Comment Letter on the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA)

Thank you for this opportunity to submit these observations and recommendations for improvements to the Department of Labor’s implementation of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA).

Congress, in enacting LMRDA, took an important step toward resolving some of the practical issues created by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Unions had been empowered to involuntarily take a portion of workers’ earnings without any meaningful federal accountability mechanism. The Department of Labor through rulemaking has made improvements in recent decades, among other things making LMRDA data searchable on the internet.

Major challenges remain, however.

A common theme in the current LMRDA reporting regime is the extent to which a lack of clarity in the rules leaves union officials to “choose your own adventure.” The status quo is a disservice both to the workers counting on accurate data and the bookkeepers left to make educated guesses about what should be reported and how.

In the comments below, I identify specific problems and recommend improvements that can be achieved through the Department’s rulemaking.

Ken Girardin is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.