Did SEIU’s Andy Stern Violate Federal Conflict of Interest Reporting Laws, the Same Regs that the Obama Labor Department is Repealing?
by Don LoosThe Labor-Management Disclosure and Reporting Act (LMRDA) requires labor union officials to report potential or certain conflict-of-interests they might encounter if they receive gifts or cash payments from employers. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern may be in violation of that requirement since he has not filed a report disclosing $140,000 in advance payments from publisher and service industry employer Simon & Schuster.
In addition to this, documents made public during an intra-union California lawsuit and obtained by a “BigGovernment researcher” (posted on NRTWC.org’s Scribd, seen below) reveal that SEIU Treasurer Anna Burger recommended that the union use general treasury money, much collected from employees as a condition of employment, to promote Stern’s book, A Country that Works.
It’s not as if Stern has never filed a conflict-of-interest disclosure report; in fact, he has filed two in 2004 and one in 2005. But, why has he not filed any reports related to his special book deal?
SEIU President Andy Stern’s Book Advance and Past Conflict of Interest Reports (LM-30s)
Unfortunately for rank and file workers forced to pay dues or fees to the SEIU, rather than spending its resources investigating potential LMRDA violations, the Obama Labor Department (DOL) is busy rescinding conflict-of-interest and other union financial reporting requirements.
When President John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. Senator, introduced the bill that would become the LMRDA, Kennedy said:
The committee-reported bill is based on the legislation approved by the Senate last year and thus it too implements the remaining recommendations of the McClellan committee. In brief, the bill, S. 1555, would accomplish the following: (1) Full reporting and public disclosure of union internal processes; (2) Full reporting and public disclosure of union financial operations;… (4) Criminal penalties for failure to make such reports or for filing false reports; (5) Criminal penalties for false entries in and destruction of union records; (6) Full reporting and public disclosure of financial transactions and holdings, if any, by union officials which might give rise to conflicts of interest…
The Congress should check the abuses in order to foster the national labor policy. The Government which vests in labor unions the power to act as exclusive bargaining representative must make sure that the power is used for the benefit of workers and not for personal profit.
The committee bill attacks the problem by requiring union officers and employees to file reports with the Secretary of Labor disclosing to union members and the general public any investments or transactions in which their personal financial interests may conflict with their duties to the members. … The bill is drawn broadly enough, however, to require disclosure of any personal gain which an officer or employee may be securing at the expense of their union members.
The LMRDA specifically requires labor bosses like Stern to disclose “any payment of money or other thing of value (including reimbursed expenses) which he or his spouse or minor child received directly or indirectly from any employer.” The exceptions under the LMRDA do not apply to Stern’s payments from Simon & Schuster.
President Obama and his Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis are busy undermining the intent of the LMRDA. For example, Obama’s Labor Department rescinded disclosure of union bosses’ perks in mid-October. And, the Labor Department publicly states that it intends to rescind conflict-of-interest disclosure and eliminate teacher union financial disclosure.
Kennedy’s introduction continued:
The financial conduct of labor unions and their officers is a proper concern of the Federal Government. This is so because the funds that pass through union treasuries and for which unions and their officers are responsible are very large, and the uses to which these funds are put have a substantial impact on the Nation’s economy.
Furthermore, if unions are to enjoy [forced union monopolistic] rights such as are guaranteed to them by the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act, they ought also to be held responsible for abuses that have accompanied the exercise of these rights by some union leaders…
If any person who is required to make a report under this title fails to file or files a report which the Secretary of Labor believes is incomplete or false, the Secretary is directed to institute a full investigation armed with the power of subpoena…
Furthermore, if any union officer is convicted under these sections~ the labor organization is required by section 305(b) to remove him. If the union fails, it is subject. to criminal prosecution under section 305(c). The committee bill also forbids payment of fines or defense costs by a labor organization or employer for a person indicted or convicted of a violation of the act…
RACKETEERING, CORRUPTION, AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Widespread public concern over internal conditions in labor unions has resulted from sensational stories about the activities of criminal elements who forced their way into the labor movement and exploited the workers whom they pretended to serve…
Racketeering, crime, and corruption must be stamped out in the labor and management field as elsewhere. The committee bill carries strong measures for driving criminals from labor unions. Its provisions will also bring to light possible conflicts of interest and similar shadowy transactions through which unscrupulous union officials and employers sacrifice the welfare of employees to personal advantage.
