Officers of the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) unions are widely and correctly regarded as the most powerful lobby in America’s 50 state capitals. (They are also wield a great deal of clout in Washington, D.C., of course.) But common sense tell us that teacher union officials must be even more powerful in states where Big Labor enjoys the privilege of being able to force employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment than in states where employees’ Right to Work regardless of union affiliation or nonaffiliation is protected.
How big a stick do teacher union chiefs in forced-unionism states wield relative to their counterparts in Right to Work states? A table recently compiled and published by Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency (see the link below), taken in conjunction with U.S. Census Bureau data regarding the K-12 school-aged population (five to 17 years old) of each state in 2012 and 2013, gives at least a hint.
In the 2012-2013 school year, officers of the NEA union’s 50 state affiliates raked in a total of $1.185 billion in revenue. And in 2012 and 2013 combined, there were an average of 53.648 million children aged five to 17 living in the 50 states. On average, then, NEA union bosses collected $22.08 in revenue (mostly union dues and fees) per school-aged child in 2012-2013.
But in the 26 states that still lack Right to Work laws, the NEA hierarchy’s haul was much richer. The teacher union brass grabbed $901 million in mostly forced dues and fees in these states, or $31.78 per child 5-17 years-old. On a per child basis, that’s nearly triple the $11.21 bosses of NEA state affiliates amassed in Right to Work states. In short, 47% of school-aged children in the 50 states live in a state with a Right to Work law, but just 24% of state NEA union bosses’ revenue comes from Right to Work states.
Of the 15 states in which NEA kingpins took in the highest amount of revenue per child, only Michigan is a Right to Work state, and its law took effect only in 2013. Meanwhile, all of the nine bottom-ranking states for NEA union revenue per child in 2012-2013 have Right to Work laws on the books.
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