A LOOK AT AFSCME COUNCIL 13 SPENDING IN THE 2020 – 2021 FISCAL YEAR
Membership in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 13 dropped by 8,417 public employees over the past two years. This drop comes as the union is drowning in $72 million in debt. The union spent more on its own union officials’ benefits than representing its members – $6.19 million to $6.17 million, respectively.
AFSCME Council 13’s debt is almost three times the $25.3 million in dues the union brought in from members during its 2020-2021 fiscal year. Interestingly, most of AFSCME Council 13’s financial liabilities result from the pension and retiree healthcare benefits it provides to union officials.
AFSCME Council 13 represented 44,466 workers in Pennsylvania in 2021, down from 52,883 in 2019. Union members pay 1.5% of their salary in dues to the union. This money is mostly spent on the union’s day-to-day operations, including large salaries paid to union leaders like Executive Director David Henderson who received $205,539, and AFSCME Internation Vice President David Fillman who received $352,192 from AFSCME Council 13. The union also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on politics during the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
AFSCME Council 13 spent $13.25 million or about 52% of total spending on running the union, while it spent $6.2 million on representational activities, which accounts for member services such as grievance resolution, arbitration, and collective bargaining. In short, the cost of operating the union was more than double the cost of the services the union provided.
AFSCME Council 13 Political Donations
The Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision relieves nonmembers from the obligation to pay any dues or fees to the union as a condition of public employment. However, for public employees who remain AFSCME members, Janus changes nothing about how union dues are spent: they are still routinely used for political purposes.
In 2020-2021, AFSCME Council 13 spent $405,790 on political activities and lobbying. Below is the itemized list of political expenses as reported in the union’s annual Form LM-2 Report:
- $297,245 to officers and employees as compensation for their participation in political activities and lobbying.
- $50,000 to Shelly Lyons, a Harrisburg-based communications and public affairs firm frequently used by labor unions and other progressive political organizations.
- $25,000 to Keystone Research Center, which promotes progressive public policies in coordination with the Economic Policy Institute.
- $13,679 to two vendors for “legislative supplies”
$406,000 spent on political activities in 2020-2021.
$8.3 million spent on political activities and lobbying since 2011.