Department of Labor vs. Dues-Paying Workers 

Bureaucrats Aim to Help Big Labor Hide Political Expenditures 

Right to Work leaders are blasting a proposed rule recently issued by bureaucrats at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). If effectuated, it would hinder millions of unionized workers from getting basic information about how their dues dollars are spent.

Under current DOL regulations, bosses of private-sector unions with $250,000 or more in annual receipts are required annually to file LM-2 forms with the DOL. These forms give workers at least a rough idea of how their dues, which are typically compulsory, are spent, including how much money is funneled into politics and lobbying.

But the rule proposed by the DOL’s Office of Labor and Management Standards (OLMS) would exempt all unions with annual receipts of less than $450,000 from filing LM-2s. They would only be required to submit much less informative LM-3 and LM-4 forms.

Government Has Strong Interest in Transparency Of Unions That It Empowers

“The federal government has a strong interest in making private-sector unions’ finances transparent, because federal labor law hands the bosses of those unions monopoly-bargaining power over unionized businesses’ front-line employees,” observed National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix. “And workers who want to know how much of their forced-dues money pays for Big Labor politics and lobbying each year should be able to get that information without having to ask for help from union bosses with whom they may not wish to interact.

“The federal government has a strong interest in making private-sector unions’ finances transparent, because federal labor law hands the bosses of those unions monopoly-bargaining power over unionized businesses’ front-line employees,” observed National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.

“And workers who want to know how much of their forced-dues money pays for Big Labor politics and lobbying each year should be able to get that information without having to ask for help from union bosses with whom they may not wish to interact.

“That’s why LM-2s are so useful. Since the George W. Bush Administration reformed reporting requirements in 2003, officers of LM-2-filing unions have been required to disclose and report online what share of their expenditures go into electioneering and other ideological schemes.

“Under the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision in Beck v. CWA, even workers who are forced to bankroll a union as a job condition can’t legally be required to pay for Big Labor politics, lobbying, or other nonbargaining activities.

“LM-2s help unionized workers make an informed decision about whether they want to resign from the union and exercise their Beck rights

“But the DOL’s proposed change would substantially undercut the benefits of LM-2s. It would allow over 850 unions, spending a total of over $200 million annually, to stop filing such reports and prevent workers and the public from getting substantive information about what they do with their forced duesstocked treasuries.”

Over 97% of Public Comments Opposed Big Labor-‘Friendly’ Rule Change

“Even DOL bureaucrats,” continued Mr. Mix, “don’t dare to claim that their proposed ‘reform’ of LM-2 reporting requirements would benefit workers. No wonder over 97% of the 299 public comments submitted in response to the Big Labor-‘friendly’ rule change oppose it.”

In comments he submitted to OLMS official Andrew Davis in his capacity as president of the Right to Work Foundation, Mr. Mix flatly denied that providing workers and the public with basic information about what they do with the vast sums of forced dues and fees they rake in is “burdensome” for union bosses. 

Thanks to accounting and recordkeeping software that is ubiquitous in 2025, a single union bookkeeper can churn out an LM-2 report within a day or two.

“In order to defend workers’ legitimate interests, the DOL ought to be moving to eliminate the current $250,000 revenue threshold and require all private-sector unions to file LM-2s instead of expanding the number of unions that can cover up their finances,” said Mr. Mix.

“Unfortunately, even before she was confirmed in March, current Labor Sec. Lori Chavez-DeRemer had already established a pattern of cozying up to union officials and falsely lauding them as champions of workers, even when they manifestly aren’t.

“Reducing by 18% the number of unions that at least have to do forced dues-paying workers the courtesy of filing LM-2s showing how Big Labor spends workers’ money is what one would expect of Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s DOL. But it’s not a policy that advances the interests of America’s workers.”

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