Teachers’ union president pulled six-figure salary while pushing school closures

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten’s gross salary was over $426,000 from 2020-2021, according to the union’s federal LM-2 filing cited in a report by Americans for Fair Treatment. This is nearly seven times more than the average teacher salary in the United States.

Ms. Weingarten raked in her six-figure salary “while simultaneously pushing for schools to stay shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic,” reported the Daily Caller.

When the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] announced in-person instruction was safe in January of 2021, the AFT called the reopening “reckless and unsafe” for educators and children.

More resistance than cooperation

Emails between top CDC, AFT, and White House officials confirmed the teachers’ union had influence on the school reopening guidance the CDC released in February 2021.

Prior to that is a treasure trove of evidence of how AFT unions “offered more resistance than cooperation” to school reopening efforts, despite Weingarten’s statement that her union had been trying for a year to reopen schools.

A handful of studies have found that school closures were driven more by teachers’ union influence than actual safety concerns.

Suzanne Bates with Americans for Fair Treatment told the Daily Caller that “teachers are frustrated with how the union is representing them.”

“The cities were most affected by school closures during Covid-19 and Randi Weingarten was absolutely at the forefront of trying to keep schools closed,” Bates said. “Now of course, I think we all knew this was coming, we’re seeing that this has had huge impacts on children, and they’re way behind, especially in these inner city schools.”

Minnesota educators who are members of the state’s teachers’ union, Education Minnesota, pay dues to the AFT that go toward not only Ms. Weingarten’s salary, but also funding left-wing political activities.

Union members who no longer wish to fund the union’s ideologically driven agenda can opt-out of membership from September 1 through September 30. Visit EducatedTeachersMN.com to learn more.