CHRISTIAN LABOR (CLA)
California Boss Admits Extortion for Job Referrals
Hank Van Heyningen, president of Christian Labor Ass'n Local 17 (Dairy
Union) in Chino, Cal., pled guilty Oct. 23 to one federal count of extortion
by use of wrongful fear of economic loss. The boss admitted extorting money
from union members in exchange for job referrals. He also served as business
agent from 1990-2001. As an union officer, Van Heyningen had control over
which dairy employees would be sent out to union jobs at local dairies.
He admitted that for the last 10 years he was regularly extorting money
from members in return for work. A member who received a full-time job
with regular daylight hours was charged $800 to $1,500 by Van Heyningen.
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison. U.S. Dist. Judge Virginia A.
Phillips (C.D. Cal., Clinton) scheduled sentencing for Jan. 7, 2002. [DOL
10/23/01; USAO C.D. Cal. 10/23/01]
FIREFIGHTERS
Boss Can't Make Bail; Sits in Illinois County Jail
An ex-firefighter union boss, accused of stealing some $350,000 from
two union funds, could not come up with the $100,000 needed to make his
bail on Oct. 30. So after a judge declined Patrick
Stiles' request for a lower bail, the boss was taken to the county
jail. Kane County (Ill.) Associate Circuit Court Judge Robbin Stuckert
subsequently reset bail at $50,000 on Oct. 31, but Stiles still remained
in the Kane County Correctional Ctr. Stuckert declined a request by Stiles'
attorney, Fred M. Morelli Jr., to release him on his own recognizance.
Stiles turned himself in after he was indicted on four felony counts in connection with the theft of more than $100,000 from Aurora Firefighters Local 99 and more than $10,000 from the Aurora Firefighters Relief Ass'n. At the bond hearing, Aurora Police investigator Mike Tierney said a 9-month probe found that Stiles stole about $350,000 from both groups. He pled not guilty. Circuit Court Judge Timothy Q. Sheldon set a Nov. 16 status hearing.
Stiles, who resigned his firefighter's post on Jan. 15 after more than 11 years with the Aurora dep't, was secretary-treasurer of the Relief Ass'n from 1995 to 1999, and he held the same post at Local 99 from 1992 to 2001. In a civil suit filed by Local 99 and Relief Ass'n, Stiles agreed in Apr. to pay $275,000 to the two organizations. As part of that agreement, Stiles agreed to turn over about $64,000 in his retirement funds. Stiles, however, has made no further payments on the $275,000, said Local 99 president Gregory Frieders. Stiles was allegedly unable to make bail because of the civil settlement, which also placed a lien on his home and froze his other assets.
Stiles allegedly made out union checks to pay for non-union expenses, including $16,800 to credit card firms, $8,839 for telephone bills, $3,250 for computer equipment and $8,000 for payments to a non-union bank account. The Relief Ass'n alleged that Stiles wrote $15,092 in checks to himself, $12,000 credit cards, $1,941 to his mechanic and $4,420 to firefighters to work on his house.
Stiles, who operates a lawn-cutting business, also works at Granger Middle School. Nancy Ederson, Indian Prairie Unit School Dist. 204's assistant superintendent for human resources, said Stiles was working as a teacher's assistant, a position in which he has no involvement in school finances. His status at Dist. 204 is expected to remain the same, as Ill. School Code doesn't bar employment under the charges. [Chi. Trib. 11/1, 10/31, 2/9/01]
PLUMBERS (UA)
Michigan Treasurer Gets 18 Months for $152,700 Theft
U.S. Dist. Judge David M. Lawson (E.D. Mich., Clinton) sentenced union
embezzler Tamara Miller Oct. 22 to 18 months in federal prison and ordered
her to pay $152,724 in restitution. The ex-treasurer stole the funds from
United Ass'n of Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Local 85 in Saginaw, Mich.
Miller pled guilty on June 29. Lawson also ordered Miller to serve
36 months of supervised release after prison plus pay a $100 fee.
