International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB)

The former finance director for the Massachusetts Teachers' Association (MTA) has pleaded guilty to charges he stole $802,000 from the union over a six-year period, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced on Dec. 19.  Richard Anzivino, 49, of Needham, pleaded guilty in Suffolk County Superior Court to five counts of larceny over $250 and six counts of making a false entry in a corporate book. Judge Carol Ball sentenced Anzivino to two years in the House of Correction with one year to serve and the balance suspended for five years with probation. The sentence was stayed until January 2.

FBI and IRS agents searched the Logan Airport's Parking garage and interviewed at least 23 wrkrs. and mngrs. on Nov. 7, after being alerted to "discrepancies" in parking revenues. The wrkrs. at the garage are controlled by Local 25 of the Intl. Bhd. of Teamsters, already under investigation for a series of shakedowns and featherbedding in the movie-making industry, and whose president, George W. Cashman, is under indictment for union insurance fraud.

Mass. Port Authority CEO Craig P. Coy contacted fed. investigators after he was hired in April and discovered the "discrepancies," which were uncovered in a Dec. 2001 audit. The indicted boss, George W. Cashman, sat on the port authority bd. until forced to resign after his indictment in Jan. of this year. Coy, hired to reestablish public trust in the authority known as a haven for political patronage jobs, said he was asked to delay any actions of his own until after the grand jury investigation is complete. [Boston Globe 11/8/02, Boston Herald 11/9/02]

Frmr Secy.-Treas. David Dobry pled guilty on July 2 to embezzling $61,510 from Lodge 177 of the Intl. Bhd. of Boilermakers in Green Bay, Wisc. Dobry's plea came in the U.S. Dist. Ct., E.D. Wisc., before Chief Dist. Judge J.P. Stadtmueller (Reagan).  The Secy.-Treasurer of Lodge 177 from 1987-99 was indicted on Feb. 2 for the embezzlement, and for falsifying the union's LM-3 financial disclosure form filed with the U.S. Dept. of Labor.  According to the prosecutor, Asst. U.S. Attny Erica O'Neil, that charge will be dropped at Dobry's sentencing.

Dobry began his embezzlement in 1994 to pay for his heavy alcohol and cocaine usage.  He wrote checks from the union's account to himself, sometimes without a second signature as required, other times using the signature stamp of the frmr Lodge President, Delbert Watzka. [U.S.A.O. E.D. WI, DOL]

Richard Ohse and 60 other employees of the Carlon Corp. won a long-running case on Jan. 31 against Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers Lodge 465-D in Oklahoma City . Ohse, with the help of Nat'l Right to Work Legal Def. Fdn. attorneys, filed charges with the Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. to reclaim dues that had been illegally collected by the union and used to support political activities. As a result of the NLRB's ruling, the local, also known as Cement Workers Lodge 465-D, will have paid out a total of $120,000 in full refunds of illegally seized dues, plus interest,  to the 61 employees who were the beneficiaries of the complaint. Ohse, and the other Carlon employees have had to wait more than a decade for this ruling. The charge was first filed in 1991, but  it took several years to force the Clinton NLRB to act  on the matter.

"After all of these prosecutorial delays and the union's stonewalling, these employees have finally been made whole," said NRTWLDF's Stefan Gleason. "No matter  how long union officials hold out, they cannot ultimately deny workers their fundamental rights."