WASHINGTON, DC -- Today National Legal and Policy Center President
Peter Flaherty issued this statement regarding the nomination of Linda
Chavez for Secretary of Labor:
“AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says Linda Chavez is ‘unfit’ to be Labor Secretary. He has called her nomination ‘an insult to American working men and women.’ Who gave Sweeney the right to speak for working people and who is he to be casting stones at Linda Chavez?”
“After all, Sweeney double-dipped by collecting two union salaries over a thirteen-year period. He collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from his old local of the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) after he was elected president of the parent union. This local was rocked by a scandal in 1999 involving the plundering of the SEIU local by Sweeney’s hand-picked successor, Gus Bevona, who was paid $500,000 per year.”
“As AFL-CIO President, Sweeney is now protecting Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer who was implicated in the Teamsters money-laundering scandal and who may still face indictment. Trumka has taken the Fifth Amendment when questioned by federal investigators but remains in his position, despite an AFL-CIO rule requiring union officials who take the Fifth to relinquish their posts.”
“Before attacking Linda Chavez, Sweeney should do something about
the wave of corruption currently gripping America’s unions.”
NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics
and accountability in government through research, education and legal
action. NLPC currently sponsors the Government Integrity Project, the Organized
Labor Accountability Project and the Legal Services Accountability Project.
NLPC publishes the fortnightly newsletter Union Corruption Update.