Less than 2% of the Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council's spending in 2025 went to "representational activities," according to a report published by the Illinois Policy Institute analyzing the union's federal disclosures. The SEIU Illinois State Council, which serves as the umbrella affiliate for seven other SEIU chapters including SEIU Healthcare, filed its annual report with the U.S. Labor Department under oath from union leadership. The analysis reveals a stark imbalance between political expenditures and resources devoted to the union's core function of representing workers.
The State Council spent just over $42,000 on representational activities out of total spending exceeding $2.2 million in 2025, accounting for less than 2% of its budget. By contrast, the union directed $1.6 million toward political activities and lobbying, representing 72% of total expenditures. The Labor Department classifies representational activities as negotiating collective bargaining agreements and administering or enforcing the resulting contracts. Political spending outpaced worker representation by a ratio of 38 to 1, with over $1.1 million transferred to the SEIU State Council's political action committee. The union also made more than $250,000 in "contributions, gifts and grants," which often have political purposes. Recipients included $15,000 to Equality Illinois, an organization working to defeat legislation restricting girls' sports to biological females, and $10,000 to the Illinois Democratic County Chairs' Association, formed to advance Democratic Party priorities.
The report highlights that membership figures don't match the union's public claims. While SEIU State Council advertises itself as "a union 160,000+ members strong," its federal filing shows actual membership of just 129,346 in 2025. That gap of over 30,000 workers means one in five individuals represented by the union have declined membership. The Better Business Bureau's Standards of Charitable Accountability recommend that at least 65% of a nonprofit's expenses support program activities, the report notes. The pattern isn't an anomaly—SEIU State Council routinely prioritizes political spending over representational work, according to the analysis.
The spending disparity matters because it reveals where union resources flow once collected from members who have little control over those decisions. Once money reaches the political action committee, workers have no voice in determining which causes or candidates receive support, the report finds. State and local government employees in Illinois aren't required to join SEIU to keep their jobs—they can opt out of membership and stop paying dues while retaining all benefits in their collective bargaining agreements. The high rejection rate suggests workers may be responding to the union's resource allocation priorities. When a union spends 38 times more on political activities than on the contract negotiations and enforcement that form its foundational purpose, it creates a credibility gap with the workforce it claims to serve. Members watching their dues fund partisan organizations and political committees while receiving minimal direct representation face a clear choice about whether continued membership serves their interests.