The Department of Labor has released a new public tracking tool for union spending, according to The Hill, covering how $11 billion in annual union dues are allocated — including political activities. The move is framed as a transparency measure for union members and the general public.
Here's the strategic read: disclosure requirements applied asymmetrically are a political weapon, not a principle. Unions must now expose every dollar to public scrutiny. Corporate dark money — the anonymous 501(c)(4) and LLC pass-through machinery that Citizens United opened — faces no equivalent federal disclosure mandate. That asymmetry doesn't serve democratic accountability; it defunds one side of the table.
The $11 billion figure is real and union members deserve to know how it's spent. But transparency that flows only toward labor while corporate political spending stays in the shadows isn't reform — it's targeting.