The Michigan Education Association announced a drop in 2023 membership numbers less than a month after union president Chandra Madafferi said membership is on the upswing.

“We have signed up more members this fall, year over year, than we have in the last five, six, seven years – a long time,” Madafferi told The Detroit News in a Nov. 12 story. Madaferri took her post in July.

But a federal filing at the end of the month told a different story. The MEA currently has 78,817 non-retired/non-trainee members. It had 79,837 such members in 2022 — meaning the latest number is a 1,020 member decrease, according to the organization’s LM-2, a mandatory report filed with the U.S. Office of Labor-Management Standards. The newly released membership numbers are among the lowest ever recorded.

The decline in membership over the past year has cost the union around $668,100 in dues, at $655 per lost member.

The flight from the teachers union came even though teacher employment has spiked in Michigan. There were more teachers in 2022 and 2023 than in any year since 2008.

Michigan had 111,419 teachers in 2008. That number rose to 115,800 in 2022 and to 113,845 this year. The number of teachers employed by Michigan public schools has increased even though enrollment dropped from 1,645,742 students in 2008 to 1,437,279 this year.

The MEA had 117,265 members in 2012. Membership fell to 78,475 by 2020. The union did see a spike in 2020, with 83,344 members reported. That figure has since decreased by 4,527.

Madafferi did not respond to a request for comment.

General Motors Corp. will lay off 900 workers from Orion Assembly in January 2024.

The company received roughly $824 million in corporate welfare from Michigan lawmakers less than two years ago, in January 2022. Taxpayers spent $600 million to create 4,000 jobs, up to $158 million for renewable energy projects (as the factory would build electric vehicles), and $66.1 million in site readiness.

“The Michigan Economic Development Corporation also authorized a State Education Tax abatement to be used in conjunction with the locally approved Orion Township abatement in support of the GM expansion,” the state announced at the time.

Orion Township threw in property tax abatements.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined GM CEO Mary Barra in the announcement, touting the good-paying jobs the plant would create.

"GM's $7 billion investment in Michigan — the largest in their history — will create and retain 5,000 good-paying jobs and enable us to build on our legacy as the place that put the world on wheels," Whitmer said at the time.

"When it comes to investing in Michigan, GM and I have the same philosophy: 'Everybody In.' Michigan's future is bright, and I will continue working with anyone to make transformational investments in our economy, create good-paying jobs, and empower working families."

Barra runs the no. 21 company on the Fortune 500 list. But in her public statement, she said the Orion investment would not have been possible if not for corporate welfare.

"These important investments would not have been possible without the strong support from the governor, Michigan Legislature, Orion Township, the City of Lansing, Delta Township,” Barra said, before mentioning the United Auto Workers union.

UAW officials spoke of the General Motors investment as one that would “benefit families for decades to come.”

Two years later, 911 Orion Township factory workers will start the year in need of work.

Read the General Motors WARN Notice for yourself