Posted on 10/06/2015 4:43:36 PM PDT by george76
The 2015 American Federation of Teachers annual report shows a left-wing political machine humming on all cylinders — with teachers buying the gas.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, the union reported $37.6 million in political activity and lobbying expenditures, a $12.7 million increase from the previous year.
Even more political spending was tucked away elsewhere in AFT’s annual U.S. Department of Labor filing, reported as “Contributions, Gifts and Grants,” “General Overhead” or “Representational Activities.”
AFT paid union president Randi Weingarten, one of the nation’s most prominent “progressive” activists, a total of $497,118. The union reported only 2 percent of her time as political activity.
...
AFT donated $250,000 to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation in February, $125,000 to Clinton Global Initiative in April and another $125,000 to Clinton Global Initiative in May. In December, AFT paid Clinton-allied opposition research group American Bridge 21st Century $100,000.
The American Bridge payment was reported as a political expense. The payments to the scandal-ridden Clinton family nonprofits were not.
...
In many states, teachers can be required to pay AFT to have a job. Even though mandatory union fees can only legally be spent on representation, the power to take money from non-members frees AFT to spend more member dues on politics.
...
Hundreds of thousands of teachers are stuck paying AFT, regardless of whether they agree with the union’s spending and activism. Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, a case before the Supreme Court, could change that within the next year.
If the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in the Friedrichs case, it could end mandatory union fees for all public-sector workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdog.org ...
The sleaziest organization in the USA
What happened to "equal protection" under the 14th amendment?
This is why our kids are as dumb as rocks and repeat drones
They have $37 million to spend on politics but complain when a school is forced to layoff teachers because there isn’t enough money in the budget. If they really cared about supporting teachers, they would spend that $37 million on making up for the shortfall in school budgets.
Trump is going to get jealous.
Oh, those funny educators. “For the children”, you know.
I did some simple math assuming the union members pay $50 a month in dues. That $37,000,000 represents monthly dues of 61,666 Union members’ dues for an entire year. What a steaming pile of crap using their money for things other than direct benefits like healthcare, pensions, dental care, eye care, disability and other important things
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.