The habits of America’s notoriously profligate union bosses have been revealed by the Center for Union Facts (CUF), a new Washington lobbying group that claims to be funded by both businesses and disgruntled union members.
Union leaders accuse the group of being a front for Wal-Mart, the supermarket conglomerate that has a history of opposing union activity. Both the CUF and Wal-Mart have denied any financial ties.
Since its launch in February the CUF has used the Freedom of Information Act to compile a online database of union spending as reported to the federal government. With a $5m advertising budget, the group has placed newspaper and television advertisements comparing union leaders with the British colonialists who once ruled America — “old white guys out of touch with the rank and file”.
The unions’ financial reports show that a total of almost $1.5m was spent on golf outings in 2005. The International Association of Machinists spent $70,000 to hire a yacht and $250,000 to lease and maintain an executive Learjet.
At least 17 unions held conferences or other meetings at Disney resorts, collectively costing $1.3m. When the executive council of the AFL-CIO union met earlier this year, the venue was a $400-a-night San Diego resort. The Hotel Del Coronado was being picketed by a carpenters’ union because it had hired a non-union contractor, but union leaders crossed the picket lines anyway.
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The database also reveals that union leaders are among the best-paid executives. Gerald McEntee of the AFSCME municipal workers’ union earned almost $585,000 last year — more than 20 times as much as his lowest paid members.
Reg Weaver, the head of America’s largest union, the National Education Association, representing teachers, earned $440,000, compared with the average teacher’s salary of $48,000.
The CUF is run by Richard Berman, a lobbyist criticised for his work on politically incorrect causes. He represented the tobacco industry in a failed quest to prevent a ban on smoking in restaurants.
Berman claimed that the CUF represented a long overdue effort to educate Americans about the realities of trade union leadership. Yet his refusal to identify his backers has heightened suspicion that US corporations are engaging in camouflaged union bashing. “It’s no accident that corporations are doing this against us when unions are trying to make sure that employers pay their fair share on healthcare and when we’re taking on giant corporations like Wal-Mart,” said Lane Windham, an AFL-CIO spokeswoman.
The unions have offered no real response to claims the multicultural US workforce is poorly represented by union leaders who are, in the words of one dissident, “male, pale and stale”.
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Among the presidents of America’s 30 largest unions there are only two black people and one woman. Nor have officials been able to shake off allegations of organised crime connections that have long haunted US labour. Last year, the CUF said, almost 200 union officials and employees were convicted of racketeering and unions paid $187m in fines.