Just How Accurate Are Those LM-2s and LM-3s?
In mid-November, according to the St. Louis Business Journal, Mary Love, former president of the American Federation of Governmental Employees (AFGE) union Local 96, was convicted “of two felony counts of falsifying government forms and three felony counts of theft of money from a government agency.” AFGE Local 96 is a union which represents government employees at the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center,
In October, Dianna France, the union’s former treasurer, “pleaded guilty . . . to related charges.”
Between them, “the two women illegally took $69,125.80 of Local 96 funds.”
Yet, when it came time to fill out the Government form that every union is required by the Department of Labor to file yearly in order to ensure that no improper financial transactions are occurring, what did they do? “Each woman signed the Form LM-3 attesting to its accuracy, knowing that they were concealing the true amounts of money they had taken from Local 96 . . . .”
What it all boils down to is that no federal “Form” can protect workers from corrupt union officials.
Until all workers are granted the freedom to decide as individuals whether or not a labor union, like any other private group, deserves their financial support, federally-authorized compulsory union dues will continue to be enticing fodder for corrupt union officials.