Clawing Back a Union President’s Unauthorized Expenditures

​One would hope that a union leader would use the funds raised by the dues collected would be used to benefit union members. Not to write a book to benefit herself and by heaping praise in a self-aggrandizing manner.

But that is what AFT Union President, Randi Weingarten has done.

Weingarten used the abundance of union-fueled resources for the liberal agenda-pushing “Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy,” then pocketed a portion of the proceeds, the Freedom Foundation claimed in a new report.

Her team included an attorney who supposedly worked on the book pro bono but whose firm raked in $977,000 for various work for AFT, as well as a supposed “ghost writer” who earned over $400,000 overall from the union, the report said.

The union also forked over more than $11,000 to two people who “fact-checked” and apparently took photos of the labor big for the tome, which was heralded by the publisher as a “manifesto for our time.”

“Most AFT members pay dues in exchange for workplace representation, not to fund the union president’s literary pursuits,” said Maxford Nelsen, the Freedom Foundation’s director of research and government affairs.

“However, AFT appears to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in members’ dues on top-tier consultants, lawyers, and agents to get WFFT published,” Nelson went on. “Indeed, the wide range of expenses borne by AFT suggests that Weingarten may not have contributed anything at all financially to the enterprise.”

Ultimately, the union paid $1.4MM to third parties and the publisher out of union dues, even though not all union members may necessarily agree with the political positions of Ms Weingarten. That is a travesty of the rights of those members.

And the report also disclosed two “royalty payments” totaling $125,000 to a Weingarten-controlled entity called “Teachers Want What Kids Need, LLC,” which the analysis points out is not a tax-exempt charity but “an opaque corporate entity incorporated in Delaware.” Probably under Weingarten’s total control. This is in addition to her almost $450,000 annual salary, plus benefits and pension contributions made on her behalf. 

Perhaps union members should look into this egregious action by Weingarten, and all monies paid on her behalf to her and others without specific consent. Not the implied consent she is basing her justification to actually authorize this.

It certainly would not be permitted in the private sector.