American Experiment signs coalition letter supporting union transparency

State public-sector unions are not subject to basic disclosure laws. If they do not have revenues around $250,000 a year or represent private sector employees, government unions do not have to report basic financial or membership data to the U.S. Department of Labor. Most local unions do not meet that criteria but some of the larger state-level unions like Education Minnesota, do meet the criteria.

Minnesota state law does not subject public-sector unions to any transparency or reporting laws; this is something that should change given the out-sized role unions play in elections, lobbying and setting state policy. (Sadly, it is unlikely to change due to that out-sized role.)

Federal law does require reporting for private sector unions, and as noted above, unions with private sector members. That means public-sector employees who are represented by a union, do not know how the their local workplace union is spending union dues. And while the reporting rules leave a lot of wiggle room for the unions to decide year to year how to report revenue, expenditures and membership data, the information is better than nothing at all.

American Experiment thinks that government unions should, at a minimum, be subject to at least the same reporting rules as private-sector unions, so the Center has joined an effort to persuade the Trump administration to update the rules. You can read a copy of the coalition letter here.