{"id":2024809,"date":"2023-09-07T15:42:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T19:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labor-unions-spend-25-billion-on-political-campaigns-but-most-is-never-made-public-analysis\/"},"modified":"2023-09-07T15:44:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T19:44:58","slug":"labor-unions-spend-25-billion-on-political-campaigns-but-most-is-never-made-public-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labor-unions-spend-25-billion-on-political-campaigns-but-most-is-never-made-public-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor unions spend $25B on undisclosed political campaigns: Analysis."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flabor-unions-spend-25-billion-on-political-campaigns-but-most-is-never-made-public-analysis%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2024809&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Unreported Labor\u2064 Union Political Spending in 2022 Closer\u2063 to $25 Billion, Analysis Shows<\/h2>\n<p>Journalists reporting on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labor-unions-spend-25-billion-on-political-campaigns-but-most-is-never-made-public-analysis\/\" title=\"Labor unions spend B on undisclosed political campaigns: Analysis.\">union \u200bpolitical activities typically cite<\/a> the figure of $54\u2064 million as the measure of labor \u200ccampaign and\u2062 candidate\u200d advocacy spending in 2022, but the actual total is closer to $25 billion, according to a new analysis \u2064of mandatory expenditure \u200creports by worker organizations.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2063$54 million represents\u2062 the total derived from union reports to the\u2062 Federal Election Commission (FEC) for political action committees (PAC) spending during the \u200c2022 campaign\u2062 cycle.<\/p>\n<p>But the analysis by the National Institute\u2062 for Labor Relations \u200cResearch\u2062 (NILRR) of unions&#8217; LM-2 reports to the Department of Labor, as well\u2064 as additional unreported spending by the labor groups, reveals much more.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/unions-the-big-winners-in-regulating-the-gig-economy-5486929\">Unions the Big Winners\u200d in Regulating the Gig Economy<\/a><br \/>\n      <br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">9\/6\/2023<\/span>\n    <\/li>\n<li>\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/hollywood-actors-union-to-vote-on-strike-against-video-game-makers-5486830\">Hollywood Actors&#8217; Union to Vote on Strike Against Video Game Makers<\/a><br \/>\n      <br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-comp-caption\">9\/5\/2023<\/span>\n    <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The LM-2 documents cover overall spending by labor unions, which during the 2021-2022\u200b period reached $50 billion. Democratic candidates, causes, and committees typically receive more than 90 percent of all labor\u2064 union political spending.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The \u200bvast majority of what unions spend\u2063 to influence elections and\u200b policymaking is not reported to \u2064the federal government as \u200cpolitical activities. Some expenditures are improperly labeled as &#8216;grants&#8217; or &#8216;general overhead.&#8217; Others are tucked\u200c away\u2063 in\u2064 the \u200cbudgets of smaller union affiliates that aren\u2019t required to file full financial\u2064 disclosures,&#8221; according to\u2063 the\u200c NILRR report.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;However, the bulk of unreported political power is wielded by government union officials. They\u2019re \u2062armed with the monopoly power to negotiate salaries, pensions,\u2063 and hiring practices for\u200c entire swaths of federal, state, \u2062and local government workers. This makes monopoly bargaining in the\u2063 public sector, by its very nature, political,&#8221; the report said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Public sector unions exist solely to change government employment\u2062 policies. They \u2062have legal \u2064leverage over\u200d the policy \u200bprocess that other political \u2064groups do not have. Consequently, \u200dthe money spent staffing, organizing, and promoting government sector unions has more of a direct impact on politics \u200bthan whatever\u2064 other groups spend to persuade voters,&#8221; the report continued.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When we take into account all the inherently political money spent\u2064 by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/navy-reading-checklist-includes-anti-racism-guide-for-sailors\/\" title=\"Navy Reading Checklist Includes Anti-Racism Guide for Sailors\">public sector unions<\/a>, Big Labor\u2019s true total political spending \u200cfor the 2021-2022 political cycle\u200b was over $25 billion,&#8221; according to \u200cthe report.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>(Left to right) AFL-CIO and AFGE National VA Council, Eric \u2062Jenkins is joined by former Army Capt. Debra Gipson, National MEB\/PEB Representative,\u200b The American Legion, Gerardo Avila and Assistant National \u2062Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans, Paul Raymond Varela during a House Veterans Affairs Committee, Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee hearing\u200c on &#8216;Defined Expectations: Evaluating VA&#8217;s Performance in\u200b the Service Member \u2062Transition Process&#8217; in the Cannon House Office Building, May 29, 2014, \u2063in Washington. \u200b(Rod Lamkey\/Getty \u2063Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Spokesmen for the American Federation of Government\u2064 Employees (AFGE), the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/friday-september-10-2021\/\" title=\"Friday | September 10, 2021\">largest federal employee union<\/a>, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents non-federal public employees, did not respond to The Epoch Times&#8217; requests for comment on the NILRR analysis.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">The Virginia-based NILRR is \u200dassociated \u200cwith the National Right to Work Committee, which advocates on behalf of state-level Right-to-Work laws that protect individuals&#8217; right to keep \u2064their jobs without having to pay union dues as a \u200ccondition of \u2064employment. Twenty-six states \u200ccurrently have Right to Work laws. Only 10.1 percent\u2062 of all U.S. \u200dworkers are union members, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/ted\/2023\/union-membership-rate-fell-by-0-2-percentage-point-to-10-1-percent-in-2022.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). \u2064 <\/a><\/div>\n<figure style=\"width:478px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Mark Mix, president of\u200b the National Right to Work Committee in Springfield, Va. (Courtesy of\u2063 the National Right to Work Committee)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In\u2064 addition to the impact of public sector unions,\u200c the major reason so much labor political spending goes unreported on official documents like\u2062 FEC and LM-2 reports is labeling \u200bby union\u200c officials of such expenditures with names of non-political categories such as &#8220;Representation,&#8221; \u2062\u201cContributions, \u200dGifts, and Grants,\u201d\u200d \u201cGeneral Overhead,\u201d and \u201cUnion Administration,\u201d according to NILRR.<\/p>\n<p>Among the examples of such mislabeled spending\u200d cited by the \u200creport are the $12,675,000 in grants given by the National Education Association (NEA) to the State Engagement Fund, a Left-of-Center \u2062&#8221;dark money&#8221; advocacy.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, \u200c&#8221;the AFL-CIO\u200d gave a total of $8,446,314 to Working America, \u2062a union-affiliated \u200c501(C)(4) advocacy\u2063 group that &#8216;makes sure that the priorities of working \u2064people, their families and \u200dcommunities are heard from our state houses to the White House, from our city councils and school boards to the halls of Congress,'&#8221; the \u2064NILRR report said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">And the United Brotherhood \u2064of Carpenters and \u2062Joiners of America gave $8 million to the Strategic Victory Fund, \u200danother Left-of-Center 501(C)(4) tha<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Journalists often mention $54 million as the amount spent on union political activities in 2022. However, a recent analysis of mandatory expenditure reports by worker organizations reveals that the actual total is closer to $25 billion. The $54 million figure only represents the sum reported by unions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":2024810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2024809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2024809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2024810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2024809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2024809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2024809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}