Widening Divide: Employers and Union-Busters Skirt Reporting Rules While Unions Comply

One-Sided Transparency: The Growing Gap Between Required Annual Union Versus Employer and Persuader Filings and OLMS Compliance Efforts Continues to Widen

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, July 23, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- LaborLab, a leading non-profit watchdog that monitors compliance with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), today released a critical new report, "One-Sided Reporting: The Growing Reporting Gap Between Required Annual Union Versus Employer and Persuader Filings and OLMS Compliance Efforts Continues to Widen." The report, which analyzes 2024 non-filing data as of June 30, 2025, for a third consecutive year, reveals a stark and growing disparity in reporting compliance between labor organizations and employers/persuader consultants.

LaborLab's comprehensive analysis integrates data from three government-conducted studies: the recently released 2025 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on union filings, the 2024 Department of Labor's Inspector General Report, and a 1984 U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee Report. This first-ever triangulation of data sets provides irrefutable evidence of a significant and widening reporting gap.

Key Findings from the Report:

(1) Improved Union Compliance: The GAO study highlights a 10% improvement in on-time union report filings over a five-year period, alongside a significant reduction in chronically delinquent reports. This demonstrates the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)'s capacity to enhance compliance when focused efforts are applied.

(2) Abysmal Employer and Persuader Non-Compliance: In stark contrast, documentation from the Department of Labor's own Inspector General reveals a consistently dismal on-time filing rate (and high non-filing rate) for persuader consultants and their engaging employers during the same period. This disparity is particularly alarming given that the number of persuaders is approximately 100 times smaller than the number of union filers.

(3) Conspicuous Absence of Enforcement: While OLMS has successfully implemented voluntary compliance programs to improve union on-time filing, comparable initiatives for employer and persuader reporting deficiencies have been conspicuously absent, despite the significantly smaller population size and reduced resource requirements.

(4) Persistent Deficiencies: The report also underscores the widespread failure to provide essential information, such as Employer Identification Numbers (EINs), a deficiency noted as far back as the 1984 House Subcommittee report and reiterated by LaborLab's recent complaints submitted to OLMS.

"Our latest report clearly shows a two-tiered system of enforcement within the LMRDA," said Bob Funk, LaborLab Executive Director. "While OLMS has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving union reporting, it has neglected the persistent and widespread non-compliance by employers and persuaders. This creates an uneven playing field and undermines the transparency the LMRDA was designed to guarantee. By failing to ensure transparency from employers and the labor relations industry, the law is once again applied in a way that lets corporations and union-busters off the hook, denying workers their rights, exposing them to coercion and intimidation, and keeping the public in the dark."

LaborLab's Recommendations to OLMS:

LaborLab urges OLMS to immediately implement the following recommendations to close this critical reporting gap:

(1) Systematic Identification: Initiate a systematic and consistent effort to identify non-filing persuaders and engaging employers through robust crossmatching of existing data, a methodology recommended since 1984.

(2) Dedicated Resources: Allocate dedicated personnel within OLMS specifically to ensure the timely filing of LM-10 and LM-21 reports.

(3) Voluntary Compliance Programs: Establish voluntary compliance programs for persuaders and employers, mirroring the successful initiatives used for unions, and integrate benchmark data into OLMS's annual reports.

LaborLab has consistently shared its crossmatching spreadsheets, methodologies, and deficiency complaints with OLMS and remains committed to providing its expertise to help correct this glaring discrepancy.

About LaborLab: Rooted in educating workers about their organizing rights, LaborLab helps working families build power by ensuring employers and the labor relations industry operate with greater transparency and accountability. Since 2021, LaborLab has monitored and reported on employers and persuader consultants who have failed to file their required annual reports, advocating for consistent and equitable enforcement of the LMRDA.

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Bob Funk
LaborLab
contact@laborlab.us
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