Illinois government workers’ union dues fund Democratic Party campaign committees, which are now seeking to tip the presidential election outcome in swing states. That fails to align with at least 40% of members’ politics.
The federal filings of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and its national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, reveal questionable spending, with little spent on representing teachers, millions spent on politics and deficit spending while the big boss got $500K.
Just 13% of IEA’s spending was on representing teachers in 2023. But the spending of its national affiliate – the National Education Association – was even worse, with less than 8% of its spending on representing teachers’ interests.
The union’s federal reports show the union has suffered membership loss during the past two decades. It could be because the union’s spending priorities are completely misplaced.
Not even one-quarter of SEIU HCII’s spending is on representing workers – which should be its main priority. Yet dozens of its own employees make six-figure salaries and it has increased its spending on politics by nearly 9%. Oh, yeah: plus spent over $30,000 at a pizza parlor.
Since 2018, the Chicago Teachers Union has paid Robin Potter’s law firms nearly $320,000 – with thousands of that for unspecified purposes. She’s the mother of CTU’s vice president.
The Chicago Teachers Union put its lobbyist in the Chicago mayor's office and is now negotiating its next contract with him. What taxpayers should know about CTU, how it's impacted education, its leadership and its ambitions to be the political machine running the nation's third-largest city.
The Chicago Teachers Union and its president – Stacy Davis Gates – have offered lots of controversy this year. Their lack of accountability and politicking have consequences: residents suffer, students can’t read or do math at grade level.