Posts tagged Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act

    Ranking Member Cassidy Rebukes DOL’s Failure to Provide Requested Information on New Policy Unfairly Targeting Businesses

    October 25, 2023 // U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, rebuked the Department of Labor (DOL) for failing to provide details on its new policy that compels businesses to produce information related to union activity beyond the scope of DOL’s authority. Earlier this year, Cassidy requested DOL provide details about its enforcement of this policy as well as its legal authority to force businesses to provide this information. To date, DOL has failed to provide adequate responses to Cassidy’s inquiry. Under the Landrum-Griffin Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), employers are required to disclose any funds spent on “persuader activity,” or funding used during union representation campaigns to persuade employees against unionizing. The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), the office within DOL responsible for enforcing LMRDA, has begun enforcing a new policy that compels employers to provide information such as employee wages that is not related to LMRDA and beyond the scope of its enforcement power.

    Has a Firefighters’ Union Burned Its Members?

    April 17, 2023 // New information from a federal court case against the International Association of Fire Fighters-Financial Corporation (IAFF-FC) reveals alleged backroom deals, “kickbacks,” coercion, and greed by IAFF union leaders. The IAFF-FC was chartered as a nonprofit with a fiduciary duty to safeguard firefighters’ finances by offering a plethora of financial services, ranging from auto insurance to retirement with a focus on wealth management. But a recent federal lawsuit filed by John F. Hughes describes a much different reality.

    The Nation’s Largest Teachers’ Union Is Bleeding Members With a Shady Investment Scheme

    January 18, 2023 // For more than 17 years, the National Education Association (NEA) has been siphoning off millions in kickbacks for exploiting its members’ trust and convincing them to invest in annuities and other investment vehicles that charge outrageous fees and underperform compared to similar plans available on the open market.

    Reps Foxx and Allen Call For Greater OLMS Oversight

    November 18, 2022 // It’s no secret unions aren’t always the best arbiters of members’ funds. Just look at the UAW — several high ranking officials recently went to prison for a wide-scale corruption scandal that included embezzling hundreds of thousands of members’ dues dollars. For the sake of union members across the country, let’s hope we get better insight to OLMS enforcement sooner rather than later.

    Op-ed: Corruption in the Labor Movement: Labor Rackets

    November 17, 2022 // Corruption by labor union officials, whether in service to themselves, political allies, or organized crime syndicates, has been a fixture of American labor history since the labor movement first began to organize in the late 19th century. While the extent of criminal influence in organized labor has declined thanks to extensive federal law enforcement activity and judicial oversight, major corruption scandals continue to dog the union movement. From the recent kickback scheme at the United Auto Workers to the downfall of Philadelphia union boss and political fixer Johnny Doc Dougherty to the confession of former Teamsters boss John Coli, who was well connected to Chicago politicos, systemic corruption persists.