NEA general counsel Bob Chanin explained it well in July 2009:

• It is not because we care about children, and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues …”

Willing? Dues payments aren’t voluntary in most instances. They get taken from the paychecks of teachers whether they support the NEA or not.