Until the power to force workers, against their will, to pay dues to a labor union in order to keep or get a job is abolished, Big Labor Bosses should be held to the standards of the LMRDA. Will the DOL uphold these rules? The Obama Administration’s rescissions of union financial disclosure make it easier for union bosses to conceal their perks and insider deals. If DOL will not enforce the rules should we expect union bosses to follow them?
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18 Comments
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There is something Un-American when UNIONs can force a member to pay dues, to keep a job. Not much different than vote buying, when you really look at it.
let the cover-up begin– by rescinding those inconvenient little requirements that union bosses had hanging over their heads, until "their" guy was elected POTUS– conflict of interest, what conflict of interest?
These union bosses are in the WH!
Kennedy's little knat of rules and laws are not going to stop this WH occupant. He IS the Union Boss! He IS the community organizer!
The Narcissist and His Co-Dependents- http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html
How do we stop this carnage? Enough is enough, I can take no more of this administration corruption at every turn.
Oh yeah…Big Government, shoot high. Light up Andy Sterns ass, “they hit us, hit back twice as hard,” so says the Barry!
It would seem that these untouchables skirt the law with a wink and a nod by those that are, by oath sworn to enforce it. If the police will not police the system, is it any wonder when citizens rise up, and cut away the rotting vine. Keep subjugating the innocent, the sword of righteousness will strike you down. Sic Simper Tyrannous.
Pay to work… isn't that kinda like Pay to Vote? Just sayin…
I feel sorry for all those union members that don't want to be part of the union but are forced to pay and then their hard earned money is used for this trash. There should ba an anti-union union.
Bur'aq al Obummer got some practice pardoning that turkey. He's gonna NEED it pardoning all of the turkeys he hangs with.
http://noliberalspin.blogtownhall.com/2009/12/02/...
The Anti Liberal Zone
Strange Bedfellows Alert:
Simon & Schuster paid $140,000 in advance payments. Amazon lists the publisher (hardcover and softcover) as Free Press.
In the 1990s, under the direction of Erwin Glikes, the Free Press became a publisher of politically conservative works, including The Bell Curve, Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man, David Brock's The Real Anita Hill, and Robert Bork's The Tempting of America. …Its focus has broadened since Glikes's death in 1994.
Amazon ranks the softcover as #768,135 in books, with new copies available from Amazon partners for $0.19 (yup, nineteen cents) plus $3.99 S&H, hardcover #728,116 and one penny plus $3.99 S&H.
Offhand it does not look like the sales would justify such a large advance. And the union he runs decided they had to spend union money to promote it? With such an advance and the sales needed to cover that, wouldn't the publisher be doing the promoting so they could get back their investment and make a profit?
Is it just me, or does this smell like a backdoor payoff to a union boss that S&S had to keep happy?
Oh My! Hussein and his Posse of Clowns rpotecting the criminals. Why is CONgress not yelling louder about this?
Remember to Vote in 2010 and 2012………Let's get these deadbeats out of CONgress.
Here what got me when I was forced into SEIU for a short time till I was promoted to Sgt.. Not only did you have to pay a flat fee out of your pay check so you can work, in our local, you payed 15% of your over time pay for your first 10 hours of over time, after 10 hours, it jumped to 30% of your over time pay. The Steel Workers Union had a similar set up but a greatly better starting base pay.
Bada bing.
RICO Act just will not go away.
Folks. They are in the White House. They understand that they have been exposed. They are bunkering in.
We haven't seen anything yet.
Nothing short of a COMPLETE housecleaning will do a damn thing. And since everything is racist there will be NO change.Only when the PC crowd are gone will things get better.
YES!
[...] Just as they did for union conflict-of-interest disclosure reporting that SEIU’s Andy Stern may be ignoring and just as it rescinded union-boss perk disclosures, the Obama Administration continues to [...]