‘Ripping Off The American Taxpayer’: Most Americans ‘Fed Up’ With Partisan Union Activity

The majority of Americans want federal workers to stop participating in union activities while on the job, new polling shared with The Daily Wire from a union watchdog shows.

The Public Labor Union Accountability Committee released polling on Monday showing that 91% of Americans want to know how much it costs them for government workers to do union activities during their working hours. The same poll found that 88% of Americans want more transparency around government unions and how much they cost taxpayers. 

“We asked voters what they think about public sector unions — and the results were clear,” the committee said in a memo on its polling. “Americans are fed up with the unions’ highly partisan political activity and voiced strong support for more transparency and accountability in how they operate.”

The polling was a nationwide survey of 600 registered voters through an online panel. 

Government unions are notoriously partisan, heavily backing Democrat candidates. In the 2024 election, the four largest public unions — American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) — gave $708 million to Democrat candidates. 

Those surveyed by the Public Labor Union Accountability Committee opposed the overwhelming slant of union spending toward Democrats. Sixty-five percent were opposed to the fact ​​that “last year, the nation’s largest union of federal employees gave over 95% of its political donations to one political party.”

Mary Katharine Ham, a new senior advisor for the watchdog, told The Daily Wire public unions were mainly a tool for Democrat politicians, not American workers. 

“These public sector unions pretend to stand up for workers, when they are really a money laundering outfit for the Democratic Party – ripping off the American taxpayer at every turn,” she said. “Big labor is the power center for Democrats – their organizing muscle and money. They stand in the way of common sense, of our federal government being more accountable and better run. And some of their demands are pure comedy.” 

Large majorities also demanded that “federal employees should not be allowed to influence a presidential election” (75%) and “public sector unions need to stay out of politics” (70%).

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has introduced new legislation called the “Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act” which would mandate federal unions reimburse the government when employees use official working hours to do union work. 

“No surprise — new polling shows the American People want more transparency surrounding public sector unions,” Perry told The Daily Wire. “The bill is a commonsense fix against ever present waste, fraud, and abuse. We need more union watchdogs like PLUAC holding government unions accountable.”

President Donald Trump has already taken action to curb the activity of some government unions. Last month, he signed an executive order that ends collective bargaining for hundreds of thousands of federal employees whose work is related to national security.