Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA)

Joseph Totaro believes very strongly in improving the quality of his union’s leadership.  Unfortunately, his methods leave much to be desired.  He’ll have some time to think about it during his stay in federal prison.  Totaro, a member of United Association of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 1 in New York City, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on January 30 for making numerous death threats against an unnamed candidate for union business manager.  His sentence includes 27 months of incarceration, 21 months of which would have to be served, followed by three years of supervised release and enrollment in a substance abuse program.

Local 38 of the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Journeymen isn’t quite as powerful as its leaders, or for that matter, critics, thought it was.  The U.S. Department of Labor was reportedly set to cut a deal with the union’s de facto boss, Lawrence J. Mazzola, Sr., effectively dropping a suit it filed against the union back in November 2004.  Somewhere along the line, DOL stiffened its spine and imposed tough sanctions against the San Francisco local.  The union had been accused of diverting funds from five benefit plans toward the upgrading of a hotel-resort complex in rural Northern California it ran.  It also had major expansion plans, the centerpiece of which would be a tribal casino.

When Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House early in January, she vowed that her tenure in office heralded a new era of transparency.  The days of lawmakers being bought by cash-flashing lobbyists offering skybox parties and Scotland golf junkets were over.  Quickly, the House tightened internal rules governing gifts, travel and earmarks.  Not long after, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a lobbying restriction bill, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act; the House is set to take up its own version by the end of the spring.  But this display of moral rectitude is colliding with the reality of a political network, of which Pelosi is very much a part, centering on a San Francisco union in hot water with federal regulators.  The union, Local 38 of the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Journeymen, is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for using member benefit funds to prop up a money-losing resort in rural Northern California.

Few observers gave Janett Humphries much of a chance when she decided to take her case to trial.  In the end, even she didn’t give herself much of a chance.  On November 13, the 63-year-old former president of Service Employees International Union Local 99 pleaded guilty in federal court to charges she had embezzled more than $30,000 from her union to help finance Martin Ludlow’s successful 2003 run for Los Angeles City Council.  She used the funds to pay for travel expenses and a cell phone for Ludlow’s campaign staff, plus personal air travel costs.  Ludlow stepped down from his council post in 2005 to head the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, but pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge early this year.  Sentencing for Humphries is set for next February.  She already has pleaded guilty to separate local charges.  (Associated Press, 11/14/06).

Ex-Administrator for Northern California Local Pleads Guilty