‘Excessive Engagement in Politics’ Causing Mass Exodus From Nation’s Largest Labor Unions: Analysts

According to a recent watchdog report, the nation’s largest public service employees union spent $1 out of every $5 in revenue collected through union dues on politics in 2021.

According to a survey of 3,000 potential union members conducted in 2021, “excessive engagement in politics is the number one obstacle” preventing them from joining a union.

According to the report (pdf) by the public sector union watchdog Americans for Fair Treatment, America’s largest public service employees union—the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)—spent $28.6 million on activities to represent the 1.3 million members who belong to about 3,400 locals and 58 district councils across 46 states.

As for other expenditures, AFSCME spent $25.7 million on lobbying and politics and $57 million on union administration, general overhead, and employee benefits. AFSCME President Lee Saunders received a salary and disbursements of $367,221. Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride received $303,020.

AFSCME leadership spent another $3.4 million in membership dues on contributions, gifts, and grants to predominantly progressive groups like the Center for American Progress (CAP).

George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management, attends a meeting with finance and development ministers, international partners, and the presidents of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea during the World Bank–IMF Spring Meetings in Washington on April 17, 2015. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Promoting the Progressive Political Agenda

While describing itself on its website as “an independent, nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas,” Influence Watch exposed CAP as “a liberal Washington, D.C.-based think tank” founded by John Podesta.

Podesta, the former White House Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, was also a counselor to President Barack Obama and chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Another AFSCME beneficiary was State Victory Action, heavily funded by progressive socialist billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros, as well as Strategic

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