Miller reportedly spent the money on her family. Local bosses became
suspicious in Aug. 2000. When Miller went on vacation, they inspected the
books and found a discrepancy. Miller and Local 85 president Scott Garrison
started at the local 20 years ago. "She was like family, and everybody
trusted her," he said. "It was a bad deal, and it broke a lot of hearts."
[Saginaw (Mich.) News 10/25/01; USAO E.D. Mich. 10/23/01]
COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS (CWA)
Nebraska Boss Embezzled $65,200, Gets 4 Months
U.S. Dist. Judge Richard G. Kopf (D. Neb., H.W. Bush) sentenced Connie
J. Ogg, ex-secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of Am. Local
7401 in Grand Island, Neb., Oct. 19 to 4 months in prison for embezzling
union funds. From 1996 to 2000, Ogg embezzled $65,285.57 by writing unauthorized
checks to herself or by forging the local president's signature. Ogg pled
guilty on Aug. 1.
Kopf ordered Ogg to make full restitution and pay a $100 fine. She also must serve 4 months home confinement with electronic detention which is to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. She must also perform 200 hours of community service. The conviction precludes Ogg from serving as an officer in any labor organization for 13 years. [DOL 10/19/01; USAO D. Neb. 10/23/01]
SHEET METAL WORKERS (SMW)
Charleston Boss Embezzled $22,000
On Oct. 23, 2001, Earnest W. Carter, ex-business manager and financial
secretary of Sheet Metal Workers Local 399 in Charleston, S.C., was sentenced
by U.S. Dist. Judge David C. Norton (D.S.C., H.W. Bush) to 5 months imprisonment
followed by 5 months in a halfway house and 2 years probation. He was ordered
to make restitution to Local 399 of $22,092.82. Carter pled guilty to embezzlement
of union funds on Aug. 7. [DOL 10/23/01; USAO 11/8/01]
ALLIED-INDUSTRIAL WORKERS (PACE)
Wisconsin Boss Stole $21,300 from Local
Ex-secretary-treasurer of Local 736 of the Paper, Allied-Indus. Chemical
& Energy Workers Int'l Union, Shawn Drake pled
guilty Oct. 26 to one count of embezzlement of union funds in U.S. Dist.
Court for the E. Dist. of Wis. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison,
3 years probation, and ordered to pay $21,376 in restitution. Drake was
indicted on Feb. 14. [DOL 10/26/01]
PAINTERS (IBPAT)
Illinois Thief Gets 3 Years Probation
On Oct. 18, Rhonda Ostendorf, ex-office secretary of Int'l Bhd. of
Painters & Allied Trades Dist. Council 58, was sentenced in U.S. Dist.
Court for the S. Dist. of Ill. to 3 years probation and ordered to pay
$6,331 restitution. She pled guilty to embezzling union funds and falsifying
union records on June 27. [DOL 10/18/01]
MUSICIANS (AFM)
South Carolina Boss Indicted for $6,900 Theft
In U.S. Dist. Court for the Dist. of S.C. on Oct. 23, Paul Morgan was
indicted on one count of embezzling $6,950 in union funds. He allegedly
embezzled the funds from June 1997 to August 2000. Morgan is the ex-secretary-treasurer
of Am. Fed'n of Musicians Local 694 near Columbia, S.C. [DOL 10/23/01;
USAO 10/23/01]
STEELWORKERS (USWA)
Ohio Boss Allegedly Stole $3,800
On Oct. 22, William A. Fast, ex-treasurer of United Steelworkers of
Am. Local 1013-L in Sebring, Ohio, was charged with one count of embezzling
$3,893.71 in union funds. The case has been assigned to U.S. Dist. Judge
Paul D. Matia (N.D. Ohio, H.W. Bush). [DOL 10/22/01; USAO N.D. Ohio 10/22/01]
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Boston Union Wants Secret Corruption Report Disclosed
The Board of the Mass. Bay Trans. Auth.'s Retirement Fund abruptly
canceled its monthly meeting Oct. 19 after dozens of Boston Carmen's Union
members invaded the session demanding the release of a report examining
executive director John J. Gallahue Jr.'s acceptance
of apparent kickbacks from a convicted racketeer. "The members paid for
the report. We ought to be able to see what's in it," said John Clancy,
an MBTA bus driver.
