Worker Welfare Funds

Report Outline
Public Regulations Vs. Union Policing of Funds
Postwar Growth of Employee Welfare Funds
Problems Raised by Fund Accumulations

Public Regulations Vs. Union Policing of Funds

Two separate investigations of rapidly expanding worker welfare funds are soon to be put under way in Congress. Their purpose will be to determine the extent of racketeering in fund operation and whether new laws are needed to assure integrity of the funds. Leading national unions have themselves undertaken closer policing of welfare fund activities of their locals in an effort to forestall stringent regulation by the federal government.

Vast sums of money have been channeled into welfare funds as a result of organized labor's drive for so-called fringe benefits, the growing disposition of management to formalize retirement programs, and the mushrooming of group-contract life and health insurance during recent years. Most of the funds set up since the war are financed by percentage-of-payroll contributions by employers under collective bargaining agreements with unions of their employees. Held in trust against future outpayments to the beneficiaries, they constitute a huge supplement to the savings of millions of American families.

Congressional Investigations of Welfare Funds

The House Committee on Government Operations has directed its labor-racketeering subcommittee, headed by Rep. Bender (R., O.), to investigate accumulating charges of dishonest handling of welfare funds. And the House Labor Committee has ordered hearings by a subcommittee under Rep. McConnell (R., Pa.), chairman of the full committee, to determine whether additional legislation is needed to give maximum protection against mismanagement of the funds.