Washington, D.C. - Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) 2009 National Chairman Jerry Gorski, president of Gorski Engineering, Collegeville, Pa., today issued the following statement in reaction to news that the U.S. Department of Labor cut the FY2010 budget of the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) by 9 percent.
"The Secretary of Labor said that the reason for the cut in this critical Department of Labor office is to return it to the levels of 2003.
However, since that time, both the reporting requirements and the staff time required to review and enforce the law has increased. It seems the Secretary wants to ensure a lack of transparency and oversight of union finances, and that is a direction we vigorously oppose" said Gorski.
"This announcement is the Obama administration's latest step to dramatically reduce the enforcement capability of the Labor Department.
This is nothing less than a tragedy as it would prevent individual union members as well as the public from seeing just how union leaders are spending their members' money," added Gorski.