But the Board refused to allow a vote on the issue, which was fiercely debated for nearly two hours before several members left the meeting, said James E. Lydon, a Broad member and president of Carmen's Union Local 589. Lydon said it is time to end the secrecy in the $2 billion Fund's activities. "The whole place needs an enema," said Lydon. "We want full disclosure. No more secrets here."
The session quickly turned nasty with board member Janice Loux, a Gallahue supporter and president of Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int'l Union Local 26, accused Lydon of leaking confidential information to the public. She called him a "coward" and a "snitch." The Board's lawyer, Thomas Kiley, threatened Lydon with a suit if he released the report.
The report, prepared by attorneys at Foley, Hoag, cost to the Fund $600,000. It reportedly concluded Gallahue breached fiduciary duties in his dealings with convicted felon Francis K. Fraine. Gallahue allegedly pushed the Board to lend $7 million in loans to Fraine, a corrupt developer and admitted arsonist connected to fugitive crime boss James J. "Whitey: Bulger. Gallahue's dealings with Fraine are under federal and state criminal investigations. The Board voted in Sept. to let Gallahue, who was on paid leave for 9 months from his $191,000-per-year job, resume work for 6 months.
The Boston Herald said: "when board members came face to face with the people they purport to represent, they took the same coward's way out they have taken with regard to Gallahue's conduct--they simply canceled their monthly meeting...The retirement board's conduct has been shameful." [B.H. 10/20, 10/23/01]
QUOTABLE QUOTE
"I certainly do not want these people intimately involved in my children's
education and I believe most parents would share my concerns if they knew
we were considering a partnership with the Laborers."
-Steve Stycos, Member, Cranston School Committee, Providence (R.I.)
J.-Bull., Oct. 29, 2001. The Committee is currently considering trade school
partnership with the Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am. Stycos contends that
the schools should not join hands with a corrupt union under federal supervision,
connected with organized crime, and dominated by nepotism.
- - - - - -
ADDITIONAL BRIEFS NOT INCLUDED ON THE FAX EDITION OF THIS UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE:
- - - - - -
STEELWORKERS (USWA)
DOL Wins New Elections at Virgin Islands Local
U.S. Dist. Court for the Virgin Islands approved a Stipulation of Settlement
and Order Sept. 7 between the Dep't of Labor and United Steelworkers of
Am. Local 8526. The agreement calls for Local 8526 to conduct new nominations
and an election for all officer positions, under DOL's supervision. The
new election must be held before to Mar. 14, 2002. DOL filed suit in Nov.
1997 seeking to overturn the local's Apr. 1997 election after an investigation
by DOL's Office of Labor-Mgmt. Standards Gulf Coast Region established
that the local failed to provide proper notice of election and that the
union's meeting attendance requirement rendered all but 3% of the membership
ineligible for office. [DOL 9/7/01]
FOOD & COMMERCIAL WORKERS (UFCW)
Fired Union Supporter of California Proposition 226 Loses Wrongful
Discharge Suit
Former union secretary Nattie Thunderburk, who was fired for her support
of Cal. Proposition 226 (a 1998 paycheck protection ballot initiative)
is barred from bringing a wrongful discharge action against the United
Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union, the Cal. Court of Appeal, Fourth
Appellate District held Oct. 22. Thunderburk, ex-secretary of UFCW Local
234, had access to a wide range of confidential union information, which
if disclosed "could have thwarted union policies and objectives," said
the court. "[D]espite limitations normally imposed on employers by California's
wrongful termination law, UFCW Local 324, had an "unfettered right to terminate
confidential employees" like Thunderburk under the federal Labor Mgmt.
Reporting & Disclosure Act of 1959 (the Landrum-Griffin Act).
