Press Releases

Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Rick W. Allen (R-GA) today launched an investigation into whether some of the nation’s largest labor unions have diverted workers’ dues to bankroll partisan political agendas and lavish spending that many rank-and-file members neither support nor benefit from.  
 
The Committee is demanding records from UAW, United Steelworkers, SMART Transportation Division, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division following reports that workers’ hard-earned dues are being used to advance the priorities of union executives rather than the interest of the workers they represent.  
 
In the letters, Walberg and Allen write: “Workers deserve transparency regarding how their dues are spent, the extent to which union leadership consults members before endorsing candidates or engaging in political activities, and whether differing viewpoints within the union are being respected.” 

The letters continue: “In addition to direct political contributions, the Committee is concerned about the broader use of union dues and member-funded resources for lobbying, independent expenditures, issue advocacy, political mobilization activities, and contributions to umbrella organizations engaged in partisan electoral activity. Despite federal reporting requirements for union expenditures and campaign donations, contributing to PACs can obscure workers’ abilities to understand how their dues are, in fact, used.”
 
The letters conclude: “The Committee reminds you that federal law imposes a duty of fair representation on labor organizations. Workers should not be compelled to subsidize political advocacy fundamentally at odds with their beliefs or interests.” 
 
Read the full UAW letter here.
Read the full United Steelworkers letter here.
Read the full SMART Transportation Division letter here.
Read the full Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen letter here.
Read the full Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division letter here.