WILL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING RULES REQUIRE REPORTING OF LAW VIOLATIONS BY UNIONS?

An editorial in a recent Wall Street Journal edition makes an interesting point by raising the question of whether some of the new OFCCP government contracting rules can be applied to labor unions. President Obama's Executive Order signed on July 31 of this year requires federal contractors to disclose labor law violations for the past three years before federal contracts can be approved. Since many unions contract with the federal government as representatives of employees, and since unions as well as employers can be guilty of violating labor laws, it will interesting to see whether the Administration imposes the same reporting obligations on labor unions as it imposes on employers. The Wall Street Journal reports that during 2010, the latest year for which information is available, unions faced over 6,000 charges of violating different labor laws.