This week, National Right to Work Foundation president Mark Mix sent a formal letter to the director of the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, the federal agency tasked with providing union members and nonmembers with valuable information about how union bosses are spending their forced dues.

The letter is in response to the Obama Administration’s apparent intention to delay (and ultimately cancel) some needed refinements to reporting requirements established by the Bush Administration which enhance union transparency and accountability of union expenditures.

Here are a few examples of union boss malfeasance the planned LM-2 revisions would elucidate:

• Why a local UAW union bought a John Deere tractor for $18,000 before selling it the same year for only $678
• Which Machinists union bosses are using forced dues during an economic downturn to fly to Ireland on a private jet
• How much union officials get paid in fringe benefits and whether those benefits comply with the union constitution

Mix’s letter further notes the appearance of impropriety created by the Obama Administration’s quick action to table the new disclosure requirements. Union bosses, who spent record sums electing Obama to the White House and who expect continued payback, have long opposed providing financial disclosure members and nonmembers.

Unfortunately, because of the incompetence of Bush Administration officials, these needed improvements to the LM-2 disclosure rules had not yet gone into effect — even though they had been in the works for two years. Outfoxed by the bureaucracy once again, the outgoing Bushies missed the window of opportunity by a matter of days.

For more, read the full text (PDF) of Mix’s letter.