President Obama’s U.S. Labor Department continues to rollout gifts for Big Labor Bosses according to House Republican Leader’s blog post:

Transparency Should Apply to Union Bosses Too

In a memo to the heads of executive departments and agencies earlier this year, President Obama declared, “My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.”  A noble sentiment – but it apparently doesn’t apply to the Department of Labor or the union bosses it’s charged with overseeing.

As the House Education and Labor Committee Republicans noted today, the U.S. Department of Labor has formally rescinded a series of reporting changes designed to enhance union disclosure.

The aim of these rule changes is to weaken union oversight requirements – a trend this Administration started with its FY 2010 budget, which cut $4.4 million from the Office of Labor Management Standards, more than a 10 percent reduction in its overall budget.  Judging by the profligate spending this Administration has applied to nearly every other department – giving the federal budget a nearly 10 percent boost in spending, cutting union oversight seems an odd place to “save money” – unless reducing transparency, and not saving money, were their aims. 

Part of the transparency roll back for union bosses includes the following items that the Labor Department will no longer require of unions:

• Disclose the total value of benefits received by union officers and employees;
• Disclose the names of parties buying and selling union assets; or
• Itemize union receipts

This isn’t the transparency the American people were promised.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is walking back on its promises of “openness” and “transparency” – and it’s rank-and-file union members who’ll pay the price.

And while the Republican Leader is right, he, as he has done in the past, either forgets, ignores, or leaves out the fact that 80% of these rank-and-file workers labor under contracts that force them to pay these dues and fees as a condition of employment.  While Chairman of the Education and Welfare Committee, the now Republican Leader failed to engage on the issue of forced unionism under federal law.  One wonders what he would do now – if he gets the chance.

Just five days after the 30-day extension was signed and only one day before the comment period was scheduled to end; the Department of Labor allowed the public to know that it plans to extend the comment period regarding Labor Secretary Solis’ rescission decision concerning current LM-2, Union Financial Disclosure Reports.  These reports would have helped expose where billions in forced union dues are going.  Remember, you have only 31 more days to plead for retention of union transparency — make your comments count. 

May 20, 2009

Form LM-2 and Form LM-3 Rulemaking: Comment Period Extended

The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) will publish a notice in the Federal Register on May 21, 2009, extending the period for comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published on April 21, 2009 (74 FR 18172).  See link.

The April 21, 2009 NPRM proposed to rescind the final rule published on January 21, 2009 (74 FR 3677), which made several revisions to the current Form LM-2, used by the largest labor organizations to file their annual financial reports under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as amended, and established a procedure by which the Secretary of Labor may revoke, under certain circumstances, a particular labor organization’s authorization to file a simplified annual report, Form LM-3.  For more background on this rulemaking, please visit here.

The comment period for the proposed rescission of the January 21, 2009 final rule, which was to close on May 21, 2009, will now close on June 22, 2009.

For additional information, including how to submit comments on the proposal to rescind, please visit the Form LM-2 and Form LM-3 rulemaking page on the OLMS Web site at: link.

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