UNION DEMOCRACY, PACS AND DUES
When I was in charge of a Illinois Education Association local we were very careful about keeping dues money and political action money separated into totally different buckets.
We had to be very careful, and I was warned over and over again by union leadership in Springfield – and by my IEA Uniserv Director – never to use my work computer for anything other than union business.
No politics.
And local dues money could never be used for local political activity.
I thought this was dumb, but I followed the directive to the letter.
In fact, in 2011 my entire history of work emails were the subject of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Ben Velderman of the Michigan-based Education Action Group. Velderman on behalf of the anti-union EAG wanted to find even just one email that showed I had crossed the line between union work and so-called political activity.
The line that separates the unions’ duty of fair representation and political action is CONTINUE READING: Union democracy, PACs and dues. – Fred Klonsky