Union bosses' extravagance exploits their members

By RICHARD BERMAN

June 2, 2016 

When the AFL-CIO, America’s largest federation of labor unions, released its annual Executive PayWatch report this month, it strived for sensationalism. The report alleges that the average S&P 500 CEO received $12.4 million in total compensation last year, compared to $36,875 for the “average nonsupervisory worker.” This comes out to a 335:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio.

But numerous fact-checkers – from the Washington Post to the American Enterprise Institute’s Mark Perry – have questioned the math behind the eye-catching figure. Perry rightly points out that the AFL-CIO’s metrics take into account only the highest-paid executives from the S&P 500, not the average pay of all U.S. chief executives – which amounts to an average annual salary of $185,850, according to the Department of Labor. That means the actual CEO-to-worker pay gap drops to single digits.

Experts at the Annenberg Public Policy Center have also found that “when all CEOs are included, the pay disparity is far smaller” than the AFL-CIO leads on. So has the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, which acknowledged last year that “most chief executives do not work at large companies” and a more accurate pay ratio comes out to “five or six times more” in CEO earnings.

Let’s look at the earnings of union bosses. According to a Center for Union Facts analysis of DOL filings, 153 union presidents earned more in gross salary than the average CEO in 2015. John Niccolai, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 464, made $598,914 last year. Terry Sullivan, president of the Laborers’ International Union, wasn’t far behind at $501,648. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka made off with $272,250 in 2015.

Expense accounts and other forms of compensation drove Sullivan’s 2015 earnings to $672,804, while Niccolai’s total surpassed $600,000. Union bosses have been chronicled spending member dues on anything from $160 entrees and luxury wines to limousine services. One Pennsylvania union, for instance, spent more than $264,000 on NFL Philadelphia Eagles tickets in a single year. (The union then claimed the tickets were used “to promote job creation.”)

These types of expenditures fall on top of political spending: From 2012-14, union bosses sent nearly $420 million to Democrats and closely aligned liberal special interest groups. That $420 million amounted to well over 90 percent of Big Labor’s political budget, even though roughly 40 percent of union members vote Republican.

The real tragedy here is that Big Labor’s budget remains funded by employees’ monthly dues payments – which are still mandatory in many U.S. states.

It’s no wonder the Employee Rights Act is gaining traction in Congress. With more than 150 co-sponsors, the ERA would require labor organizers to obtain opt-in permission from employees before spending their dues money on left-wing politics. It would also guarantee secret ballot union elections and allow employees to re-certify their union once the workplace has experienced substantial turnover – allowing union members to periodically reevaluate their representation.

Despite their allegations about CEO pay, union bosses are running roughshod over the workforce. The Employee Rights Act would keep them in line.

Labor Unions Fight For Relevance, While Candidates Petition Directly To Workers

Philip Rosenstein

3/9/2016

“Blue-Collar Vote Key for Trump Win,” said the front page of The Wall Street Journal Monday morning. While this may be the case, labor unions are preparing to actively support the eventual Democratic nominee.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has amassed around two dozen national union endorsements, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders securing five. Notably, however, the AFL-CIO, the country’s major union federation, is yet to endorse either candidate and is unlikely to do so any time soon.

Some have characterized the AFL-CIO’s decision not to endorse as a win for Sanders. The move highlights the growing rift between union rank-and-file, which connects with Sanders’ messages of inequality and international trade agreements (not to mention Trump’s populist inventions), and union leadership, which views Clinton as the best chance for a Democrat to remain in the White House.

Side-stepping an endorsement hasn’t stemmed the federation’s political pursuits. Following its winter meeting in San Diego, the campaigns department announced that it would create a super PAC geared toward energizing voter turnout.

Though expected to raise tens of million of dollars, the labor-run PAC will be a far cry from the hundreds of millions sitting on the sidelines for the GOP, most visibly embodied in the Koch brothers’ pledge to spend $889 million this cycle.

Beyond unions themselves, blue-collar workers are becoming a key demographic in the presidential race. Union membership has declined significantly over the past few decades and the usually left-leaning unions have steadily lost clout in the growing number of Right to Work states around the country.

This will particularly be the case in the Rust Belt, where Trump has the best chance to secure the nomination.

The deterioration of the powers unions had in their collective bargaining rights allows space for other organizations, i.e. political campaigns, to engage potential voters. Sanders and Trump have done just that, Sanders with his focus on inequality and animosity toward the corporate class -- Trump with xenophobia and catchy idioms.

Trump has done particularly well in the early primaries and caucuses with white working-class voters, while Sanders has done less well. He has made large inroads with the white blue-collar demographic. As both candidates attest, there is overlap in support between the two, and that most likely lies with the working class.  

Red, White & Blog spoke with WorkJam COO Joshua Ostrega, who noted that “the minimum wage isn’t the only part of the discussion that needs attention. There are a number of qualitative changes that can be made to improve the conditions and rights of workers.”

Trade, welfare, inequality and immigration will weigh heavily on American workers’ minds. Differences also exist between white and minority members of the working class. Despite Trump’s success with white blue-collar voters, unions and workers will be integral to Democratic success in November.

Former AFL-CIO political director, Steve Rosenthal explained: “For the Democratic nominee, the labor movement is the most effective tool after the candidate’s own campaign.”

===========================================

It is also true - the unions have lost clout and respect ‘due to union bosses excesses’ to right-to-work organizations.

Wage stagnation and trade agreements (shipping jobs overseas) are a concern to every union member. 

Whichever candidate who can articulate those concerns will get the support of blue collar.