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Announcement by the Chairman

Floor Speech

Date: July 17, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Labor Unions


Announcement by the Chairman -- (House of Representatives - July 17, 2007)

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Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of the amendment introduced by my friend Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, a dedicated U.S. Marine veteran, which restores much needed funding to the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS). I applaud Representative KLINE's continued efforts to draw attention and support to this very important issue, and I appreciate his dedicated leadership in this area.

This straightforward amendment would add $2 million to the current legislation and restore funding for OLMS to its fiscal year 2007 levels. This addition would also enable the agency to hire 13 full-time employees.

The Office of Labor Management Standards plays a vital role in administering and enforcing provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, LMRDA. This bipartisan law was enacted by Congress to ensure standards of democracy and fiscal responsibility in labor organizations representing employees in private industry.

When enacting the LMRDA, Congress expressed that union members and the general public would benefit by having access to information about labor unions. As a result, each union subject to LMRDA is required to submit annual financial reports to OLMS. This public accountability is achieved through the filing of LM-2 forms. Millions of working Americans have a portion of their paychecks given to labor organizations, and they deserve to know where their hard-earned money is going.

According to a September 2006 Wall Street Journal article, up to 60 percent of labor organizations' budgets are going to PAC contributions and lobbying activities. In one instance, only 36 percent of the funds actually went to representing union members in labor negotiations.

There is a high level of demand for this information. In fact, between May 2006 and May 2007, there were 767,908 hits on OLMS's website. That's an average of about 64,000 per month and over 2,100 per day.

Again, I am pleased to recognize the important work of the Office of Labor Management Standards, and I urge members to support this amendment.

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