Ed Schultz Paid Nearly $200,000 By Unions in 2011, According to Labor Dept.

What a shock -- labor unions paying one of their biggest cheerleaders in the media.

Perhaps Ed Schultz could explain what he does for unions to warrant such largesse. I don't recall hearing anything along these lines on his radio program or MSNBC show. (graphic after page break)

In fiscal 2011, Schultz received $190,000 from the Communications Workers of America for what the U.S. Department of Labor categorized as "representational activities."

For swag like that, you'd think Schultz could at least get it right about the CWA name. Instead, he invariably refers to it as the "Communication" Workers of America when its president, Larry Cohen, is a guest on Schultz's radio show, as Cohen often is.

Schultz also received $9,900 in fiscal 2011 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), putting his union haul for the year at almost $200,000.

This represented a fivefold increase over the $37,350 Schultz received from unions in fiscal 2010 -- $15,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), $14,850 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and $7,500 from the Communications Workers of America.

A Labor Department spokesman confirmed to NewsBusters that Schultz received $190,000 from CWA  in fiscal 2011, far from than the $7,500 he was paid by the union a year earlier. The spokesman said unions are mandated to report such payments as required by the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.

For its fiscal 2010 payment to Schultz, the union characterized the payment as pertaining to "union administration," according to Labor Department records.

The fiscal year before that, unions paid Schultz $42,500 -- $17,500 from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, $10,000 from AFSMCE, and $7,500 each from the Building and Construction Trades union and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. All were for "political activities," according to the Labor Department.

In fiscal 2008, Schultz was paid $22,304 by unions -- $10,000 from United Steelworkers (for "union administration"), $7,304 from Air Traffic Controllers ("general overhead"), and $5,000 from Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 189 in Columbus, Ohio. ("general overhead" again).

Worth noting is that Schultz's cable program on MSNBC, "The Ed Show," debuted in April 2009 -- and that union payments to Schultz nearly doubled from a year earlier.

In fiscal 2007, Schultz was paid by only a single union, receiving $8,616 from the IBEW for "representational activities," according to the Labor Department.

A year earlier, unions paid Schultz $21,820 -- $8,820 from AFSCME, $7,500 from Laborers' International (both for "union administration"), and $5,500 from Air Traffic Controllers ("political activities"). In fiscal 2005, the same year Schultz launched his radio show, he was paid by only one union, $5,000 from Laborers' International. ("union administration") The payment from the Air Traffic Controllers union was made to the "Ed Schultz Show," Labor Department records show.

All told, Schultz has been paid $337,490 by unions in the last seven years, according to the Labor Department. These same records show no payments from unions to Schultz between fiscal years 2000 to 2004 -- before Schultz became such a passionate advocate for unions over the airwaves.