The crackdown on labor

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


As we noted around these parts a few weeks ago, the Bush administration has decided to “get tough” on labor unions by forcing them to submit detailed financial statements. On the face of it, this sounds like a decent way to increase accountability and transparency among unions, to the benefit of members. But come on, this is the Bush administration, who honestly believes that’s the intention here? Right. As Nathan Newman points out, this is nothing more than a cheap way to bury organized labor in red tape, thus further eroding union influence. Hey, Grover Norquist openly bragged about it before the election—if Bush won, he would destroy organized labor.

But okay, what if unions really do need better transparency and accountability? Surely there must be some corruption among the ranks of organized labor? Well, Nathan looks into at least one accusation of corruption and finds it… wanting. Turns out the International Plumbers Union was fined $11 million for mismanaging a multi-billion dollar pension fund. Well, okay, there wasn’t actually any crime involved. It was more that the trustees could have been more efficient with an investment in the Florida Westin Diplomat hotel, a move that even the Department of Labor couldn’t bring itself to call a bad investment.

I’m not going to defend corrupt union bosses getting rich off their workers. But in the grand scheme of corrupt practices the White House could crack down on in the world, this is peanuts. As anyone who’s read, well, anything at all about Iraq knows, the White House clearly isn’t interested in transparency and accountability for mismanaged construction projects. There’s something else going on here.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate