AWF Will Rate Co-Sponsorship of Sen. Cornyn/Rep. Sessions LMRDA Enforcement Act
click to view the Senate letter / click to view the House letter
April 14, 2008
Dear Senator,
On behalf of the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) and millions of rank-and-file hardworking Americans, I urge you to support the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Enforcement Act of 2008, which will be introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).
In an increasingly age of bi-partisan transparency and accountability, this Act will finally give the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) the tools necessary to enforce the blatant abuses occurred by labor unions in refusing to file or filing late, their financial reporting forms required by law.
On the heels of a legislative season filled with anti-worker freedom legislation, a labor appropriations bill which cut the OLMS budget by $2 million, failing to pass this act will give union corruption the seal of approval to resume crime & fiscal improprieties without consequence.
Since 2001, indictments resulting from OLMS investigations have increased 20 percent and the courts have ordered restitution to union members of over $101 million. At the same time, the OLMS has obtained 781 convictions of union officers who have abused their position by stealing funds. Increased incentives, such as the fines provided for in this Act, are necessary to ensure these abuses of rank-and-file American dues paying workers do not continue.
This Act will promote compliance with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) and enable the OLMS to continue its successful efforts by motivating full legal compliance by labor unions. Despite the lack of additional funding, with sufficient resources, the OLMS can be even more effective in its criminal pursuit. There are approximately 15,800 unions that filed the financial disclosure Form LM-2 and LM-3 last year. The OLMS, due to funding, only had the ability to audit a mere 4% of them. On average, 35% of all unions fail to comply with financial reporting laws each and every year.
Senator, after this 110th Congress failed to restore funding to such a highly successful agency, I am urging you to give them the necessary enforcement power to adequately monitor and ensure that hard-working union members’ dues are being reported and accounted for.
I urge you to vote “YES” on Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Enforcement Act of 2007, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and we WILL RATE this vote.
Sincerely,
Brian M Johnson,
Director of Policy
