The Wall Street Journal has been thumping on the NEA for years, at least since then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige denounced the union as a "terrorist organization" back in 2004 when it opposed Republican measures.

One of the links in this WSJ editorial seems to not deliver what's promised. "The good news is that for the first time members can find out how their union chieftains did their political thinking for them, by going to www.union-reports.dol.gov, where the Labor Department has posted the details." I've searched this site and can't find any of the promised information. Can any of you find this data on this site?

I'm not about to get into defending each individual grant that the NEA has ever issued. I suggest that we might keep the alleged $65 million in context by going to http://www.nea.org/newsreleases/...5/ nr051223.html for "Congress Strips Billions from Public Education."
CharlieABQ | 01.05.06 - 10:16 am | #

You just have to know where to look...

http://union-reports.dol.gov/olm...docs/ index.html

Have fun!
Mario Burgos | Homepage | 01.05.06 - 3:13 pm | #

Thanks for the help with the link.

Seeing the entire budget laid out is interesting. Yes, the executives are overpaid. Yes, it looks like they are donating to groups that aren't directly related to wages and conditions; in addition to the wages and conditions, many unions are active promoters of the working class. We can understand why the WSJ, an ardent defender of the ruling class, would object to this.

At least the NEA has its 2005 report in the system. Looking for unions that might be making contributions to right-wing organizations (e.g., the Teamsters) finds few 2005 reports online. Perhaps this will be corrected in the next few years under the new rules of transparency.
CharlieABQ | 01.06.06 - 11:19 am | #