Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Despite the fact that unions are prohibited from forcing public employees to pay dues after the Janus v. AFSCME decision in U.S. Supreme Court in 2018, taxpayers are still being forced to pay for union business through a practice called union release time.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute reported public employees are still allowed to perform union business during work hours and taxpayers are paying for it, which the institute calls a misuse of public funds.
"Tax dollars are intended to promote a public purpose, not private interests," the agency said. "In the case of release time, only government unions benefit from this public expenditure."
The agency reported that in Texas, public employees used union release time to attend things like fishing tournaments and retirement barbecues.
"Ultimately, union release time is an unnecessary subsidy to government unions that serves the interests of unions and their members, not the public," the agency said.
Taxpayers don't receive a direct benefit from the union release time, it said.
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