US Vice President Kamala Harris, right, waves with Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, at the National Education Association 2022 annual meeting and representative assembly in Chicago, Illinois. The Biden admin has maintained close relationships with unions. (Tannen Maury/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Not only do unions play politics and lobby with union members' money, but they also have members directly affecting public policy and driving political decisionmaking as state employees," Osborne continued. "It's a level of influence no other special interest group would be permitted to exercise."
According to the report, New York has the highest number of workers represented by a government union (around 219,000) and the most state government dues-paying members (around 174,000).
The foundation, however, found that Connecticut had the highest "union density" rate due to its entire government workforce belonging to public unions. The "union density" rate refers to "the number of dues-paying union members compared to the total number of state employees," which "gives a sense of the overall level of union entrenchment in state government," according to the report.
Additionally, the foundation noted that the states with the five lowest union density rates - Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Colorado, and North Dakota - have labor laws "generally more friendly to workers than other states."
"When coupled with the grades of the states with the highest union density rates, this data suggests that when a state's legal environment does not blatantly favor government unions, state employees are more likely to decline unionization and union membership," the group said.
The Commonwealth Foundation sought public records from all 50 states for its study but received information from just 27 of them. The group says California, Illinois and Missouri withheld the requested information using laws that exempt unions from such requests.
REPUBLICANS WARN BIDEN ADMIN'S FOREIGN FARM WORKER RULE IS 'GIVEAWAY TO BIG LABOR'
The Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC received tens of millions from unions during the 2022 election cycle. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Among its notable political expenditures was a combined $157 million between the unions' PACs at the federal level, including disbursements of $38 million to the Sen. Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, $30 million to the NEA Advocacy Fund and $28 million to the SEIU Political Education and Action Fund/United We Can.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The union PACs also sent $8.34 million directly to candidates, with an overwhelming majority ($8.29 million) benefiting Democrats. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia was the top recipient, and his campaign landed over $60,000 from the PACs.
Additionally, the Commonwealth Foundation discovered that around $145 million had made its way to the state and local levels throughout the 2022 election cycle.
The four unions did not respond to past Fox News Digital's requests for comment on the previous report.
Joe Schoffstall is a politics producer/reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Joe.Schoffstall@Fox.com and on Twitter: @joeschoffstall
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-has-the-highest-number-of-government-union-workers-report-finds