As an executive secretary for the local, Thunderburk was responsible for providing services to Local 324 business agents -- the frontline union officers who are responsible for ensuring that the terms of contracts are met and for processing individual members' grievances. In the spring of 1998, unions throughout the state were campaigning to defeat Proposition 226 -- an initiative that would have prohibited unions from spending dues money for political purposes unless each member provided written consent to do so.
Contrary to the local's position, Thunderburk supported the initiative and made her views known at work to several of the business agents, as well as outside the workplace. Soon afterwards, the local stopped including Thunderburk in meetings and required her to start punching a time clock. On June 22, two weeks after voters rejected Proposition 226, she was terminated for typing a personal memo during company time.
Thunderburk sued the union for wrongful discharge. The union moved for summary judgment, on the grounds that her claims were preempted by the LMRDA. The president of Local 324 stated that Thunderburk was discharged "because she was disrupting good employer/employee relations and it was therefore in the best interests of the union to terminate her." An Orange County trial judge granted Local 324's petition and Thunderburk appealed Affirming the lower court, the appellate court held that the LMRDA barred the suit. The law "provides Local 324, under the circumstances of this case, with the unfettered right to terminate confidential employees such as plaintiff," Justice Barton Gaut wrote for the court. Justices Manuel Ramirez and Thomas Hollenhorst joined in the opinion. [BNA 10/29/01]
SERVICE EMPLOYEES (SEIU) / GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
California State Employee Blast SEIU, Move to Disaffiliate
The Cal. State Employees Ass'n announced Oct. 29 that it is seeking
to end its affiliation with the Service Employees Int'l Union, arguing
that recent SEIU's actions have violated the state employee union's rights.
The disaffiliation is also considered the result an internal fight for
control of the union. CSEA's Board of Directors voted in an Oct. 26 closed
session to take legal action to disaffiliate and invalidate its 1988 affiliation
agreement with SEIU. "SEIU's interference in association matters has proved
very costly to our members," CSEA President Perry Kenny said. "[W]e resist
this raid on our identity, our autonomy, and our resources by [SEIU]."
CSEA expressed dismay with SEIU's opposition to a 1999 bill in the Cal. Legislature that gave state workers and retirees the largest pension benefit in 20 years and the SEIU's opposition in 2001 to a bid from W. Health Advantage to contract with the Public Employees Retirement Sys. to provide health care to its members. CSEA said SEIU also denied its executive officers a seat on the SEIU's state council earlier this year, and denied representation to one of its division at the 2000 SEIU convention. Additionally, CSEA has refused to participate in SEIU's unity plan, launched in 2000, which required locals to abandon their names and logos, and use the purple and gold SEIU banner. The unity plan also called for fees that would cost CSEA $18 million over five years, in addition to an increase in its per capita dues payments. Kenny summarized CSEA's complaints: "SEIU has disenfranchised CSEA."
Steven Bassoff, CSEA's Sacramento attorney, said CSEA will seek a court or arbitrator finding that the affiliation agreement is void because SEIU has not complied with its terms. Under such a finding, SEIU would have some time to address the issues raised before the CSEA general council would vote to disaffiliate. CSEA also could invoke provisions in the affiliation agreement that set out the process for disaffiliating. [BNA 11/2/01]
LABORERS (LIUNA)
Oregon Pension Manager Pleads Not Guilty
Jeffrey L. Grayson, the Portland, Or., union
fund manager accused of bilking his clients out of hundreds of millions
of dollars, pleaded not guilty to all charges Oct. 26. A federal grand
jury Grayson on Oct. 2 on twenty-two counts of mail fraud,
conspiracy, money laundering, witness tampering, and making illegal payments
to a union pension fund trustee. Grayson's clients, many of them
union pension funds, have lost $355 million in failed and allegedly fraudulent
investments. U.S. Dist, Judge Anna J. Brown (D. Or., Clinton) scheduled
Grayson's trial for Mar. 26, 2002.
