I always thought union dues were intended for use in making the workers environment better in some way. Dues should never be used for political purposes. I would never belong to a union. JMHO.
In theory, we can request the return any portion of the dues spent on political activities. In reality, when I asked for them, I was told my chapter didn’t spend any money on political activities. Technically, that was correct. WPEC is a subset of AFT. WPEC doesn’t, but AFT certainly does! Had I stayed in the union, I was planning to save all the mailers from the union telling me who they wanted me to vote for, and would have filed another claim. Oddly enough, even though I opted out, I’m STILL getting those mailers!!