A few months ago I told you about rumored plans that the Obama administration and new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis would relax financial disclosure rules for labor union leaders. Well, they are rumors no longer. Listen to a new iVoices podcast I recorded with Scott Dilley about the federal disclosure rollback and what it means for workers: Check out this detailed posting at Labor Pains to get a further flavor of the hypocritical complaints from union leadership. The disclosure rollback is bad on another level, as well. As I wrote recently in the issue brief Setting the Standard for Pro-Worker Transparency (PDF), Colorado would do well to emulate the U.S. Department of Labor disclosure rules for its own public-sector unions. … [Read more...]
Barack Obama Would Play Jimmy Hoffa by Getting Union Bad Guys Off
Yesterday the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards reported its 900th conviction of union leaders for criminal activity. From the press release:During the month, OLMS obtained three convictions, seven indictments and court orders of restitution totaling more than $80,000. The office’s totals for fiscal year 2008 (which ended on Sept. 30, 2008) are 102 convictions and 130 indictments, with restitution of more than $3.2 million. The bulk of the cases involved the embezzlement of union funds. “The triple-digit numbers of indictments and convictions obtained by OLMS in the 2008 fiscal year demonstrates that criminal activity in unions is still a major problem. This problem points to the critical role … [Read more...]