The indictment alleges that Grayson paid more than $200,000 to an ex-boss of the Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am., John D. Abbott, who steered millions of dollars in pension and trust fund money to Grayson's firm, Capital Consultants. Abbott, ex-chairman of four of LIUNA funds, allegedly conspired with Grayson to conceal the payments. Grayson also allegedly tried to pressure an employee to lie to a grand jury about the payments to Abbott. Abbott was business manager of LIUNA's Or., S. Idaho & Wyo. Dist. Council and a trustee on two pension plans, a 401(k) plan, and a health and welfare plan. He pled guilty in Feb. to taking payoffs from Grayson and filing a false tax return. [Oregonian 10/27/01]
HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES (HERE)
Pittsburgh Boss Loses Appeal to Expand LMRDA Title III Rights
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Sept. 17 that
a former union business agent who was removed from his post after the Hotel
Employees & Restaurant Employees Int'l Union came under federal supervision
cannot seek monetary damages under the Labor-Mgmt. Reporting & Disclosure
Act's trusteeship provision. LMRDA's trusteeship provision does not "allow
a private cause of action for individual damages flowing from the termination
of an appointed employee," the U.S. Circuit Judge Theodore A. McKee (3d
Cir., Clinton) ruled in a case of first impression. Relief under that provision
"must be sought on behalf of the local union organization and the entire
membership must reap the benefits," the court said.
The suit was brought by George Ross, who held an appointed position as a full-time, salaried business agent for HERE Local 57 in Pittsburgh before HERE and the Dep't of Justice entered into a consent decree to end corrupt union practices. A court-appointed monitor assigned to supervise union efforts to eliminate ties to organized crime in 1997 brought charges of corruption against several Local 57 officers and had the local placed under trusteeship. The trustees established new election guidelines in 1998 that barred Ross from running for elected office because he failed to pay his union dues. They also effectively eliminated Ross' position as a full-time, salaried business agent. He challenged the validity of the trusteeship, which dissolved in 1998, requesting temporary reinstatement, new elections, and monetary damages. Ross sued under Title III of the LMRDA, the Landrum-Griffin Act, which governs the creation and maintenance of trusteeships by labor organizations. U.S. Magistrate Judge Francis X. Caiazza (W.D. Pa.) granted HERE's motion for summary judgment, noting that Title III does not allow individual relief because it was intended to protect local unions, not their individual members.
When the case went before the Third Circuit, HERE objected to the court's review on procedural grounds. The union maintained that, in the proceedings before the district court, Ross failed to argue the merits of the claim that Title III does not provide a cause of action for individual relief. McKee acknowledged that, absent compelling circumstances, appeals courts will not consider issues raised for the first time on appeal. However, the court decided to proceed with the case, saying it contained significant issues that warranted consideration "on the merits, and not upon the procedural grounds." The "case at bar has important implications for the field of labor law, and raises a question of first impression in this circuit," the court said.
Prompted by "ambiguous statutory language," the court conducted an in-depth
review of the LMRDA's legislative history. "Nothing in the legislative
history of Title III suggests that Congress contemplated an individual
bringing suit for compensatory damages arising from the loss of an appointed
union position under that title," the court determined. "The statutory
scheme of the LMRDA strongly suggests that the individual rights that Ross
seeks to vindicate must be redressed under Title I," which, the court said,
was added to the law specifically to address the rights of
individual union members. A union member's right to run for elective
office is protected under Title I, but Ross sought relief solely under
Title III, the court said. "We are not persuaded by Ross' attempts to secure
compensation for a claimed violation of Title I under Title III," it concluded.
U.S. Circuit Judges Jane R. Roth (3d Cir., H.W. Bush) and Marjorie O. Rendell (3d Cir., Clinton) joined in the opinion. Thomas M. Castello with Plunkett & Cooney in Pittsburgh represented Ross. Richard L. Stopper Jr. with Rotatori, Gragel & Stopper in Cleveland represented HERE. [BNA 10/22/01]
TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Philadelphia Trusteeship Upheld
U.S. Dist. Judge John R. Padova (E.D. Pa., H.W. Bush) held Oct. 12
that the trusteeship that the Int'l Bhd. of
Teamsters imposed on Local 115 in Philadelphia following an internal
union hearing was in accord with the Labor Mgmt. Reporting & Disclosure
Act and the IBT's constitution. However, Padova allowed Local 115 boss,
John Morris, to proceed with his damage claim
against IBT for the five-month period the local was under an emergency
temporary trusteeship.The two decision were on summary judgment motions.
