Press Releases

Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Rick Allen (R-GA) sent a letter to employers, employees, labor‑management experts, worker advocates, scholars, compliance professionals, and other interested stakeholders for feedback on ways to improve the Labor‑Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) so rank-and-file members have more say in their unions.

In the letter, the members write: “The [LMRDA] was enacted to guarantee certain rights to unions members, safeguard union democracy, and ensure labor organizations maintain financial integrity. More than six decades later, union members remain the best stewards of their own organizations.”

The letter continues: “Too often, rank‑and‑file workers lack the timely information and meaningful voice they need to hold elected leaders accountable for both fiscal and political decisions. Recent misconduct cases, ranging from embezzlement to unauthorized political expenditures, underscore the need for a modernized framework that prioritizes the rights of individual members to hold union leadership accountable and that provides individual union members with more control over how labor organizations operate.”

Walberg and Allen conclude by requesting information from stakeholders, including: 

• Strengthening Member Governance and Voting Rights: The Committee seeks comments on ways Congress can help better clarify union member rights, especially during strike negotiations and union elections. 
• Fiscal Transparency and Fiduciary Duty: Is the current Form LM‑2 sufficient for union members to understand how dues are allocated among collective bargaining, political activities, and other expenditures? What additional reforms (if any) would be useful?
• Political Expenditures and Member Consent: What reforms would give union members more direct control and transparency over the portion of their dues used for lobbying, campaign contributions, or ballot‑measure advocacy?
• Digital Disclosure and Data Accessibility: In what ways can technology be leveraged to reduce paperwork and what safeguards are necessary to protect sensitive personal information if more granular data are published online?
• Enforcement, Compliance Assistance, and Whistleblower Protections: Do current criminal and civil penalties under the LMRDA adequately deter embezzlement, vote rigging, and false reporting? If not, how should they be updated? What ways can Congress establish a more robust whistleblower protection program to assist union members with reporting wrongdoing?

Read the full letter here.

###