MEA Officials Collect Lucrative Salaries Despite Membership Decline

Michigan Education Association (MEA) teacher union officials are receiving ever greater salaries despite a drop in membership and an increase in dues fees.  Christina Hall has the story in the Detroit Free Press.

The Michigan Education Association’s top three elected leaders received double-digit percentage raises this year, including a nearly $49,000 bump in one instance that amounted to a 44% pay hike, according to documents filed recently with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The teachers union’s 2014 report, received Nov. 25, showed higher gross salaries for President Steven B. Cook, Vice President Nancy Strachan and Secretary-Treasurer Rick Trainor than in its prior year’s report.

The MEA declined to comment on the report when contacted by the Free Press.

In the 2014 report, the MEA’s membership was listed at 142,555, a figure that dropped by more than 5,100 from the 2013 report, which covered Sept. 1, 2012, to Aug. 31, 2013.

In addition, the documents show MEA members’ regular dues were $5 more annually in the 2014 report than in 2013.

The 2014 report also shows that at the end of the reporting period, the MEA had liabilities of more than $206 million while assets were listed at more than $71 million. The group had a negative net asset total of nearly $135 million.