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Union Financial Disclosure
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Connections to Other Sources of Information
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Home
May 12, 2008
Union Political Money Black Hole
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The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management
Standards (OLMS) posts a variely of information about labor union finances on
its web site. On this page you can view union's financial disclosure forms and
also search the entire data base by "payer" and "payee." It is also possible to
research the pay and benefits of specific union officers and employees. This
information can be accessed at
http://www.unionreports.gov Recently the OLMS completed work on a new T-1 Form and regulations extending financial disclosure requirements to trusts dominated by labor unions. In April 2008, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy published "T-1 Could Help Terminate Union Financial Abuses." This is an excellent explanation of the issues involved. http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=9421 If you would like to get some idea just how important enforcement of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) is to protecting the integrity of the union movement, you should check out the OLMS web site on "Recent Criminal Enforcement Actions." There month after month you will find details about the efforts of OLMS to protect union members from corrupt influences. http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/olms/enforce_2008.htm In November 2007 the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has published a Policy Highlighter titled "Existing Federal Requirements for Labor Union Financial Transparency." This report contains information useful to those who are interested in encouraging state governments to require financial transparency of public sector unions exempt from the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act." http://www.effwa.org/main/article.php?article_id=2207&number=51 Because OLMS has been so successful in accomplishing its mission in regard to union financial disclosure, union allies in Congress cut its budget for fiscal year 2008. In August 2007, James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation wrote "Laboring Against Working Americans: Congress Should Not Cut the Office of Labor-Management Standards." This is a good explanation of what was happening and highlights some of OLMS's successes. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/wm1595.cfm On a slightly different topic, but one related to the public interest nature of transparency in the relations between public sector unions and government, the Capital Research Center's "Labor Watch" has published an article by Michael Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation titled "When Unions Negotiate With Governments: What Should the Public Know, When Should They Know It?" http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pubs.html?id=642
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