December 2nd, 2003 12/2/03 posted by Thomas Lifson

The past few years have seen a succession of union scandals, with teacher union officials caught embezzling members' dues money to finance lavish lifestyles in Miami and Washington, DC, and AFL—CIO union directors of a union—owned life insurance company ripping off their members with insider transactions. These violations, in proportion to the size of the union sector, put to shame to various Wall Street, Enron, and other business scandals, which have grabbed far bigger headlines. Although the American left has never worried about the cost of regulation, and requires business to spend billions of dollars a year on auditing and other reporting requirements, unions themselves face minimal reporting requirements. That is the reason why scandals have flourished in the union sector.

The Bush Department of Labor, under Secretary of Labor (and Harvard MBA) Ealkaine Chao, has proposed tightening—up union reporting requirements. These regulations are far less burdensome than the reporting requirements facing big business. But, suddenly, Big Labor has discovered that sunshine and reporting requirements are "too expensive. "

Read all about it here