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Union Power At Work in New Jersey

New Jersey Education Association officials use intimidation tactics not only on unwilling teachers but politicians also. David Cantor has the story in the74million.org.

The New Jersey Education Association, the second- or third-largest state affiliate of the National Education Association (depending on whether you count the hybrid New York state union), has in recent months offered a refreshingly straightforward exercise of political power.

Unions are threatened on many sides, but NJEA’s approach seems to have served it well. It maintains 13 lobbyists in Trenton, according to Philly.com, and spent more than twice as much as any other group in the state between 1999 and 2014. In 2016, it ranked second in the state, with $2.6 million spent on communications alone; by contrast, AARP ranked fifth with $398,000.