IBT president James P. Hoffa imposed an emergency trusteeship on the local in November 1999 based on allegations of abuse of members' rights and local officers' failure to protect the union finances. Morris sought a court injunction to regain control of the local. In late December, Padova ruled that no emergency existed to warrant imposition of the trusteeship without a hearing as required by IBT's constitution. Although Padova ordered IBT to return control of the local to its elected officers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit two days later stayed Padova's decision in Jan. 2000, allowing the emergency trusteeship to continue. Neither court ruled on the merits of the charges filed by IBT against Morris.
Morris's damages suit argues that both the initial "emergency" trusteeship and Hoffa's decision in June 2000 to continue the trusteeship for another 18 months violated the IBT's constitution and LMRDA. Morris maintained that Hoffa took control of the local to retaliate against Morris for not supporting Hoffa's election as IBT president. Morris had been an international vice president during the administration of corrupt ex-IBT president Ron Carey.
Padova found that the internal union hearing validated the continuation of the trusteeship. He rejected Morris' assertion that the hearing was unfair and said Morris failed to show that the trusteeship was not being maintained for proper statutory purposes. The IBT hearing found a number of legitimate reasons for continuing the trusteeship. Padova wrote "the establishment of a single proper purpose for establishing the trusteeship is sufficient to determine the trusteeship is valid under [LMRDA's] Title III , even in the presence of additional allegedly improper motives." [BNA 10/22/01]
TEACHERS / UNION DUES
School Officials Not Liable for California Unions' Inadequate Financial
Disclosures
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Oct. 15 that Cal.
public school superintendents who deducted agency fees from the paychecks
of nonmember teachers are not liable for unions' failure to provide an
adequate explanation of the basis for the fee calculation. Reversing summary
judgment granted to four teachers, the appeals court held "[a]ction more
serious than the routine collection of fees is required" to trigger a public
employer's duty to ensure that its employees receive adequate financial
disclosure. The court relied on its prior holding that a public employer's
duty to ensure proper notice arises when a union takes action against a
nonmember for failure to pay agency fees. U.S. Dist. Judge Dean D. Pregerson
(C.D. Cal., Clinton), sitting by designation, wrote the opinion, which
was joined by U.S. Circuit Judges Procter R. Hug, Jr. (9th Cir., Carter)
and Thomas G. Nelson (9th Cir., H.W. Bush).
The suit originally was filed by the teachers against the teachers' unions and the corresponding school districts, alleging deprivation of constitutional rights in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (42 U.S.C. § 1983). Former U.S. Dist. Judge Charles A. Legge (N.D. Cal., Reagan) held that the unions failed to provide adequate financial disclosure and that the school superintendents had a duty to ensure that the unions complied with the notice requirement before deducting any agency fees from nonmember teachers' paychecks. The superintendents head the Ukiah Unified School District, the East Side Union High School District, the Livermore Valley Joint School District, and the New Haven Unified School District. The teachers unions, locals of the Cal. Teachers Ass'n, did not appeal a district court ruling that the unions' financial disclosures were inadequate.
Stephen P. Berzon of Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain in San Francisco represented the superintendents. Milton L. Chappell of the Nat'l Right to Work Legal Def. Fdn. in Springfield, Va., represented the teachers. NRTW plans to ask the Ninth Circuit for rehearing en banc on the superintendent-liability issue. [BNA 10/23/01]
ALLIED-INDUSTRIAL WORKERS (PACE)
Iowa Bosses Indicted for $52,900 Embezzlement
On Mar. 23, in U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist. of Iowa, Steven Lathrop
and Randy Kamp, ex-treasurer and president,
respectively, of the Paper, Allied-Industrial Chemical & Energy Workers
Int'l Union Local 07-9937 in Waterloo, Iowa,, entered guilty pleas to informations
charging them with embezzling $52,997 in union funds. [Dep't of Labor 3/23/01]
UCU previously reported that Kamp pled guilty to a $4,773 union embezzlement.
