Take Claude Huff. The day before the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1385 held hearings on allegations that he overpaid himself with union funds, Huff resigned as its president. Now, a federal court has indicted him for the alleged theft. He’s on the hook for over $100,000.

Then there’s Laura Dixon, accused of pilfering as much as $170,216 in five years from the Ohio and Vicinity Regional Council of Carpenters. Her defense?

“Ms. Dixon’s attorney, Rick Kerger, said that the employee did not take money for her own use but instead falsified the financial records to help those having difficulty paying their union dues.”

Even if that oddball alibi wins out in court, it’s still a symptom of a larger problem: dues are routinely spent by labor leaders on partisan causes and political candidates, without the approval or support of members. Dropping those expenditures would certainly make sense to union members trying to fit dues into their strained budgets.

The picture these cases paint, meanwhile, is of a union system with corrupt officials who not only spend union money as they wish but siphon off handsome sums for themselves. Federal courts can haul in these abusers on a case by case basis, with long and costly trials, no doubt, to follow.

Once a workplace is unionized it is nearly impossible for employees to decertify a union. As a result, millions of unionized employees work in union shops where they have never had the opportunity to vote on whether or not they want to remain represented by that union.

The Employee Rights Act requires that every unionized workplace have a supervised secret ballot election every three years to determine whether employees want to continue to be represented by any incumbent union.

You can read more about the Employee Rights Act at www.Employee Rights Act.com or you can join our new Facebook page.

The Obama Ethics Executive Order requires appointees to pledge that they will refrain from involvement in matters involving their former employer or clients.  The AFL-CIO and other unions are former clients of John Lund , and these unions remain clients of his former and current employer, the University of Wisconsin School for Workers (Lund is currently on unpaid leave while at DOL).  The Wisconsin School for Workers’ primary mission is to train union officials; the very officials that Lund now purportedly investigates for corruption.

Now, even more disturbing details have surfaced. Lund is purportedly telling union officials they can bypass Department of Labor investigators and instead work with him personally. And a new U.S. Department of Labor internal document seems to back up the claim of Lund’s flagrant abuse of power. Don Loos explains the dirty details:

[B]y going to Lund, union bosses can work out deals to avoid jail time or criminal charges.  He can personally advise them how to “clean up” their reports to avoid consequences.  On the other hand, if pesky Department of Labor investigators get involved, then government investigative records will be made, facts will be verified, and falsehoods will be documented.

Loos also points out that had the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman similarly invited corporate presidents to deal with her directly and ignore SEC investigators, it would be breaking news with investigations to follow. Instead, Big Labor will continue to reap the rewards of Lund’s appointment at the expense of their dues paying members (who the OLMS department is supposed to protect). A thorough investigation should be made into the abuse of power at the Department of Labor, and specifically into Lund’s actions while at the DOL. When the fox watches the hen house, the village always goes hungry.

SEIU’s internal investigation of Raynor revealed that he “abused his expense account,” Politico’s Ben Smith reported Tuesday. Smith noted that labor unions typically don’t conduct formal investigations of such violations, suggesting SEIU and Raynor have much bigger issues between them:

Raynor’s alleged breach is something many unions would handle without a formal investigation — particularly against a senior official. However two SEIU sources said the union’s executive board discussed the matter in closed session Monday, and is in the process of hiring a hearing officer to oversee the probe.

Raynor told Politico that he is the victim of “an ugly, naked exercise in political retaliation,” insisting that he was protecting a female SEIU official “from political retaliation within the union by keeping her name off of expense reports and [dining] receipts.”

The charges against Raynor will be referred to an “outside independent hearing officer” who will suggest a course of action to SEIU’s International Executive Board. It should come as no surprise that a man responsible for wresting a bank away from another union and transferring $12 million to supportive constituents is somehow under investigation for financial misconduct at his current job?

“In a worst-case scenario, your union organizer comes to you, offers you a deal to unionize, you say, ‘no,’ and, the next thing you know, OSHA’s [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] at your door,” Todd said in a phone interview. “Then, Wage and Hour show up, and they want to publicize it. They always find something wrong – it’s like with bed-checks in boot camp in the army.”

Todd said some companies will fight the DOL’s intimidation tactics, but many will give in to unionizing forces.

“It makes it the path of least resistance,” Todd said.

There’s much more where that came from. Click here to read the full story.

The core problem is that the ideologues at DOL see their role as solidarity with, not enforcement of, organized labor.

Image courtesy of gfpeck.