Labor Dept
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Labor Department Programs to Audit, Investigate and Prosecute Unions

As it has since FY 2002, the Bush Labor Department seeks funding and staff increases in its FY 2006 budget for programs that audit, investigate and prosecute unions. Increases would go to the department's Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS), which has union oversight and investigation authority, receives and publishes statutorily required union reports, sets standards governing union elections and finances and conducts both civil and criminal investigations into unions' finances and elections. The department also has asked for increased funding for its Office of Inspector General (OIG).

 

Comparison of FY 2001 and FY 2005 Actual Appropriations
and FY 2006 Budget Request
($ in millions)
 

FY 2001

FY 2005

FY 2006 request
 

Appropriated amount

Inflation-adjusted amount

Appropriated amount

Inflation-adjusted amount
OLMS

$30.5

$34.1

$41.7

$42.6

$48.8

Staff (FTEs)

290

  

382*

  

384
OIG

$54.7

$61.1

$69.2

$70.6

$71.1

Staff (FTEs)

409

  

408*

  

468

* FY 2005 budget request.

 

Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)

The FY 2006 budget proposal of $48.8 million would provide a $7.1 million increase in funding for OLMS. This represents a 17 percent increase from FY 2005 (a 14.6 percent increase in real dollars) and an increase of 60 percent from the beginning of the first Bush administration in FY 2001 (a 43.1 percent increase in real dollars). The FY 2006 budget requests $5 million to hire an additional 48 new auditors, bringing the OLMS FY 2006 budget request to 384 FTEs. This would be an increase of 94 positions since FY 2001, a one-third increase in FTEs. The department also requests an additional $1 million to establish "union advisory services" to advise unions on how to comply with the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). The request for more funding and staff comes in the wake of the department's implementation of new and very burdensome union reporting and requirements under the LMRDA.

The proposed OLMS budget also seeks authority to impose civil monetary penalties on unions and others that fail to make timely filings of their financial reports. The department says its intent is to enhance compliance, not penalize inadvertent lapses in filing.

Office of Inspector General (OIG)

The budget proposal for FY 2006 would increase OIG funding by $1.9 million dollars, to $71.1 million, up from $69.2 million in FY 2005. The FY 2006 proposal represents a rise of 16.4 percent since FY 2001, in dollars adjusted for inflation. The FY 2006 budget would maintain the number of OIG Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions at 468, unchanged from FY 2005. However, this number of FTEs represents a 59 FTE increase over the staffing levels for FY 2001, a jump of 14.4 percent.

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