While its members make modest wages, dozens of the union’s staffers are paid $100,000 or more.

Of its own officers and employees, 83 made over $100,000.

Just 13.1% of workers in Illinois were union members in 2025. Thousands of government workers have rejected union membership.

State employees represented by AFSCME Council 31 received an automatic annual raise on July 1, highlighting the salary discrepancy between government and private sector workers.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ questionable spending, as revealed in its own federal reporting, could be driving members away from the union.

A current union-negotiated contract with Illinois state government gives out-of-the-norm health benefits to government workers at very low cost. State workers’ share is far less than what private-sector taxpayers must spend for health coverage.

Rapid growth in government jobs during 2024 did little to fix the downward trajectory of union membership in Illinois. Just 13.1% of workers are union members in the state.