Unions Don't Have EFCA (Yet), But Have Won Other Victories That Make It Easier to Organize Employees

While organized labor hasn't yet gotten the Grand Prize they were promised by President Obama, the Employee Free Choice Act, they have won several behind-the-scenes battles that will make it easier for them to organize employers.

In virtually every campaign, we suggest the employer pull out the Union's LM-2 -- that is a detailed financial statement required by the Labor Management Relations Act to be filed yearly by every labor organization. Some of the expenses are startling to many employees -- airplanes, expensive cars, huge salaries for union officials, luxury hotels and restaurants, just to name a few.

Labor Secretary Solis (appointed by Obama) and her political allies have withdrawn rules intended to promote disclosure of union finances. (The Bush Administration issued new regulations calling for more detailed information to be filed by unions and trusts controlled by unions. The disclosure forms are called the T-1, LM-2 and LM-3 forms. During the Bush administration unions argued unsuccessfuly for weaker union reporting standards.)

Now, the “revised” forms proposed by Solis will allow unions to hide their expenses more easily. The revisions are still another reward for Big Labor at the expense of transparency to employees and union members.

While organized labor has problems in Congress, its allies in the Obama administration are allowing them to achieve under cover what they have not been able to achieve in public.