OPINION EDITORIAL

September 3, 2004

Union officials disrespect working men and women

By Michael Reitz
What would you think of an organization that takes money from workers' paychecks without their permission, spends the money on politics that workers may disagree with, ignores state campaign finance laws, and then tells the Internal Revenue Service that it does not spend any money on politics?

Unfortunately, this is not a bad fairy tale; it is a description of what labor officials do to workers in Washington state.

Labor Day is a time to celebrate the hard-working men and woman who have made this country the world's economic powerhouse. The Washington State Labor Council (WSLC), AFL-CIO, says it advocates for many of these workers and purports to be the voice of labor in our state. But do workers really know what their "voice" is up to?

The WSLC ignores campaign finance disclosure laws when it donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to political committees and parties. When employees object to union politicking and opt out of union membership, they face subtle retribution, and many are denied the right to ratify their own employment contracts.

Furthermore, Washington state law prohibits the use of public funds to influence elections. The WSLC is the recipient of millions of dollars in state and federal funds. Without proper disclosure, as the law mandates, it is impossible to verify whether the WSLC is using public funds to influence elections.

Washington voters approved a law in 1992 to reduce the influence of large special interests on our state elections by setting campaign contribution limits. Organizations and their subsidiaries share contribution limits to prevent the umbrella organization from dumping large amounts of money into elections, but this is exactly what the WSLC and its affiliated unions do, using union dues to support political candidates from many unwilling workers.

Every election cycle, the WSLC spends tens of thousands of dollars in political expenditures to "educate" workers on how they should vote. These efforts include phone banks, written communications, website and email promotions, door-to-door visits by trained volunteers and other voter mobilization efforts. These activities are perfectly legal, as long as they are disclosed to the public.

Many organizations claim an exemption to this disclosure requirement for internal political communication to members, but this exemption does not apply to the WSLC's worker outreach efforts because it doesn't have individual members. It is composed of affiliated unions-not individual unionized workers.

Besides, the WSLC does not limit its outreach to currently unionized workers, but communicates with anyone loosely related to its affiliated unions, such as former union members, union retirees, and even spouses and voting-age children of union workers.

This is like the Association of Washington Business claiming that, simply because Starbucks is a member of the business association, AWB has the right to communicate with any person (and their spouses and children) who has ever walked into a Starbucks and purchased a cup of coffee.

Despite its political activism, the WSLC actually reports to the Internal Revenue Service that it spends "zero" dollars on politics.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney recently addressed the WSLC Convention in Tacoma. When asked by a union delegate about concerns over shrinking union membership, Sweeney told delegates that the "biggest and most important thing right now is this election."

The AFL-CIO has pledged to spend a record $44 million on get-out-the-vote efforts this election cycle and is adamant in its opposition to George W. Bush. Yet according to exit polls, Bush won 37 percent of the union vote in 2000. So, a significant percentage of union members will suffer the indignation of having money taken out of their paychecks to support candidates they oppose and to convince their fellow union members to vote similarly.

Union workers should participate in politics. It's the American Way. But workers should make their own political choices, sending money to candidates and causes they believe in. And workers should not be punished if their political beliefs differ from those of their union bosses.

Our effort to shed light on the WSLC's political activism should be unnecessary and we hope when Labor Day comes around next year, labor officials will be accountable to those they represent. We hope they honor working men and women by keeping their hands off workers' paychecks.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has said, "transparency, accountability and full and accurate disclosure should be central goals of financial regulation." Perhaps labor bosses can apply these words to themselves and better serve the workers they claim to represent.

Michael Reitz is a research analyst with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a non-partisan, public policy watchdog organization, focused on advancing individual liberty, a free-market economy, and limited and responsible government.

Contact: Michael Reitz | Legal Research Analyst | 360-956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org