Two weeks ago, I told you about the UAW’s gold-plated golf course. Now, the rest of the story. As required by federal law, unions must file yearly disclosure documents with the Labor Department. I looked up the LM-2 form for the UAW’s 2007 annual report (No. 000-149). My syndicated column today shares some choice morsels from the annual report and reviews the union bosses’ long history of pilfering workers’ dues for their personal enjoyment and gain — including moronic investments in a doomed airline, doomed radio network, and doomed Palm Springs resort. Thanks to George Bush and the bipartisan bailout enablers, what the UAW did do its own workers it will now do to taxpayers. We’re porked.
What a way to ring in the New Year, huh? Make sure your congressional reps know about this. >Here’s how to write them.
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The UAW’s money-squandering corruptocracy
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008
Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The UAW golfed. While carmakers soak up $17 billion in taxpayer bailout funds and demand more for their ailing industry, United Auto Workers bosses have wasted tens of millions of their workers’ dues on gold-plated resorts and rotten investments. The labor organization’s money-losing golf compound is just the tip of the iceberg.
Earlier this month on my blog, I noted that the UAW owns and operates Black Lake Golf Course — a “championship caliber” course opened in 2000 that’s part of a larger “family education center” and retreat nestled in 1,000 acres of property in Onaway, Michigan. Spearheaded by former UAW president Steve Yokich, the resort also includes “a beautiful gym with two full-sized basketball courts, an Olympic-size indoor pool, and exercise and weight room, table-tennis and pool tables, a sauna, beaches, walking and bike trails, softball and soccer fields and a boat launch ramp.” Like everything else we’re subsidizing these days, the UAW’s playground is a money pit. The Detroit Free Press reported earlier this year that the golf course (valued at $6 million) and education center (valued at $27 million) have together lost $23 million over the past five years. While membership in the union has plummeted, the UAW retains assets worth $1.2 billion.
Curious about how the UAW will be spending my money and yours, I sifted through the union’s most recent annual report filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (which you can find at unionreports.gov). Who knew hitting the links was so central to the business of making cars? Continue reading . . .
