The Union Transparency Rule Unions Don’t Want

The Department of Labor just tightened union financial disclosure rules, and the AFL-CIO raced to court to stop it.

The new rule overhauls the LM-2 reports unions file under the 1959 Landrum-Griffin Act. About 104 of the largest unions will complete a new long-form LM-2 with dozens of schedules, including itemized receipts, officer travel, full compensation packages, and separately reported foreign transactions. The DOL says it is about deterring embezzlement and modernizing disclosure.

The AFL-CIO sued, arguing the rule “blindsided” unions, skipped notice-and-comment, and gives unions just 30 days to retool their accounting. On June 30, Judge Boasberg declined to block it. The rule took effect July 1.

This is transparency for union members – the dues payers – who can now see how their money splits between representation, organizing, and politics. As one critic put it, the labor movement has “dues payers and dues takers,” and their interests don’t always align.