American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, who was paid $543,150 last year, defended her compensation by claiming her pay is $360,000 and other reported expenses simply prove the union’s “transparency.”
As part of a series of April 28 Twitter posts demanding Congress hike the federal minimum wage to $10.10, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199 quoted from a January column Weingarten wrote for The Huffington Post.
“Justice means that hardworking people must have access to a living wage,” Weingarten wrote. AFT paid Weingarten $556,981 in 2012 and $543,150 in 2013.
When her 2013 pay was pointed out on Twitter, Weingarten made an awkward attempt to defend the gold-plated compensation she takes from AFT members and forced “fair share” fee payers in districts represented by AFT:
Note that SEIU District 1199, far from reacting with shock that a leading spokeswoman for government redistribution of wealth took over $360,000 from workers last year, replied to Weingarten, “you do amazing work for working people, children and their families.”
For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, AFT reported Weingarten’s gross salary as $401,578. In addition to her salary, the union reported disbursing $51,440 in “allowances,” $62,632 “for official business,” and $27,500 in “other disbursements” to Weingarten.
An excerpt from AFT’s fiscal year 2013 LM-2 report to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) follows. Click the image for more information.
Generously calculating from Weingarten’s gross salary reported by AFT and assuming 52 work weeks of 50 hours each, Weingarten’s 2013 pay would equate to an hourly wage of $154.45.
By AFT’s own estimation, Weingarten spent less than one third of her time on “representational activities” from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.
Weingarten further attempted to justify the more than half a million dollars the union disbursed to Teachers Union Boss Randi Weingarten: My Salary's Only $360K: