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A Union-Approved Candidate
Here at Labor Pains, we often talk about the political clout of unions, how they funnel millions upon millions of dollars into elections, the vast majority of which goes to Democratic candidates. But it’s not often that a union makes a power play this blatant: A government studies teacher at Washington Irving High School in [more...]

Posted Tue, 31 Aug 2010 .

What They Are Really Thinking
The recent kerfuffle over the Los Angeles Times releasing scads of data on LA’s teachers has provided some interesting insights into how defenders of teachers unions think. The head of the LA teachers union, for example, said he was “outraged” that the Times would publish data revealing which teachers were effective and which teachers weren’t [more...]

Posted Mon, 30 Aug 2010 .

 Read more at LaborPains.org

Union Profile

2005  |  2006
Basic Facts
Total Assets: $ 96,154,256 
Members: 822,504 
Employees: 379 
Employees earning over $75,000: 199 
Total Political Funds: $ 2,860,172 
ULPs Filed Since 2000: 85 
Decertification Petitions Filed:
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
National Headquarters
555 NEW JERSEY AVE NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20001


The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the smaller of the two education labor unions in the United States, representing 1.3 million teachers, school support staff, higher education faculty and staff, healthcare professionals and state and municipal employees. Unlike its larger counterpart, the National Education Association, it is a member of the AFL-CIO. A proposed 1998 merger between the two was rejected by the NEA's annual meeting.

This description above uses material from the Wikipedia.com and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Membership
Total Membership:   822,504




Financial Information
Total Assets:  $ 96,154,256
Total Receipts:  $ 219,426,399



Source: Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards LM filings

Finiancial Disbursements
 Search Financial
 Disbursement Records


 

 

  search this union search all 
Representational Activities ( 25.9%) $ 55,452,412 more detailed information
Political Activities & Lobbying ( 6.5%) $ 13,971,868 more detailed information
Contributions, Gifts & Grants ( 1.9%) $ 4,066,472 more detailed information
General Overhead ( 15.2%) $ 32,556,818 more detailed information
Union Administration ( 3.4%) $ 7,244,156 more detailed information
Total Compensation ( 11.1%) $ 23,860,020 
Per Capita Tax ( 4.3%) $ 9,218,317 
Other ( 31.7%) $ 67,893,338 
Source: Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards LM filings


Locals & Other Affiliated Organizations
Top 10 Locals (by Members)
Local Members
AFT State Federation (Latham, NY) 374,201
AFT Local 2 (New York, NY) 154,400
AFT State Federation 310 (Westmont, IL) 84,926
AFT State Federation (Burbank, CA) 65,000
AFT Local 4503 (Albany, NY) 52,187
AFT State Federation (Austin, TX) 50,707
AFT Local 8036 (Philadelphia, PA) 30,014
AFT State Federation (Rocky Hill, CT) 25,195
AFT State Federation (Boston, MA) 20,374
AFT State Federation (Detroit, MI) 20,296
[show all locals & affiliates]
Source: Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards LM filings

Leadership
Top 10 International AFT Leaders & Staff (by Salary)
Name Title   Total Compensation
Edward Mcelroy   President     $ 368,985
Nathaniel Lacour   Secretary-treasurer     $ 308,585
Antonia Cortese   Ex Vice President     $ 292,946
David Dorn   Dept Dir Intl Affair     $ 234,467
Philip Kugler   Ast To Pres For Org     $ 219,493
Ronald Krouse   Chief Of Staff     $ 217,869
Larry Specht   Sr Asoc 2 Intl     $ 214,966
Bella Rosenberg   Ast To Pres     $ 212,162
Joseph Davis   Sr Assoc Dir Intl Afrs     $ 203,521
Albert Squire, Jr.   Dir Southern Reg Office     $ 186,433
[show all officers & salaries]

Source: Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards LM filings
UnionFacts.com is committed to 100% accuracy. Please contact us with factual corrections & comments.

Political Money

Political Action Committees (PAC)
Unions typically use PACs to make "hard money" contributions to specific candidates they support. Each PAC can donate up to $5,000 per candidate per election. PACs are highly regulated under the Federal Election Commission.

Featured PAC: AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS AFL-CIO COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION
Total Given: $ 2,860,172


527 Money
In most cases, unions use 527 organizations to make unlimited "soft money" donations to campaigns or candidates they support. Unlike PACs, 527 organizations do not coordinate with specific candidates, and as a result, are not regulated by the Federal Election Commission.

Total Affiliated 527 Receipts:  $ 822,506
Total Affiliated 527 Disbursements:  $ 1,212,052


[show all funds]
Source: Internal Revenue Service 527 electronic form 8872 filings

Unfair Labor Practices

The National Labor Relations Board investigates instances of union violations of the National Labor Relations Act and other labor laws. Unfair Labor Practices include instances of bad faith bargaining, excessive dues, violence, threats and many other violations.


Unionization Elections
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) oversees union representation elections, or "R Cases." To call an election, 30 percent of affected employees are required to sign a petition for an election. Elections can be used to both certify and decertify union representation. Increasingly, unions are avoiding the NLRB election process, instead opting for "Card Check" unionization.

Decertification Elections
Union members unhappy with their current union can opt to decertify it as their exclusive bargaining representative. These are known as "RD" cases.

Decertification Petitions Filed: 8
[see decertifications] Decertification Elections
Union members unhappy with their current union can opt to decertify it as their exclusive bargaining representative. These are known as "RD" cases.

Decertification Petitions Filed: 7
[see decertifications]

Source: National Labor Relations Board's Case Activity Tracking (CATS) database

Elections Records
Despite the commonly held belief that most workers would like to join a union, union representation elections—also known as "RC Cases"—often fail.

Certification Elections since 2000