LABORERS (LIUNA)
New York Clean-up's Integrity Questioned
The Laborers' Int'l Union of No. Am.'s oversight of LIUNA Local 210
in Buffalo has been "rocky and angry," according to a recent report in
the Buffalo News. In 1998, the supervisor of Local 210 got into a disagreement
with a member during an advisory board meeting. One angry word led to another,
and the two decided to take the dispute outside. They duked it out. In
Sep. 1999, a Local 210 job steward was in a fistfight that left a worker
in a coma for several days and nearly killed him. "To observers of Local
210 -- allegedly the most corrupt employee union in the history of Western
New York -- such incidents are evidence that a...takeover of the local
has not gone smoothly."
U.S. Atty. for Western N.Y. Denise E. O'Donnell said, "I don't think the job is complete yet."
Many members are also displeased with LIUNA's "internal reform effort." Member Peter Capitano, Jr., and Buffalo attorney Joseph V. Sedita, who represented a man who was kicked out of the union, say the takeover was an unfair process. "Our members have less rights than they've ever had," said Capitano, whose father was forced out of a leadership position by LIUNA. "We have no votes. Administrative costs that come out of our paychecks are higher than ever. It's a crooked operation. People were accused of being in the mob without ever having a hearing in a real court of law."
Sedita said LIUNA leaders have used a "very unfair... kangaroo court" administrative hearing process to remove Local 210 leaders and replace them with cronies from the international. According to Sedita and Capitano, LIUNA removed bosses because of alleged mob ties and then replaced them with others who had mob ties that were equally alarming.
"They took one guy, who admitted in their hearing that he had been an enforcer for the mob, and they made him a steward. What kind of reform is that?" Capitano said. That man, Jerome Piniewski, was the steward who allegedly beat a fellow worker into a coma. Buffalo police arrested Piniewski, and the Erie County Dist. Atty. and a grand jury are investigating the beating. The injured worker's attorney said the injured worker is considering a suit after coming close to death from a head injury.
Sources said that O'Donnell may ask U.S. Dist. Judge Richard J. Arcara, to allow closer government scrutiny of the local. Arcara has been overseeing some litigation surrounding the LIUNA's takeover of Local 210. [Buff. News 11/22/99]
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