Posts tagged George W. Bush administration
Labor Department toughens union transparency rules
June 9, 2026 // The purpose of the changes (and less substantial changes to the LM-2 for unions reporting receipts of $350,000 to $39,999,999) are to carry out the purposes of the LMRDA (and the consensus principle it codified): Ensure union members, prospective union recruits, and the public can appropriately track the use of member dues and compulsory fees required of workers in non-right-to-work states.
Michael Watson: Improving Union Annual Reporting
July 3, 2025 // Especially following the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which “collection” is funding what spending is important information for union members, and they deserve ready, single-site access. (Citizens United overturned a Taft-Hartley Act–derived ban on using union dues revenues for independent expenditures on behalf of candidates.) They should not need to cross-reference Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports and Labor Department reports to infer which pot of money paid for which spending. Instead, the Labor Department or Congress should revise the LM-2 form to require labor unions to specify the funding source, perhaps by adding a new schedule for expenditures to or by the “Separate Segregated Fund” (the technical name for the “second collection” pot of money) or by requiring specification of the source of funds for Schedule 16 and 17 expenditures related to politics and advocacy.