National Legal and Policy Center
Organized Labor Accountability Project
www.nlpc.org
 The Failure of the LIUNA “Internal Reform Effort”
3. LACK OF EFFECTIVENESS
Due to the incomplete disclosure of the “internal reform effort,” this section of the report is not yet fully developed.  NLPC hopes to be able to demonstrate that despite the claims of progress by LIUNA’s slick legal team the imposition of the impending Consent Decree by DOJ would be more effective than the current “internal reform effort.”  LIUNA dissidents and other interested parties with leads on the lack of effectiveness of the internal reform effort please email ideas to nlpc@nlpc.org.

Here are two recent examples of the lack of effectiveness of the “internal reform effort:” 

(1) Coia Under Investigation in Canada. The Financial Services Commission of Ontario, not LIUNA’s “internal reform effort,” opened a fraud investigation in late 1998 into the “finances and dealings” of the Labourers’ Pension Fund of Central & Eastern Canada. LIUNA president Arthur A. Coia is one of the Fund’s 5 trustees being probed. Coia is also the Fund’s chairman. Investigators are probing a tainted 1989 land deal that the Fund paid $23.7 million for a parcel of land that is now allegedly worth $5 million. But the Fund’s books value the property at $28 million. The property is in Stoney Creek, Ontario. There were purportedly plans to have condos built, but there has been no development on the land. The parcel is owned by a company that is wholly controlled by the Fund. Ontario law and LIUNA’s own conflict-of-interest rules stated that the Fund’s assets cannot be invested in a “corporation wholly owned or controlled either directly or indirectly” by any trustee. See: Jim Rankin, “Watchdog Probes Labourers’ Pension Fund,” Toronto Star Dec. 15, 1998.

(2) Government Orders New Election in Ohio. The U.S. Department of Labor, not LIUNA’s “internal reform effort,” ordered a new election at LIUNA Local 423 in Columbus because vice-president Pat Murphy’s felony conviction 14 years ago made him ineligible for union office. Murphy was also wrongfully elected to the local’s district council seat. Both elections will be rerun and monitored by DOL on Jan. 30. In 1984, Murphy was convicted of robbery and spent nearly 2 years in prison. The conviction meant Murphy was ineligible, under federal law, for union office until 1999. Opponents tried to make this point during the 1998 election, but a complaint by dissidents saying Murphy was a felon was rejected by LIUNA’s “internal hearing officer” Peter F. Vaira who is part of the failed “internal reform effort” team. Vaira suspiciously claims that his office was unable to substantiate the felony conviction. Thankfully for dissidents, DOL investigated and chose to exercise its authority to rule on union elections. See: Lornet Turnbull, “Feds Order Union Local to Hold New Vote for VP,” Columbus Dispatch Dec. 10, 1998.

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Organized Labor Accountability Project