Posted on 03/28/2003 11:12:08 AM PST by Visioneer
NEA State Affiliates File a Lawsuit Department of Labor Over Disclosure Ruling *
The NEA dispute with the U.S. Department of Labor broke onto the national scene in a big way over the weekend as the union announced a lawsuit against the federal agency on behalf of 32 state affiliates.
As reported here over the last two weeks, the Labor Department has ruled that these affiliates fall under the jurisdiction of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 - in addition to the affiliates already covered by the Act.
The law, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act, affects labor organizations that represent at least one private sector employee. Evidently the dispute between NEA and the Labor Department entails a new interpretation of what constitutes a private sector employee.
Should the Labor Department prevail, it appears the only NEA state affiliates that will escape the law's public disclosure requirements are those in California, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico and Utah.
The biggest obligation of the Landrum-Griffin Act is its requirement to file an annual report on the union's income and expenditures. This report, called a Form LM-2, lists, among other things, the salaries and other compensation paid to union officers and employees. A new version of the form will require much greater detail on union spending than in the past.
The federal government promises stricter enforcement of the Landrum-Griffin Act. The Labor Department claims that nearly 59 percent of America's unions failed to even file their LM-2s on time in 2001. For its part, NEA claims the Labor Department's ruling is "unfair" and "motivated by an ill-will toward unions in general, and NEA and its affiliates in particular."
In a press statement, NEA President Reg Weaver said: "NEA and its affiliates are among the most open and democratically run organizations in the country. We keep our members fully informed about our programs, budgets, and policies."
* Source: The Education Intelligence Agency COMMUNIQUÉ February 18, 2003 On the Web at http://home.earthlink.net/~mantonucci/archives/20030218.htm
(Excerpt) Read more at home.earthlink.net ...
According to an NEA news release, "NEA is not a party to the lawsuit. Because it represents a very small number of private sector employees, NEA already complies with the Landrum-Griffin Act."
The state associations that are plaintiffs in the lawsuit are: Alabama Education Association, NEA-Alaska, Arizona Education Association, Arkansas Education Association, Colorado Education Association, Connecticut Education Association, Delaware State Education Association, Georgia Association of Educators, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Idaho Education Association, Indiana State Teachers Association, Iowa State Education Association, Kansas NEA, Kentucky Education Association, Louisiana Association of Educators, Maryland State Teachers Association, Mississippi Association of Educators, Missouri NEA, Nevada State Education Association, NEA-New Hampshire, North Carolina Association of Educators, North Dakota Education Association, Oklahoma Education Association, Oregon Education Association, South Carolina Education Association, South Dakota Education Association, Tennessee Education Association, Virginia Education Association, Washington Education Association, West Virginia Education Association, Wisconsin Education Association Council, Wyoming Education Association. AEA and the LM-2 Financial Disclosure Report
In spite of all the hype to the contrary, many of these these NEA state affiliates are, in actually, not incorporated as (501-c-6) "professional associations" for certified teachers but as (501-c-5) "organized labor" groups for both certificated teachers and non-certificated school employees.
Sometime around November of last year (2002), these NEA state affiliates were notified by the US Department of Labor that it was being required for the first time to file an LM-2 Financial Disclosure Report to the USDL for the 2002 year.
In previous years, these NEA state affiliates have not been required to file LM-2 reports -- not because they are not "organized labor" groups, but because of provisions in the Landrum-Griffin Act which exempts labor organizations and unions whose membership consists solely of public employees. NEA President, Reg Weaver cited this precedent recently when he stated: "The law on this point has been clear for decades. Organizations that represent only public employees, such as those employed in public schools, are not covered by the Landrum-Griffin Act. Labor organizations that represent these employees have no bargaining rights under federal law, and it is unfair to subject them to a law that is intended to regulate labor organizations that represent employees who have federal bargaining rights."
According to U.S. Department of Labor sources, a critical factor in the recent USDL decision to require LM-2 Financial Disclosure Reports from NEA's state affiliates stemmed from the fact that these organizations have "private sector" employees among their respective memberships, as well as public sector employees. These actions are the result of a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision in Chao v. Bremerton Metal Trades Council which reversed a lower court decision and found in favor of the U.S. Department of Labor in June of last year on a related matter.
What is the LM-2 Report?
The LM-2 is the Labor Management-2 report and it is only required of 501(c)(5) labor organizations -- it does not apply to 501(c)(6 ) professional associations. It was created and implemented specifically to help protect the rights of the members of labor organizations by publicly disclosing key aspects of each organization's financial dealings each year.
The LM-2 came about as a result of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). If you wish to read the act, it is available at:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/statutes/olms/lmrda.htm Information to Be Reported: Form LM-2 is a detailed annual financial report requiring completion of 24 information items, 50 financial items, and 15 supporting schedules. Information to be reported includes:
whether the union has any subsidiary organizations
whether the union has a political action committee (PAC)
whether the union discovered any loss or shortage of funds
number of members
rates of dues and fees
7 asset categories such as cash and investments
4 liability categories such as accounts payable and mortgages payable
16 receipt categories such as dues and interest
18 disbursement categories such as payments to officers and repayment of loans obtained
a schedule of payments to officers
a schedule of payments to employees
a schedule of office and administrative expense
a schedule of loans payable
All labor organizations/unions having to file the LM-1, LM-2, and LM-3 reports are required by law to publicly disclose to all their members information concerning the provisions of this act.
(29 U.S.C. 415) SEC. 105. Every labor organization shall inform its members concerning the provisions of this Act.
(29 U.S.C. 431) SEC. 201.(c) Every labor organization required to submit a report under this title shall make available the information required to be contained in such report to all of its members, and every such labor organization and its officers shall be under a duty enforceable at the suit of any member of such organization in any State court of competent jurisdiction or in the district court of the United States for the district in which such labor organization maintains its principal office, to permit such member for just cause to examine any books, records, and accounts necessary to verify such report.
Obviously they think they are above the law and why wouldn't they, I'm sure they have been getting away with it for a long time.
We need to make more people aware that the NEA is NOT an "education association" but a labor union. The NEA and their state affiliates are opposed to Homeschooling, and have been charged with breaking federal law by illegally using teacher union dues for political purposes.
A simple way to help fight the NEA is to call the Association of American Educators and ask them to send you some of their brochures. Pass them out to teachers, parents, and college students who are education majors. Every time a teacher refuses to join the NEA, resigns their membership or asks for a refund, we put another chink in the NEA's financial armor. (It's also important to stand with and support those teachers who take this action because the NEA union thugs won't like it, and some will try to intimidate the teachers).
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