Senate Rules Comm. Chairman Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) June 13 said he was drafting a bill with House Republicans to require broad disclosure of tax-exempt union and other groups. “We are developing a broader bill that would include unions and business associations, [and] trial lawyers. Clearly a lot of disclosure is better than a little disclosure,” McConnell said.
The bill was being drafted as an improvement to a Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) amendment adopted June 8 to require the disclosure of certain financial information by Section 527 political organizations. “There’s almost nobody in the 527 category,” so the McCain amendment does not do much, McConnell said. So, to have an impact, legislation should include the “real players in the American political system,” such as unions, he said. [BNA 6/14/00]
New Mexico Members Move to End Local
City employees in Rio Rancho, N.M. are petitioning to oust their union, Am. Fed’n of State, County & Mun. Employees Local 3277, saying pay raises were better before they joined. Larry Moritomo, a union member is spearheading the decertification movement. Moritomo said he and other workers began discussing their dissatisfaction with the union in Feb. 2000.
“We pay dues and we don’t feel we’re receiving value for those fees,” he said. “The union is supposed to negotiate for us, and we don’t feel they’re doing that. The end goal is to get the union decertified and get the union out of Rio Rancho.”
Moritomo in March began circulating a petition to decertify the union. Moritomo said he has collected 56 signatures, which he plans to submit to the Rio Rancho Labor Management Relations Board on Monday in accordance with city ordinances. Moritomo is required to collect signatures from 30 percent (50 members) of the union’s 166 members to challenge Local 3277 representation. [Albuquerque J. 6/11/00]