Posted on 06/16/2003 5:17:12 AM PDT by kattracks
CNSNews.com) - Labor unions enjoy a variety of special perquisites and privileges that sometimes leave the unwitting taxpayer footing the bill.
Labor unions receive millions of taxpayer dollars at the federal and state level to administer a variety of education and training programs, which frees up other union funds for political activities.
In addition, unionized federal, state and local employees are often given paid leave to engage in collective bargaining activities and dispute resolution. But some of that paid time off is spent lobbying the legislature and attending political training seminars and rallies.
At the federal level, that's known as "official time;" at the state level, "release time."
"From the public's perspective, they're paying for, say, a 15-year veteran teacher, with all the benefits and pension and all of that stuff that goes with it. But that person isn't actually in the classroom," said Jami Lund of the Washington-based Independence Institute.
"This notion of taxpayers subsidizing the special interest unions is something that we're concerned about," said Lund.
Lund said one union official in Bremerton, Wash., admitted that more release time meant the union could lower its dues - [insert info services item- the email] "sort of an admission that...a taxpayer subsidy makes it possible for them to do it."
Release time policies vary among school districts within a state and around the country. Sometimes, the union reimburses the district for the entire salary of a worker on release time, according to the Colorado Education Association. Other times, the union reimburses the district only for the cost of a lesser-paid substitute teacher.
A bill in the Colorado Legislature, H.B. 1143, introduced by Republican state Rep. Bill Crane this year, would have banned release time for teacher unions. But the measure narrowly failed in the state Senate.
"Many legislators were appalled to find out that so much of the taxpayers' money was going to subsidize these union activities," said Pamela Benigno of the Independence Institute, a free market Colorado think tank that has studied the issue.
"If a teacher joins a...teachers union, that's up to the teacher," said Benigno. "That's their own decision, their private business, and the taxpayer shouldn't be paying for that time."
In one district, said Benigno, the union is granted 275 days of release time, and the school district pays all the salary, benefits and substitute pay. "So the taxpayers are paying twice" while union members go to meetings and conferences, said Benigno.
Jeanne Beyer, spokesperson for the Colorado Education Association, believes the efforts of Crane and the Independence Institute are all part of a misguided and misinformed campaign to squelch the power of teacher unions. She charges that the Independence Institute report on release time, the genesis for the Crane bill, was riddled with errors.
"Our concern about the bill is that all of these decisions are already made locally by school boards and our associations," said Beyer of the release time policies. Each district negotiates with local union chapters "whether the local association is reimbursing the school district for the time or the school district is giving the time to our local association."
As to whether the latter amounts to a taxpayer subsidy of unions, "I suppose if you wanted to think of it in that manner, you certainly could," said Beyer.
But "most of our local presidents spend their time helping solve problems that come up in the district," said Beyer. "They work on professional development stuff, they help resolve personnel matters" like disagreement over teacher evaluations. "What they're doing is representing our members."
That's the sort of union work - collective bargaining - that merits release time, said Robert P. Hunter of Michigan's Mackinac Center. In fact, as a member of the state's civil service commission, Hunter helped institute a "Michigan Accountability Act" in 2002 to make release time accountable.
"I only consider it a subsidy when the public employer...is granting a benefit to the union or its members which requires an out-of-pocket cost" to the employer, said Hunter.
But "if somebody wants to lobby about something, they can do it on their own time. The state is not going to pay for somebody's personal lobbying campaign," said Hunter.
Back in 1999, before the accountability law, said Hunter, the amount of time state workers spent away from their jobs on union work amounted to an estimated 60,000 hours at a taxpayer-subsidized cost of around $1 million.
"The staff at the civil service commission in Lansing estimates it's probably three times that amount," said Hunter, "because there were no good records kept" as to who was taking time, for what reason, what the matter concerned, etc.
"When people have to fill out forms and certify [what they're doing], they tend to be more honest than if it's just 'take my word for it, I'm going to a grievance meeting,'" said Hunter.
Taxpayer subsidies for unions also remain a bone of contention at the federal level, said Stefan Gleason of the National Right to Work Committee
"You have a very large number of employees who get paid full time to not be at their job a lot of the time doing union work," Gleason said. "There's just incredible allowances being made for full-time federal employees to do a lot of union work on the federal payroll."
Official time for collective bargaining and other activities authorized by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) is a right granted by federal statute, while official time allowed for other purposes is a matter negotiated with the unions.
According to a Sept. 30, 1997, report by the General Accounting Office, "most of the federal organizations responding to our survey did not provide comprehensive data on resources used for union activities."
Overall, according to the report, data provided by 34 federal agencies were "insufficient" in revealing the total resources used for union activities. But, for example, 12 agencies reported a total of 1,028,544 hours in fiscal year 1996.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) last year demanded that agency heads report by the end of each fiscal year the number of "official time" hours used by employees. One OPM official said the data on that project was still being compiled, but additional OPM officials familiar with the matter were not made available for further comment.
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