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27 Crim. Just. Rev. 301 (2002)
The Landrum-Griffin Act: A Case Study in the Possibilities and Problems in Anti-Union Corruption Law

handle is hein.journals/crmrev27 and id is 311 raw text is: Criminal Juvtice Review 02002 College of Health and Human Sciences Volume 27, Number 2, Autumn 2002 Georgia State University THE LANDRUM-GRIFFIN ACT: A CASE STUDY IN THE POSSIBILITIES AND PROBLEMS IN ANTI-UNION CORRUPTION LAW David Witwer The Landrum-Griffin Act (1959) emerged out of hearings held on union corruption by the U.S. Senate's Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field (1957-1959). The reform law reflected many conflicting goals, including the desire of business groups to hamper new union organizing, but five of the act's seven titles concermed union governance and reflected a belief that union corruption could be solved by fostering union democracy. Though the act did bring some successes, it failed to protect democratic reform in the Teamsters Union. one of its primary targets. The history of a reform group in Teamsters Local 282 in New York City highlights the ability of corrupt incumbent officers with organized crime connections to circumvent the intentions of the law and stifle dissent. The act's shortcomings have led the federal government to resort to the more intrusive, and therefore more problematic, remedies provided by the RICO Act. From 1957 to 1959, the U.S. Senate's Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, better known as the McClellan Committee, held hearings on the problem of labor corruption. The committee's work drew great attention from the media, and news stories on the hearings depicted union corruption as a widespread phenomenon. In these accounts, James Hoffa's leadership of the Teamsters offered the most egregious example of union misrule and the dangers that it presented for the nation's economy. Such revelations led to calls for new legislation that would use the power of the federal government to solve the problem. In 1959, Congress responded by passing the Landrum-Griffin Act, more formally known as the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 401, et seq.) (1959). Reflecting the range of groups that were involved in drafting and lobbying for the bill, Landrum-Griffin attacked the phenomenon of corruption from a number of different directions. Some provisions of the law stemmed as much from a desire to weaken unions as from a desire to effect reform, because for some business groups these constituted the same goal. Thus the law included new prohibitions against union organizing tactics such as secondary boycotts and organizational picketing. But Landrum-Griffin amounted to more than simply an attempt to cripple labor's ability to organize. Five of the act's seven titles dealt specifically with union governance. These provisions set standards for union officers and guaranteed union members the right to informed decision making, in the hopes that

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