Wisconsin Paper Details The Incredible Amount of Money WEAC Gets From Dues
Members chipped in $23.4 million to WEAC in 2008 union dues
Dues pay exorbitant union salaries;
WEAC awarded just $18,850 in scholarships out of $24 million budget
Richard Moore
Investigative Reporter
News Analysis
Cut from a long article, well worth the read if you believe the Wisconsin reforms have national ramifications.
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High staff pay
Contrary to public perception, the $23.4 million in union membership dues paid to WEAC do not end up in the campaign coffers of political candidates. That latter money comes from member contributions to the political action committee, a deduction that, though separate, is nonetheless part of the total dues package.
As it turns out, most of the membership dues go to pay the organization's salaries and benefits, some of which are quite extravagant.
For example, according to its 2009 fiscal year IRS form, the organization employed 151 people and paid them $14,382,812. That's an average compensation total of $95,250 per employee.
But high-ranking union officials were doing much better than that. For instance, Dan Burkhalter, WEAC executive director, was raking in $242,807, with $177,366 in wages; government relations director Robert Burke hauled in $189,505, with wages of $128,428; information and communications technology director Nathan Harper made $189,528, with wages of $129,221; financial and membership services director Jane Oberdorf made $188,164, with wages of $131,328; affiliate relations director Robert Baxter was paid $186,461, with wages of $127,774; and collective bargaining director Daniel Holub made $165,112, with wages of $110,534.
And what about WEAC president Mary Bell, the union's public persona, who describes herself as a teacher from Wisconsin Rapids? She made $173,466, with wages of $138,031. That's on par with Gov. Scott Walker's salary of $144,423.
All totaled, those seven employees collected $1,335,043, with wages of $942,682.
Beyond wages and salaries, WEAC paid $801,105 in legal expenses, another $59,357 in accounting costs, and $1,395,381 in office expenses. The group traveled heavily as well, spending $1,835,207 on travel expenses and $185,398 in conferences, conventions and meetings.
It spent $2,827,270 on "other fees for services."
What's more, the organization doled out generous operating assistance grants totaling $1,274,050 to various local unions and its regional offices, known as UniServes, including $351,680 to Northern Tier UniServe in Rhinelander.
WEAC awarded scholarships that year, too, but the amount paled in comparison to other outlays. The union awarded just $18,850 in scholarships, or less than 1/1000 of the organization's total functional budget.
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The future
So what will happen when teachers and other education support professionals are no longer required to pay union dues? Will they agree to pay membership dues? Will they continue to support WEAC's political action committee with contributions?
There are several clues...
After Gov. Mitch Daniels restricted collective bargaining in Indiana in 2005, the number of dues-paying state workers plummeted from 66 percent to 5 percent. In 2007, when New York City's Transit Authority stopped collecting dues for the Transport Workers Union, dues nosedived by 35 percent within 18 months.
While it is far too early to know what WEAC members will do, one fact is most certain: WEAC officials will leave nothing to chance, as evidenced by their recent campaign to sign up members even before the law became effective.
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