by TChris

Is the Bush adminstration harassing labor unions for their support of Democratic candidates?

The Bush administration is rapidly expanding audits of the nation's labor unions, citing a need to ferret out and deter corruption. But union leaders assert that those increased efforts are nothing more than crude political retaliation.

"It is obvious," said John J. Sweeney, the federation's president, "that the Department of Labor's assignment of 48 new staff to audit unions, starting with the A.F.L.-C.I.O., is pure political payback for the labor movement's opposition to the president's antiworker policies."

As former labor secretary Robert Reich points out, "enforcement has been cut in other areas, like occupational safety and minimum wage enforcement." Corruption in labor unions, like corporate misconduct, should be policed. Still, the administration’s sudden emphasis on an enforcement mechanism that burdens unions is suspicious given the administration’s lax enforcement of business regulations that protect employees and consumers.