CEAFU Demands Teacher Union File Disclosure Reports

Cathy Jones, Executive Director of the Concerned Educators Against Forced Unionism (CEAFU.org), sent a letter today to the U.S. Department of Labor demanding that a teachers union local comply with federal disclosure laws (click to download letter and related NLRB ruling).

The Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) created a local union designated to use Big Labor organizing tactics against charter schools in an attempt force teachers into compulsory dues agreements.   One school appealed to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) when Local 4343 tried to use card-check forced-unionism to compel Chicago Mathematics & Science Academy Charter School, Inc. (CMSA) to sign an agreement under state public sector rules.  However, CMSA is a private employer, CMSA is covered under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) organizing rules.  The NLRB agreed with the school that they are indeed a private employer and that NLRA rules apply.

Because the Local Union 4343, a local of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), planned to organize a private sector employer, the union is covered under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) and its labor organization disclosure rules. 

While both the National Education Association (NEA) and AFT Illinois state bodies file LMRDA disclosure reports, many State NEA unions like those in New York, Indiana, and California do not.  Should the U.S. Department of Labor actually enforce the LMRDA and require many non-compliant teachers’ unions to provide disclosure, millions of force-unionism victims across the United States may finally receive union financial disclosure detailing how their confiscated incomes are used.

It is time that the U.S. Department requires all state teacher unions and government employee unions that have failed for decades to comply with the LMRDA be forced to comply with the Act or be criminally prosecuted for willful failure to file these reports.  DOL at the minimum should send letters to all teacher and government employee unions informing them of their requirement to file disclosure reports if they have or are attempting organize a private employer as did AFT Local 4343.   

While disclosure does not solve the forced-unionism problem, it does help inform those whose incomes are confiscated how wisely their hard-earned incomes are being used by union officials.