A newly-released report from the conservative Americans for Limited Government (ALG), obtained by Breitbart News, found that taxpayers are footing a $4.8 million bill for the salaries of 35 union officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The ALG report used documents the group obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) showing that taxpayers are actually paying these 35 union officials’ salaries. Only three of them make less than $100,000 per year, and the average taxpayer-funded union boss salary is $138,175 per year.
Eight of the union bosses on the taxpayer payroll at the Department of Transportation make more than $170,000, too.
The union officials taxpayers are paying for come from various labor unions, too. They include the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the AFL-CIO affiliated Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS).
ALG president Bill Wilson said in a release announcing the report that it’s “obscene that in one Department alone, taxpayers are being stuck with almost $5 million in public employee union salary costs, these unions collect member dues and should pay for their own employees.”
“Big Labor has been a primary financier for the far left advocates of expanded government, it is time for elected officials to cut off the gravy train of having the taxpayers pay for union salaries,” Wilson said. “It is simply wrong for American workers who have a median household income of just more than $50,000, to pay the freight for non-productive government workers who make more than two and a half times that amount.”
ALG notes that labor unions have in recent years become “increasingly dependent” on public sector unionization because private sector unions’ membership levels have plummeted. To stay relevant and remain a political force with an adequate cash flow, unions have targeted virtually helpless government workers to try to fill the void.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation didn’t immediately respond to Breitbart News’ request for comment.
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