U.S.: Large Unions Must Disclose Finances
LEIGH STROPE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration issued new regulations Friday requiring the nation's largest labor unions to disclose details of their finances, including how much they spend on politics and lobbying, gifts, overhead and management.
The rules will force national, regional and local unions with income of more than $250,000 to provide much more financial detail in the annual forms they are required to file with the Labor Department. The forms haven't been updated in more than 40 years, administration officials say.
"The current financial disclosure forms that unions file provide little of value to rank-and-file members about their union's finances and operations, and they have failed as an effective deterrent against financial misconduct," said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao in a statement.
The rules take effect next year, though unions will not have to file a report until March 2005.
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http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=3891fdba77eef085"Organized labor questioned the timing of the announcement - on a Friday, several hours after the Labor Department released its largest monthly report, on unemployment." ...I question that too :bounce: