McHenry County Blog

Local papers have for years had reporters assigned to cover school districts.

So how is it newspapers never write about the stiff union dues teachers have to pay?

These dues are not optional when school districts agree to require every teacher to pay them. A school board can agree to a union shop in which even those who do not want to belong to the union must join or pay most of the dues for “representation.”

In Huntley District 158, for example, I'll bet the teachers have to pay almost $600 a year in dues.

Why so high?

Teacher unions have a huge infrastructure to support.

The Illinois Education Association gets $382 each year and the National Education Association's share is $153.

That adds up to $535.

The Huntley (HEA) union local dues are probably at least $40, maybe more.

So, you see, it's not tough to get to the neighborhood of $600 a year.


I wonder if the union's officers are exempt or have a cut rate.

In Huntley's case, with over 560 teachers and at $600 each, that would bring in well over $300,000 per year.

What does a teachers' union do with that kind of money?

And, if one is on the low end of the pay scale making, say $40,000 a year, that would be over 2% of the paycheck going to union dues.

And the $600 or so has to be paid with after-tax dollars. About $900 in salary would be needed to pay for this, considering all of the taxes taken out.

What is outrageous about the union dues is how a teachers who makes $40,000 get whacked for the same $575 (or more) as do the teachers making $80,000 or $100,000 per year.

Where is the fairness in that?

I wonder if anyone ever brings up how the lowest paid teachers get whacked such a high percentage of their salaries, while those who can afford to pay more pay the same dollar amount, but a much lower percentage of their pay.

And it would be hard not to be able to figure out that competent labor law attorneys, negotiators and analysts could be hired for a small fraction of the over $300,000 per year being extracted in union dues.

I wonder why the teachers in the more rural parts of Illinois don't revolt at being charged by the IEA and NEA the same amount as those living in the more highly paid Chicago metropolitan area.

As the income tax hike promoting IEA lobbyists push for more equity between the rich and poor school districts, does anyone but I see a disconnect in the lowest paid teachers paying the same dues as the highest paid teachers?

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The cars are mainly those of teachers, who turned out in force for the first night of negotiations with the Huntley School Board.

Labels: HEA, Huntley Education Association, Huntley School District 158