Unions must now share contracts and bylaws with members annually
H.R. 6139 — Union Members Right to Know Act · Filed by Virginia Foxx (R-NC) · Introduced Nov 19, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires labor unions to disclose collective bargaining agreements and union constitutions/bylaws to their members within 18 months, and annually thereafter, either by mail/email or by posting on the union's website. Unions must also provide members with a copy of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act and a summary of its titles. The bill imposes compliance certification requirements on union officers and directs the Department of Labor to issue implementing regulations.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward disclosure mandate: unions must provide members with collective bargaining agreements, union constitutions, bylaws, and statutory rights information. This is a transparency and accountability measure, not a deregulation, subsidy, or carve-out.
What the text implies
- Unions must maintain website infrastructure or incur mailing costs to comply; smaller unions may face proportionally higher compliance burdens.
- The 18-month initial deadline and annual recertification requirements create ongoing administrative overhead and potential liability for non-compliance.
- Disclosure of collective bargaining agreements to all affected employees (not just members) may expose union negotiating positions or sensitive terms to non-union workers or employers.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance, leaving enforcement mechanism unclear and potentially weakening the mandate's force.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Union members gain enforceable rights to receive documents that directly affect their employment and union participation—collective bargaining agreements, union constitutions, and statutory rights summaries. Informed membership strengthens democratic accountability within unions and enables members to understand their contractual and governance rights.
Named in the bill
Labor unions, Department of Labor, Union members, Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), Employers
Where it stands
- Nov 19, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 19, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $6,091,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 69 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Virginia Foxx, the sponsor, reported $487,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Retail Federation — $3,881,000 on 2 filings
- AFL-CIO — $1,520,000 on 2 filings
- National Treasury Employees Union — $690,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,291 characters) on Oct 31, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,778 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-31.
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