Bill C-317 was dropped from the Commons order paper last week, but south of the border, financial reporting requirements imposed on American unions by the George W. Bush administration continue to attract debate. Since the disclosure requirements contemplated by Bill C-317 were largely patterned on US reporting rules, some of the literature examining the impact of the US rules is worth a look.
The current director of the US Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards, which oversees union financial reporting, also happens to be one of the leading academics on union financial disclosure. John Lund, erstwhile Professor at the the School for Workers, University of Wisconsin-Extension, has published a series of thoughtful analyses of US and comparative (including Canadian) legislation and caselaw on union financial reporting.
In one of his publications, Lund finds that the benefits of a more complex and extensively detailed reporting burden "are virtually impossible to identify, much less quantify."
At a March 2011 House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on union disclosure requirements, Professor John Logan summarized Lund's research and provided the results of his own.
Finally, Scott Lilly at the Center for American Progress produced an fascinating background report on the Bush-era rules.
All food for thought on an issue that's certain to remain in play in both Canada and the United States.