The Miami-based United Teachers of Dade and the Washington Teachers Union have generated headlines for embezzlement scandals so big that the American Federation of Teachers was forced to take control of both affiliates in an attempt to restore order.
But these two episodes are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to financial corruption, said David Kendrick, who tracks union corruption as director of the Organized Labor Accountability Project at the National Legal and Policy Center.
Kendrick said other affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), its chief competitor, are responsible for abusing their members' dues.
"Right now, there's no real standard except for what the 50 states require of government unions in terms of financial disclosure," he said. "As the Bush administration is trying to increase financial disclosure among the private sector unions, Congress probably ought to look at how to do that with the government unions as well."
Even though private sector unions have to abide by the Labor Department's financial disclosure rules - listing liabilities and assets, among other things - regulations for teachers unions representing government workers are much more lax or nonexistent, Kendrick explained in a January commentary for CNSNews.com.
The Labor Department, under the direction of the Bush administration, has made the financial disclosure forms easily accessible to the public on a searchable website. But those forms still don't contain the information that would help workers detect corruption, said Jami Lund, who oversees the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Paycheck Protection Project.
Lund said it wouldn't even take that much effort to supply the information.
"It's much the same thing that's done for stockholders," he said. "The companies are doing it because they are required to disclose to their stockholders certain things about what's going on so you can't get taken for a ride. I think the same sort of disclosure requirement is due for union employees."
Unions have steadfastly opposed attempts to hold them accountable for their spending habits. Lund said the Bush administration hasn't gone as far as he would like to tighten the rules, which is partly the result of courting the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
Union officials didn't return calls seeking comment.
Last week, the AFT hired a veteran labor lawyer to restore credibility to the United Teachers of Dade. The circumstances surrounding the scandal involve longtime union leader Pat Tornillo, who allegedly stole money for his personal use.
Similar events played out last November in Washington, D.C., where that union's president, Barbara Bullock, is now facing charges for laundering embezzled funds.
While both of those embattled affiliates belong to the AFT, the NEA isn't immune to its own problems. At the Massachusetts Teachers Association, former Finance Director Richard Anzivino is accused of gambling $802,000 of union money. He pleaded not guilty two weeks ago.
Neither officials at the NEA's national headquarters nor an attorney from the Massachusetts chapter returned calls from CNSNews.com.
Mike Antonucci, director of the Education Intelligence Agency, said that unless changes are made in the way unions operate, scandals like the ones in Washington and Miami are bound to happen again.
He said, however, it's not fair to call every union official corrupt since it's more of a product of the environment rather than the individual.
"These people are not accountable to the people below them, and that's what makes it so terrible," Antonucci said.
"There is just too much secrecy involved," he added. "Unless the members know what the union is doing, unless [the unions are] reporting to the members what they're doing and there are independent people to check it, we'll see more of this."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.