Courage and accountability. Those are two qualities that seem in short supply when we examine how America’s largest public sector unions are spending the hard-earned dollars of their members.
A new report reveals that the country’s four largest government worker unions spent a staggering $915 million on elections and progressive political activism during the 2024 election cycle. Perhaps most troubling is this fact: 86% of that near-billion-dollar political war chest came directly from member dues.
The Commonwealth Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit that champions free-market policies, documented this massive political spending by the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the Service Employees International Union, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. These are not small players. These are the heavyweight organizations representing millions of American workers.
The numbers tell a story that demands attention. During the 2022 election cycle, these same four unions spent $708 million on progressive politics. The increase to $915 million represents a significant escalation in political spending, raising fundamental questions about priorities and accountability.
The heart of the matter is this: are these unions serving their members or serving a political agenda? When 86% of nearly $1 billion in political spending comes from membership dues, we have moved well beyond the traditional role of collective bargaining and worker representation.
“What they’re doing when they’re making these political investments is they’re trying to get people into office that will raise taxes and increase the size and scope of government,” explained public sector unions expert Aaron Withe. “That’s the way that it’s been working for decades. That’s why you see the government grows every single year. That’s why you see taxes go up most every year as well.”
The distinction Withe draws between public and private sector unions deserves consideration. Private sector unions, whatever their faults or virtues, operate within a framework tied to business performance and market realities. Public sector unions face different incentives entirely.
“The difference with the government union is that that revenue comes from public employees,” Withe noted. “And the way that you hire more public employees is by raising taxes on the private sector so that you can hire more bureaucrats.”
David Osborne, senior director of labor policy for the Commonwealth Foundation and co-author of the report, posed what he calls “the big question”: do rank-and-file union members understand how their money is actually being spent?
“Years ago, union members could expect union executives to use dues to drive member services, including contract negotiations and grievance processing,” Osborne said. “Now, union members are unwittingly propping up left-leaning candidates and progressive causes like abortion, critical race theory and defunding the police.”
This raises fundamental issues about transparency and representation. A teacher in rural Pennsylvania or a municipal worker in Ohio may have very different political views than the leadership spending their dues money. The question is whether they have meaningful say in how those funds are deployed.
The American system depends on informed consent and accountability. When organizations collect mandatory or near-mandatory dues and then deploy those funds for political purposes that members may not support, we have strayed from those principles.
The numbers are clear. The pattern is established. What remains to be seen is whether union members will demand accountability and whether lawmakers will ensure transparency in how these massive sums are collected and spent.
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