a teacher and plaintiff in the lawsuit. “That was a contract stating my dues wouldn’t go to the union political apparatus, but a handful of insiders ignored that choice and broke that trust.”

NJEA isn’t an outlier; it’s the norm.

Over the past 15 years, public sector unions across the country have used membership dues to advance overtly political agendas, often behind the backs of their own members.

A new report by the Commonwealth Foundation shows that during the 2023-2024 election cycle, the four largest public sector unions — the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, Service Employees International Union and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — spent more than $915 million on partisan electioneering and activism, 86% of which originated as member dues.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. These numbers do not include state-level election spending, such as the NJEA’s spending on the Spiller campaign, on independent expenditures or other uncoordinated election activities.

It’s not just the size and scope of the spending that should alarm us. It’s the secrecy, lack of member consent and deliberate evasion of transparency. Unions’ general funds — again, financed entirely by membership dues — often pass through a sprawling web of “dark money” groups: super PACs, 527s and politically active nonprofits that support liberal causes.

Unions can sidestep PAC contribution limits and disclosure rules by setting up 527 organizations or super PACs. They can avoid accountability by transferring funds through multiple intermediaries, thereby obscuring the source and any direct association with the union. The result is a shell game that gives the illusion of independent political action.

Despite member-facing claims that dues cannot be used for politics, Department of Labor filings and Federal Election Commission reports tell a different story. Union executives frequently use workers’ dues to further political agendas. Often, the money funds a litany of leftist causes, including abortion, “defund the police” advocacy and opposing school choice and, in cases like Mr. Spiller’s, quixotic Democratic campaigns. (About 99% of union-funded candidates are Democrats.)

Still, this isn’t a partisan issue. Workers should be able to trust their unions to be responsible stewards of their money. Far too many unions seem all too eager to neglect this obligation. When workers feel that their unions are using their dues to promote causes they don’t support or candidates they don’t even know, unions become less of an ally and more of a costly membership they cannot cancel.

So how do union members right this ship? One meaningful reform would be to require more unions to file federal disclosures of dues spending. During his first term in office, President Trump proposed expanding federal filing requirements that would have applied to the NJEA. Federal and state lawmakers should renew these efforts to give workers greater transparency.

Ultimately, Mr. Spiller’s campaign failed to sway voters, but it revealed something more troubling: Public sector unions are no longer primarily worker advocates. They are political operatives with billion-dollar slush funds and very little accountability to the people who fund them. This worrisome trend raises a fundamental question: When unions prioritize politics over representation, are they still serving their members? I would argue no. Judging by the steady decline of unionization nationwide, I’m not alone.

• Andrew Lewis is president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free market think tank.