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Strange Bedfellows? Not so much.
Just in time for campaign fundraising season, Democrats are lining up to support unions and fill their campaign coffers. As campaigns file their year-end reports with the Federal Election Commission, it becomes much more obvious who’s in bed with whom. State Rep. Sal Pace’s (D) campaign for Congress finished 2011 with a surge of money, [...]

Posted February 3, 2012
Twenty-Three Right-to-Work States
Gov. Mitch Daniels signed right-to-work legislation into law yesterday, solidifying Indiana as the 23rd right-to-work state. Once Democrats in the House ended their boycott and gave Republicans a quorum, it was smooth sailing. Despite the noisy protestors, the Senate passed the legislation Wednesday and Daniels signed it almost immediately. The Band-Aid approach was hoped to quiet [...]

Posted February 2, 2012
Build Up to the Coming War
War drums are beating all over the country as Big Labor gears up for the fight to stay relevant in the American political landscape. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka began expanding his political operation last summer with a super PAC for the purposes of funding multi-cycle, issue advocacy as well as get-out-the-vote efforts. The new super [...]

Posted February 1, 2012

Union Leader Fraud

OLMS Enforcement Statistics Financial Integrity
	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009
Indictments	98	166	132	109	114	118	99	NA	123
Convictions	102	90	152	111	97	129	118	NA	121
Source: Office of Labor-Management Standards

Embezzlement, False Reports, Violence, And More

Most people don't know just how many crimes are committed every year through which union officials hurt their own members. The number of reputed and verified crimes is staggering. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the hundreds of indictments of union officials for violations of the Labor Management and Reporting Disclosure Act. According to the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), those crimes include “embezzlement, filing false reports, keeping false records, destruction of records, extortionate picketing and deprivation of rights by violence.” The OLMS notes:

As part of its effort to protect and safeguard union funds and assets, OLMS investigates possible embezzlement from unions and other violations of criminal laws. Over the past 10 years, restitution of $102,615,236 has been paid or ordered to be paid to defrauded unions and other parties.

That's $102,615,236 million in restitution ordered for victimizing union members and others.

Labor and Racketeering Investigations
	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010
Cases opened	105	125	124	135	103	130	93	112	96	117
Cases closed	109	130	144	115	107	122	111	92	117	130
Cases referred for prosecution	57	74	66	87	88	105	80	74	81	105
Indictments	161	218	181	260	322	271	198	195	111	139
Convictions	92	154	120	143	196	241	183	214	146	112
Fines, restitutions, forfeitures, and civil monetary actions ($ in millions)	$42.5	$105.9	$27.9	$36.5	$187.9	$69.2	$27.1	$24.2	$76.2	$72.9
Source: Department of Labor Office of Inspector General

Labor Racketeering

The Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General oversees, among other things, cases of labor racketeering -- and it stays busy. Union officials have continued to earn their reputation for greed, corruption, and mismanagement of union dues.

Since FY 2001, racketeering investigations have yielded more than 2,000 indictments and awarded more than $3 billion in fines and restitution.. Many of these cases involve union officials failing to protect their members from unethical pension scams and internal union racketeering cases, but OIG’s website currently notes “a rapid rise of transnational organized crime groups that are engaging in new criminal enterprises … Specifically, OIG investigations have found that nontraditional organized criminal groups are exploiting the Department of Labor’s foreign labor certification and Unemployment Insurance programs.”

According to a 2004 Zogby International poll, 71% of union members said the government ought to do more to protect union members from corrupt union officials, and that unions should be required to give detailed reporting of union finances to discourage abuse.
According to the FBI, four of the last eight Teamsters presidents have been criminally indicted.

Nearly 50% of the U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General's labor racketeering investigations involve pensions and employee welfare benefit plans.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, “Schemes involving bribery, extortion, deprivation of union rights by violence, and embezzlement used by early racketeers are still employed to abuse the power of unions.”
An October 2010 Word Doctors poll reveals that 44% of public and government union members believe American unions are less honest and principled than they were 50 years ago. 26% said they were “not really sure” or thought it was “exactly the same.”