One reason unions have very little corruption is that they are some of the most financially transparent institutions in the country, far more than corporations or even other non-profit organizations.  Unions have to disclose the salaries of EVERY individual employee and disbursements to every person or organization they do business with.  (Go to the DOL's Internet Disclosure page for more)

Corporations, on the other hand, don't even have to disclose details of taxes they pay to the government, much less what they pay their employees or the details of who they do business with. Over at Progressive States, we profiled one state, Montana, which is trying to bring some transparency to corporations by forcing them to disclose core details about their corporate income tax payments.

Read more »

On one level, I agree with Ed that talking about "frames" can be overdone in the progressive blogosphere. Being substantively right is the key-- and being consistent in that advocacy of the right thing -- is more key that saying or avoiding a clever phrase. On the other hand, when a phrase is not based in reality, repeating it is a deep insult to allies -- the point I was making.

But frankly, calls for unity during particular struggles or campaigns has little to do with blogging concerns about "frames" but is endemic in every political movement. It's always a balance between pragmatic needs for unity in struggle, including language, versus the need to maintain a healthy space for internal debate.

Read more »

Inevitably, when you mention unions, comments start flying about "corruption" and the "mafia", another corporate talking point. Now, when I say "myth", I don't mean that there aren't individually corrupt union leaders or even whole unions that have had serious corruption problems at points in time, just that it's a myth that corruption is systematic throughout the union movement or that it's a serious issue in terms of overall union finances, even in the handful of unions with some corruption problems.

A refresher on the facts from some old posts:

• How Corporate Right Lies About Union Corruption
• Biased Anti-Union Reporting
• More on [Non-existent] Union Corruption
• Right Tries "Labor Corruption" ploy

But my favorite example is from the most notorious example of union corruption cited by anti-labor folks-- the Teamsters pension fund:

Read more »

I agree that the Nevada Fox-sponsored debate for Dem Presidential candidates was a terrible idea and it's fine to slam the local union leaders for supporting it. But I hate to the core when folks like Kos use the term "local union bosses", as if elected union leaders are the same as management bosses who get to tell their workers what to do.

It's one of the most persistent rightwing frames, creating an equivalence between union representatives of working people and those who boss them around without democratic accountability. Criticizing union leaders is fine and even needed, but using rightwing frames like the phrase "union bosses" should be avoided.

A standard argument against allowing card check recognition of unions under the Employee Free Choice Act is that somehow union "harassment" will "force" employees to sign cards recognizing the union-- as opposed to the threats and intimidation used by employers during standard NLRB elections.

The equivalence of "harassment" between union and management showed up in comments on my last union post, but it's a delusional rhetorical equivalence.

Read more »

That headline is one counterintuitive implication of Drum Major Institute's updated "Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: 2007 Edition." This is hardly rocket science-- even if it goes against the conventional wisdom -- but OF COURSE employers are increasing the hiring of undocumented immigrants: they work cheap, they can't enforce labor rights, and if they cause trouble, they can be deported.

The less that immigrant workers are paid, the more native workers wages are under threat. And higher wages for them mean more goods bought and a stronger local economy.

Read more »