HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES (HERE)
Reformers Defeated in Chicago
On May 28, the incumbent slate won all elected offices in the scandal-scarred
Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int'l Union Local 1 in Chicago.
It was the first vote in 16 years for the leadership of Local 1. Incumbent
boss Terry Maloney won 1,895 votes to reformers James Michalik's 1,180
and Ramon Mursuli's 55. A 1998 report by the
HERE's court-appointed monitor found a history of union corruption and
suggested that Local 1 should have been placed under a trusteeship years
ago. Last Aug., Local 1's previous boss, Thomas
Hanley, was banned from holding any union office for a year. He was also
forced to pay a $25,000 fine based on charges he embezzled funds from the
union and breached his fiduciary duties. His
father, Edward Hanley, was HERE's top boss and swung a controversial immunity
deal with the Dep't of Justice to avoid civil and criminal prosecution.
Maloney called the election an endorsement of his leadership; he said members saw through cynical reports in the media. Michalik called the result "disappointing, but not depressing." He vowed to continue to challenge the status quo. He said that the outcome might have been different if a postal ballot voting system was used resulting in higher turnout. It was only 23%. [Chicago Tribune 5/30/99, BNA 6/4/99]
In addition to the unions and organizations covered in this Union Corruption Update, readers can look forward to news and information on other corrupt and abusive unions in future editions.
All back issues of the Union Corruption Update can be viewed at NLPC's website (www.nlpc.org). Also available is a union-by-union and state-by-state index of all Union Corruption Update articles.
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Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption and extremism in the Teamsters, LIUNA, AFL-CIO and many other union organizations. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.
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