Posts Tagged ‘american federation of state’
Cumulative Donations
Unions vs. Koch Industries from 1989-2012
Unions
| American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees | $47,869,048 |
| Service Employees International Union | $38,819,196 |
| National Education Association | $38,284,919 |
| International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers | $34,928,253 |
| American Federation of Teachers | $32,850,516 |
| Teamsters Union | $32,657,878 |
| Laborers Union | $32,629,200 |
| Carpenters & Joiners Union | $31,622,758 |
| Communications Workers of America | $31,271,197 |
| United Food & Commercial Workers Union | $27,981,755 |
| United Auto Workers | $27,926,225 |
| Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union | $27,379,727 |
| National Association of Letter Carriers | $22,699,084 |
| AFL-CIO | $22,263,800 |
| Sheet Metal Workers Union | $19,737,520 |
| International Association of Fire Fighters | $19,154,293 |
| Plumbers & Pipefitters Union | $19,010,856 |
| Operating Engineers Union | $18,232,474 |
| Airline Pilots Association | $17,281,597 |
| United Transportation Union | $15,263,410 |
| United Steelworkers | $15,123,146 |
| Ironworkers Union | $15,074,374 |
| American Postal Workers Union | $14,046,823 |
| Total $602,108,049 |
The Koch Brothers
| Koch Industries | Total $12,687,199 |
source: opensecrets.org
For all the liberals crying about how the money of the Koch Brothers is “buying American Democracy,” that kind of puts it in perspective, doesn’t it?
And as far as I know, in every single one of those unions, the union dues are mandatory and in most of those industries, there is no alternative but to work for the union. You either resign yourself to having to pay those mandatory union dues or you have to abandon that line of work completely.
Now here’s the great injustice in the mandatory union dues and the $600 million the unions have poured into our elections over the last 23 years: in the last presidential election, 40% of those union members voted for John McCain in 2008, but nearly 100% of their mandatory union dues went to support liberal causes and Democrat candidates.
How can anyone think that’s a fair system?
Sure, for the Democrats and the 21% of Americans who describe themselves as liberals, they will find a way to contort themselves and bend over backward to try to justify this system, but for the majority of Americans who can look at it plainly and clearly, the fact that unions have the power to siphon money from their members’ paychecks into causes and candidates they do not support is reprehensible and morally wrong.
