"We witness the sorry spectacle of Gary Winnick, the CEO of Global Crossing,
selling off $734 million in stock while urging his employees to buy more,
and then using the money to purchase a $92 million dollar mansion in Bel
Air."
Uh, would this be the same Global Crossing that received millions in
investment dollars from ULLICO, a union pension fund-owned insurance company
with a board that included John Sweeney and numerous other union officials?
A federal grand jury and the U.S. Dept.
of Labor are now investigating insider stock trades that apparently enriched
ULLICO board members at the expense of rank-and-file union members.
While Sweeney claims not to have participated in
the stock deals, he sat on the ULLICO board while others did.
"[W]e insist that the Securities and Exchange Commission and all three stock exchanges agree to a single higher standard for publicly-traded corporations. That standard must...prohibit CEOs from selling their company stock while they are in office."
Oh. Would the Sweeney Standard apply to ULLICO board members, like Communications Workers president Morton Bahr and Carpenters president Doug McCarron? Reportedly, they and other Board members enjoyed trading privileges allowing them to profit from the purchase and sale of their own company's stock. Because the privately held company's stock price was reset each year based on its value on Jan. 1, the board members could anticipate the change before the new year. Barred from selling their ULLICO stock before its value was adjusted downward were the pension funds of rank-and-file workers.
Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. NLPC, PO Box 6821, Falls Church, VA 22040. Thank you. Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption 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.
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 (http://www.nlpc.org).
Also available is a union-by-union and state-by-state index of all Union
Corruption Update articles. If you have story ideas or suggestions for
future editions of Union Corruption Update, please email NLPC at nlpc@nlpc.org.
Thank you.
Looking for a LM-2, LM-3, or LM-4 Annual Financial Report from the
Department of Labor? Visit http://www.dol-union-reports.gov.
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by Union)
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by State)
Organized Labor Accountability Project