Government Accountability

Fact: Taxpayer Resources Are Being Used for Politics

• Nathan Benefield
• January 16, 2014

One of the biggest myths used to oppose paycheck protection is the claim “union dues money can’t be used for politics” despite all evidence…

Media

Public Union Democracy

Gov. Union Bosses Fight to Control Workers’ Paychecks

• January 15, 2014

For Immediate Release Commonwealth Foundation Contact: 717-671-1901   Government Union Bosses Fight For Control Over Workers’ Paychecks Union Bosses battle to Keep Using Public Resources for…

Press Release

Health Care

How Government Unions Support Obamacare

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 14, 2014

Government unions such as the NEA and SEIU lobbied for passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will raise the cost of health care through various mandates…

Media

Taxes & Economy

The True Cost of Minimum Wage

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 9, 2014

If a higher minimum wage benefits workers, why not push it to $20 or $30 or even higher? Because experience shows minimum wage increases actually hurt the very workers they…

Commentary

Public Union Democracy

Union Gave $650,000 from Teachers’ Dues to Anti-Republican Group

• Priya Brannick
• December 5, 2013

Remember the shadowy group, Pennsylvanians for Accountability, which ran “shell game” prime time attack ads on Gov. Tom Corbett for “bankrolling big tax cuts for his corporate backers”?  The…

Media

Education

Union Dues Backing Political Groups Prompted My Resignation

• November 19, 2013

This perspective on union spending by Pennsylvania public school teacher John Cress originally appeared at Free to Teach, a project of the Commonwealth Foundation. I have been a middle school…

Media

Government Accountability

Obama Supporter Soured by Obamacare Ordeal

• November 19, 2013

Lynn Larrick doesn't fit the usual profile of someone angry with President Obama. She's a staunch Democrat, a retired Philadelphia teacher, and a union member. But when she—like more than…

Commentary

I Could No Longer Back NEA Support of Abortion Groups, Politics

• October 31, 2013

I have been a middle school math and special education teacher for six years. After nearly all that time in the union, I decided last year that I’d had enough…

Media

Public Union Democracy

Mail Bag: Union Political Spending

• October 16, 2013

Several readers, in response to Nate’s op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote us claiming “Union dues can’t fund politics.” But that’s just not true. How do we know this?…

Media