April 2, 2013: Financial reports for the year 2012 are now available for most Teamster locals, joint councils, conferences and the International union. 

Federal law requires these reports to be filed by March 31, and most Teamster locals have complied. A guide on how to download and print a report is available here. Or you can call TDU at (313) 842-2600.

The International union 323-page financial report is available here.

Right away you will see that the Teamsters Union unfortunately lost 52,000 members in 2012, falling from 1,309,690 to 1,257,765 as organizing has lagged.

The reports detail income, expenditures, salaries, payments to vendors and more.

Oftentimes, this information leads to more questions. For example, Los Angeles Local 630 lists a receipt of $75,452 for “Crime Bond Insurance Settlement.” Crime bond insurance provides coverage for money and property stolen by local officials. Members of Local 630 will surely want to ask for details on that matter. They may also want to ask if former local leader Paul Kenny has paid any of the $168,168 he was fined by the Independent Review Board.

These LM-2 financial reports are required of all unions in the US, except those composed only of public workers.

If you would like help interpreting or analyzing a union financial report, contact Teamsters for a Democratic Union at 313-842-2600 or tdu [at] tdu.org

TDU will publish an analysis of Teamster finances and the $150,000 Club later in the summer.