With the addition of a unit in the Ofc. of Labor Mgmt. Standards (OLMS), labor dept. officials are now prepared to more closely scrutinize intl. unions’ compliance with fed. financial accounting laws. making up for steady cuts in OLMS staff during the Clinton admin. According to its budget request for FY 2005, OLMS staff fell from 425 in FY 1985 to 242 in FY 2001. One of the consequences of that decline is that 10 of the nation’s largest unions have never been audited by OLMS.
Under the Bush admin., DOL has received budget increases for OLMS for the last 3 fiscal yrs. With those increases, OLMS has created a unit dedicated to auditing the financial disclosure forms of intl. unions. For FY 2005, DOL is seeking a budget hike of 12.9 pct. That increase would allow OLMS to get is staff level up to 382. A DOL official also said that the new OLMS unit plans to audit an intl. union that has never been audited under the new Intl. Compliance Audit Program (ICAP). [Daily Labor Report, 6/21/04]
OLMS Reports Rise of Enforcement Actions Against Union Corruption
The U.S. Ofc. of Labor Mgmt. Standards (OLMS) has dramatically increased its efforts to enforce fed. laws against union corruption and denial of democratic rights to union members. It completed 156 investigations of alleged wrongdoing in union officer elections in FY 2003, compared to 120 the yr. before. OLMS also completed 21 cases questioning the imposition and maintenance of trusteeships by natl. unions on subordinate affiliates in 2003, compared to only 3 in the prev. yr. OLMS was able to obtain delinquent financial reports for 2,301 unions in FY 2003, compared to 2,179 a yr. earlier. The number of cases of alleged financial wrongdoing by union officials brought by OLMS increased 57 pct. in FY 2003. The number of convictions increased 69 pct. [Daily Labor Report, 6/21/04]