Kamp was accused in Feb. 2001 of stealing union funds between June-Nov.
1999. [Des Moines Reg. 3/24/01]
STEELWORKERS (USWA)
Missouri Boss Admits $28,100 Embezzlement
On May 11, in U.S. Dist. Court for the E. Dist. of Missouri, Roy Keith
Harris, ex-financial secretary of United Steelworkers of Am Local
11-659, entered a plea of guilty to the embezzlement of $28,123 in union
funds. [Dep't of Labor 5/11/01]
GOVERNMENT WORKERS (AFSCME)
New Jersey Boss Allegedly Embezzled $23,000
Stephen Burks, ex-comptroller of the Am. Fed'n of State, Country and
Mun. Employees Dist. Council 71, was indicted on one count of embezzling
over $23,000 in union funds on May 15 in U.S. Dist. Court for the Dist.
of N.J. [Dep't of Labor 5/15/01]
LABORERS (LIUNA)
Alabama Staffer Accused of $21,600 Embezzlement
On May 31, Patricia Smith, ex-office secretary for the Laborers' Alabama
Dist. Council, was indicted in U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist. of Ala.
on one count of embezzling $21,687.85 in union funds and one count of making
false entries in records required to be maintained. [Dep't of Labor 5/31/01]
MINE WORKERS (UMW)
Alabama Boss Indicted for $12,000 Embezzlement
An indictment was returned May 31 in U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist.
of Ala. charging Eugene Wilkinson, ex-financial secretary of United Mine
Workers Local 7154 in Jasper, Ala., with one count of embezzling $12,024.89
in union funds and one count of false reporting of union records. [Dep't
of Labor 5/31/01]
LETTER CARRIERS (NALC)
Illinois Boss Admits $10,000 Embezzlement
Robert Comerford, ex-treasurer of the Nat'l Ass'n of Letter Carriers
Branch 31 in Peoria, Ill., pled guilty Mar. 20 in U.S. Dist. Court for
the Cent. Dist. of Illinois, to one count of embezzling in excess of $10,000
in union funds. [Dep't of Labor 3/20/01]
ELECTRICAL WORKERS (IBEW)
Kansas Boss Falsified Records to Cover $8,000 Embezzlement
Ex-business manager of the Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers Local 1523 in
Wichita, Kan., Britt Commons, pled guilty May 4 to falsifying union records
to conceal an embezzlement of $8,025 in union funds in U.S. Dist. Court
for the Dist. of Kansas. [Dep't of Labor 5/4/01]
LETTER CARRIERS (NALC)
Hawaiian Boss Pleads Guilty to Union Corruption
In U.S. Dist. Court for the Dist. of Hawaii, Glenn A. Reys, Sr., ex-secretary-treasurer
of the Nat'l Ass'n of Letter Carriers Branch 4644, pled guilty May 14 to
one count of embezzling $2,000 in union funds and one count of filing a
false labor organization annual report, Form LM-4. Reys was indicted
by federal grand jury on five counts of union embezzlement. The indictment
alleged that he stole approximately $ 5,000 from the branch. The false
report charge reportedly result from his statement that the branch did
not pay its officers between 1995 and 1997. [Dep't of Labor 5/14/01; Pacific
Employment Letter 5/01]
ALLIED-INDUSTRIAL WORKERS (PACE)
Alabama Bosses Admit Recordkeeping Failure
On Mar. 26, in U.S. Dist. Court for the S. Dist. of Alabama, Frederick
M. Jordan and Robert Gaillard, president and ex-treasurer, respectively,
of the Paper, Allied-Industrial Chemical & Energy Workers Int'l Union
Local 1575, each pled guilty to one count of failing to maintain union
records. [Dep't of Labor 3/26/01]
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