LOCAL UNION OFFICERS DONATIONS TO A POLITICAL-ACTION COMMITTEE

During the 1980s, unions in the United States significantly increased their political activity, partly as a strategic response to declining membership. An important aspect of this effort is contributing money t o congressional and presidential candidates through political action c ommittees (PACs). U.S. federal election campaign laws allow unions to raise PAC money from members on a strictly voluntary basis. Elected lo cal union officers may play an important part in union PAC fundraising , as they are a sizable cadre of potential donors and their donations may send powerful signals to rank-and-file to donate as well. This pap er examines the PAC donations among a sample of elected local union of ficers of the United Steelworkers of America (USW). The descriptive re sults show significant variation in officers' PAC donations. Regressio n analyses show char union commitment is a significant predictor of PA C support as is location in a non-right-to-work state The results have implications for promoting union PAC fundraising efforts, and hence t he potential of U.S. unions to rely on political action as a strategy for resurgence.