We’ve written about the scandalous attempt to strip the Department of Labor’s budget for overseeing how union member money is spent by labor leaders. The Weekly Standard adds color to the story, with Whitney Blake reporting:
OLMS is such a ripe target because its operations pose a huge headache for labor unions, or at least that’s the case according to labor unions. Bill Samuel, national legislative director of the AFL-CIO, told me several months ago that recent OLMS reforms amount to “not much more than harassment” and a “huge waste of time and money.”
That a top AFL-CIO official thinks oversight and enforcement is a waste of time and money says a lot about how far the culture of labor leaders hasn’t come. As a reminder of why the OLMS is so important, Blake notes:
Administration officials also contend that OLMS has made significant progress in enforcing regulations that promote transparency and financial integrity, but there is still much room for improvement. According to the Department of Labor, there have been some 760 convictions in the last six years by OLMS for stealing union funds, a 26 percent increase, and over $70 million worth of restitution has been court ordered.