Union Democracy and Fair Representation: Federal Responsibility in a Federal System

Abstract

"[T]his committee expects to give attention to problems inherent in labor-management collusion, underworld infiltration of the labor movement, misuse of union and welfare funds, suppression of civil rights and liberties of union members by their leaders, conflict of interest, and the use of violence, shakedowns, and extortions." These great expectations were pronounced by Senator McClellan, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, at that body's first public meeting. Their realization is spread upon the now vast record of his committee. This record—perhaps "exposé" is more appropriate—has prompted legislators to suggest federal regulation in three broad areas: protection of the beneficiary's interest in employee pension, health and welfare funds; protection of the individual member's interest in union treasuries; and protection of the employee's interest in the fidelity of union officials who bargain with employers. Except in the realm of the union-trusteeship—a device for international union control of the local—congressional investigation has not disclosed the employee's stake in democratic union government to be a fourth area of needed legislation.