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One of the largest<\/span> and most politically active public workers\u2019 unions in the country is facing an audit from the Department of Labor in what the union sees as an attack fueled by conservative dark-money groups aligned with the Trump administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n A letter the DOL sent this week to the Chicago Teachers Union, obtained by The Intercept, requests a meeting with the union to \u201cobtain detailed information about the union and its financial records, bookkeeping practices, and internal controls.\u201d<\/p>\n Organizations can be chosen for auditing for a number of reasons, but the letter\u2019s timing raised suspicion within the teachers union and with outside experts. It came on the eve of the deadline for the union to turn over financial documents to a House committee targeting the union based on claims circulated by an Illinois right-wing anti-union group.<\/p>\n The Chicago Teachers Union has been one of the organizations at the forefront of the fight<\/a> against the Trump administration\u2019s deportation efforts<\/a>, making it a clear target for the administration\u2019s attacks. The group has vocally criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, provided <\/a>\u201cdefend your rights\u201d training for families and students, and formed \u201csidewalk solidarity\u201d lines to help students and their families safely avoid immigration agents. The union\u2019s president, Stacy Davis Gates, who is Black, has been a target of the right<\/a> since she took office in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n Davis Gates said her union has worked hard to \u201csupport working families, Black students, immigrant students, Brown students\u201d and win accommodations for transgender and queer students. \u201cThat\u2019s our work. And so those things seem to be in clear opposition to [how] the MAGA administration is moving.\u201d<\/p>\n Both the DOL and the House Committee on Education and Workforce are demanding documents mandated by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, which requires the union to provide its members with financial audits. In November, the House committee sent the union a letter <\/a>accusing it of failing to provide the documentation from fiscal years 2019 to 2024.<\/p>\n The union complied with the House committee\u2019s request but objected to this characterization in a letter sent on Friday, calling out the request\u2019s \u201csimilarity\u201d to litigation from outside groups seeking the union\u2019s financial records.\u00a0<\/p>\n The House inquiry exclusively cites sources<\/a> connected with the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank with deep ties to Republican megadonors. John Tillman, an influential conservative activist, relaunched the group in 2007 and founded several other conservative groups, including the Liberty Justice Center \u2014 which is currently suing the Chicago Teachers\u2019 for its financial audits<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The union fears that the audits could could become accessible to the public, including the Illinois Policy Institute and Liberty Justice Center.<\/p>\n The union shared its independent auditors\u2019 reports from 2018 to 2024 with The Intercept and said that it has been a faithful steward of teachers\u2019 dues and increased revenue under Davis Gates\u2019s leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is that the union has always shared its audits with its members,\u201d said Robert E. Bloch, an attorney representing the Chicago Teachers Union. \u201cThey\u2019re just trying to force the publication of the audits to the general public so that they can try to find things to attack the union over.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Members of the union and its allies told The Intercept they see the House inquiry as part of a coordinated attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur perspective is that the Illinois Policy Institute is essentially a state chapter of Project 2025, and their sole purpose has been to undermine Stacy Davis Gates\u2019s leadership and the thousands of Chicago educators that she represents,\u201d a Chicago Teachers Union spokesperson said on Wednesday. \u201cAnd so now MAGA Republicans here in Washington have taken the bait.\u201d<\/p>\n The size and power of the Chicago Teachers Union makes it an especially appealing target for right-wing entities looking to damage the labor movement and public education in one big blow, said Jacob Remes, a labor historian at New York University.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf what you\u2019re trying to do is bust unions, you go after the big ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cIn most states \u2026 the statewide teachers union is, if not the biggest, among the biggest unions in the state,\u201d Remes said. \u201cAnd so if what you\u2019re trying to do is bust unions, you go after the big ones.\u201d<\/p>\n The union said it is far more transparent than the organizations accusing it of malfeasance. \u201cOne of the ironies is that unions are the most regulated entities in the United States. Everyone is looking at their finances all the time,\u201d said Kurt Hilgendorf, deputy chief of staff at the Chicago Teachers Union.<\/p>\n Funding for the Illinois Policy Institute is fairly opaque. According to ProPublica<\/a>, the think tank received roughly $890,000 and $1.4 million from DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund specifically for conservative donors. Contributors to donor-advised funds are not legally required to disclose their identities, which makes them an effective way for donors to remain anonymous<\/a>. DeSmog, a group tracking major polluters and their financial backers, found that IPI also received roughly $2 million <\/a>from Donors Capital Fund, another conservative donor-advised fund<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The publicly available donors have deep ties to the MAGA world. According to DeSmog, the Illinois Policy Institute has received over $4.5 million from the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, which is run by Trump <\/a>megadonor Richard Uihlein<\/a>, and $1.1 million from the Mercer family<\/a>, which donated millions to elect Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Illinois Policy Institute did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n An attorney for the Liberty Justice Center said its work is nonpartisan and that it does not coordinate directly with the Illinois Policy Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis case has nothing to do with partisan politics. LJC has represented clients from across the political spectrum and has filed lawsuits against both Republican and Democratic government officials,\u201d wrote \u00c1ngel Valencia, senior counsel at Liberty Justice Center. \u201cAs an independent nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, Liberty Justice Center does not coordinate operations, strategy, or fundraising with IPI.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The group also denied any coordination with Republican lawmakers. \u201cOur organization has had zero contact with the House Committee as it relates to their actions,\u201d wrote\u00a0Valencia. \u201cOur lawsuit is completely separate and unrelated. To insinuate otherwise is false, misleading and desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n