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 Fewer Illinois workers feel like they’re getting their money’s
worth from AFSCME Council 31. That’s according to the union’s own federal
reporting documents, filed with the U.S. Department of Labor on April 1, 2019.
In 2017, the union took dues and fees from 65,042 workers across the state. That
included more than 7,000 “fee payers” who opted out of union membership but were
still forced to send part of every paycheck to the union.
In 2018, that number sank to just 57,000.
That means 12% of workers represented by AFSCME Council 31 in 2017 are no longer
paying the union.
In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled public-sector workers could no longer
be forced to pay money to a union just to keep their jobs. Before that decision,
government workers who were not union members were deemed “agency fee payers,”
and had to pay fees to the union. Members had to pay dues.
Significantly, the 12% drop in payers is not solely composed of people who were
nonmembers before the court’s decision. AFSCME Council 31’s membership numbers
have also dropped by 995 workers, or nearly 2%.
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Council 31’s most recent reporting contrasts with a
claim made earlier this year by the national headquarters, which
touted AFSCME had seen seven times more workers join the union than
leave the union. That clearly isn’t the case in Illinois.
Public employees can stop paying union dues for any
reason, but common reasons include:
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The union spends too much on politics and
lobbying. For example, AFSCME Council 31 gave over $1.3 million
to political committees controlled by Illinois House Speaker
Mike Madigan in the last five years alone, according to the
Illinois State Board of Elections.
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The union doesn’t represent its members well.
AFSCME Council 31 spends just 17 cents of every dollar on
representing workers.
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Opting out provides freedom to make choices the
worker thinks are best. AFSCME Council 31 cannot punish
nonmember workers who choose not to go on strike, for example.
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Opting out lets workers keep more of their
paycheck, which can go a long way in any family budget.
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