June 11, 2003

Dear RSC Colleague:

I want to bring to your attention three pieces of legislation I have
reintroduced this Congress, and urge you to cosponsor these much-needed,
pro-worker reforms: the Labor-Management Accountability Act (H.R. 993),
the Union Members' Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 992), and the Union Member
Information Enforcement Act (H.R. 994).

***In the weeks to come, the Education and Workforce Subcommittee on
Employer-Employee Relations, which I chair, will take action on these
long-overdue measures. I urge you to join me in supporting this
pro-democracy, good-government legislation.***

The examples Global Crossing and the recent ULLICO scandal prove that
transparency and financial integrity are critically important. Just as
Congress has enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley law to hold corporate leaders
accountable, shouldn't Congress insist on the same type of financial
accountability from union leaders? Unfortunately, as hearings in my
Subcommittee revealed, many labor unions fail to file required financial
disclosure forms as mandated by the 1959 Labor Management Reporting and
Disclosure Act (LMRDA).

The LMRDA was designed to serve as the first line of defense against
union corruption and requires union leaders to disclose certain
information to union members about their democratic rights---including
information about member union dues and how they are spent, financial
audits, strike authorizations, contract ramifications, member
disciplinary procedures, the election and removal of union officers, and
other democratic rights. The law was meant to protect civil liberties,
provide fair elections in unions, and afford recourse in federal courts
and the Department of Labor (DOL) against abuses by union leaders.
Today, the LMRDA covers 13.5 million members in more than 30,000 unions
that hold more than \$15 billion in assets.

***Unfortunately, more than half of the unions today blatantly ignore
the wishes of their members and thumbing their nose at the law's
reporting requirements. Last year, 58 percent of those unions covered by
the law either filed late, or in many cases, not at all. [Put another
way, more ignore the law than comply with it!]{.underline}***

My ***Labor-Management Accountability Act (H.R. 993)*** would for the
first time authorize DOL to assess a civil penalty when unions or
employers covered by the LMRDA fail to obey the law. It is like a late
fee -- those who ignore the law will pay, while those who comply have no
reason for concern. H.R. 993 does not add any new reporting
requirements; it simply ensures that DOL has the authority to enforce
the law that has been on the books for more than 40 years, and makes
certain that no one will be allowed to ignore the law any longer and get
away without a penalty. ***President Bush has made this issue a
legislative priority, and in his FY04 budget proposal called on Congress
to give the Department of Labor with the civil enforcement authority my
legislation would provide.***

My second bill, the ***Union Members' Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 992)***
clarifies that unions must disclose to union members certain information
about their rights.

In hearings before my Subcommittee, we heard testimony that a full
generation of union members has never been informed of their rights
under the LMRDA by their union. In 1997, three machinists took their
union, the International Association of Machinists (IAM), to federal
court complaining that the union had never been informed of their rights
under the LMRDA. The IAM, in turn, argued to the court that their one
time publication of these rights, in 1959 when the law was enacted,
fully satisfied their legal obligations***. The Federal Circuit Court of
Appeals noted that the union argument was totally without foundation and
ruled in favor of the three machinists by concluding that unions have a
continuing obligation to notify members of their rights. This
legislation requires unions to make these disclosures to members within
90 days of joining a union, essentially codifying the recent Federal
Circuit Court of Appeals decision.***

My final bill, the ***Union*** ***Member Information Enforcement Act
(H.R. 994)*** authorizes the Secretary of Labor to investigate union
member complaints of a union's failure to meet these disclosure
requirements and bring suit on behalf of union members to enforce the
law. ***Under current law, DOL cannot enforce the law on behalf of union
members, and thus ensure that members have access to their most basic
rights.*** The high cost of litigation is the main reason why unions
have been able to ignore this legal obligation for more than four
decades. It is patently wrong that union members should have to spend
their own money to sue to obtain information that is legally required to
be given to them by their own union -- a union, I might add, that has
already taken money from these individual's paychecks to support union
activities.

***Each of these bills represents good government, pro-worker reforms
that will ensure that our nation's labor organizations are meeting the
obligations set for them under federal labor law, and that union
leadership is held accountably by the millions of rank and file workers
they purport to represent. As both a matter of policy and principle, I
urge you to cosponsor and support these efforts.***

If you would like to cosponsor these bills, or would like additional
information on this legislation, please contact Rebekah Hamilton in my
office at 5-4201.

> Sincerely,

Sam Johnson

> Chairman
>
> Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations