Nathan Benefield: Don’t let Randi Weingarten fool you: Gov’t unions are in lockstep with Dems

Are government union leaders and the Democratic Party about to divorce?

Two prominent union leaders — Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers and Lee Saunders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — announced that they’re leaving the Democratic National Committee, citing the party’s infighting as the reason for their departure. 

That this is deemed “breaking news” is telling — as though everyone knew union executives, despite their claims to represent their members, were wedded to the Democratic Party.

Voters shouldn’t be surprised that government unions remain enormous political spenders, seeking favors from politicians in exchange for campaign cash. Nor should readers be surprised that these unions overwhelmingly support Democrats.

But the staggering amount of funds these unions spent on politics should sound alarms for Pennsylvania voters and taxpayers.

A recent report by the Commonwealth Foundation found that government unions spent $33.5 million on Pennsylvania politics in the 2023–24 election cycle. Government unions remain Pennsylvania’s most-powerful, well-funded interest groups.

The one-sided disparity in campaign contributions towards one party is astounding. In state legislative races, government unions favored Democrats over Republicans by a 9-to-1 ratio. Pennsylvania House Democrats were the biggest recipients of direct campaign cash, receiving more than $4.2 million in donations from government unions. 

In addition to direct campaign donations, government workers’ dues support partisan politics and radical ideological groups. During this latest cycle, Pennsylvania’s largest government unions spent $15 million of their workers’ dues on politics, donating heavily to Super PACs and other groups engaged in elections. 

Super PACs support candidates or attack opponents without giving directly to specific candidates. Not only do government unions contribute to these Super PACs, but many have also created their own for the express purpose of using workers’ dues for electioneering.

Incredibly, state and local governments collected this funding (both dues and campaign contributions), using taxpayer-funded public payroll systems. That is, our governments are taking money out of employee paychecks and donating the funds to special interest groups. Such behavior would be illegal in any other setting.

As the report details, Pennsylvania needs to enact paycheck protection to ensure taxpayers aren’t subsidizing political activities — especially those they don’t support.

Even many union members don’t support such partisanship. Based on the 2024 election when unions split on presidential endorsements, it’s doubtful that rank-and-file union members support only one political party. Also, considering the political diversity of Pennsylvania (the nation’s largest swing state), such political unanimity is impossible — not anything close to the 95 percent Democrat pattern funded by union leaders.

And it isn’t that these union bosses don’t represent their members. In fact, these employees they represent are a microcosm of the state as a whole. Public sector unions in Pennsylvania house about 350,000 members — about five percent of the 6.8 million in the commonwealth’s workforce.

Because of the special privileges granted to them, government union leaders successfully lobbied for policies that hurt taxpayers, students, and workers alike. These executives have pushed massive tax hikes, imposed woke ideology in our public schools, blocked pension reform that would benefit teachers and state workers, maintained the government monopoly over alcohol sales, and even inspired antisemitic attacks on college campuses. 

This year’s state budget battle will require taking on the extreme demands of government union leaders on several union-backed line items. Indeed, Governor Josh Shapiro—the recipient of more than $7 million in union campaign contributions — has proposed a $51.5 billion budget chock full of union handouts.

These handouts include shelling out billions more for public schools with declining enrollment (despite Pennsylvania already ranking among the highest-spending states), stealing state sales tax money to bail out mass transit agencies, expanding Medicaid to cover prisoners and non-health care services, and doling out $4 billion in payroll taxes for a new government-run paid-leave program.

Government unions remain the biggest impediment to meaningful reform, especially educational choice for low-income kids. Union leaders have spent resources lobbying — and funding front groups to lobby on their behalf — advocating against scholarships to save kids from failing schools and supporting draconian cuts for cyber schools. They care more about their own coffers (and collecting more political money) than helping kids.

These union leaders impede progress on the issues that matter most to Pennsylvanians — slashing red tape, reducing taxes, expanding educational options, and unleashing affordable energy so that all Pennsylvanians can thrive.

As lawmakers work toward enacting public policies and finishing the state budget, they should focus on helping all Pennsylvanians — students, families, and small businesses — not kowtowing to these special interest unions who profit off excessive government favors. 

Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect that public sector unions in Pennsylvania house about 350,000 members, roughly five percent of the state’s workforce.

Nathan Benefield is the chief policy officer of the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank.