Taxpayers Collect Millions for Government Unions

Since 2010, Pennsylvania state government has used taxpayer resources to transfer $244 million to government union treasuries. This figure includes millions for highly political activities.

According to records obtained via Open Records request, the state has collected $239 million in fair share fees and dues from state union members, plus an additional $4.6 million in political action committee (PAC) contributions, as seen in the table below.

That’s $4 million in taxpayer-collected funds that go directly to political candidates. The exact amount of membership dues used for politics, however, remains unknown as many public sector unions can avoid reporting their political spending.

What do we know about dues spending? AFSCME 13 used $4.3 million of their dues money on politics from 2010-16, while SEIU locals and UFCW 1776 spent another $8.4 million. Click here for a few examples of dues-funded politics.

State ethics prohibits the mixing of public and political resources, yet Pennsylvania government uses taxpayer money to collect political funds for one special interest – government unions.

Paycheck protection would stop this misuse of public resources by requiring government unions to collect their own political money.

As paycheck protection is deliberated in the state House, Pennsylvania government continues to collect a mounting pile of union political money. Passing SB 166 would make government union leaders accountable for how they spend their members’ dues, and protect taxpayers from acting as political money-collectors.

Show your support for paycheck protection by contacting your house member today.