National Legal and Policy Center -- Organized Labor Accountability Project
 
UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE
 
January 6, 2003 -- Vol. 6, Issue 1

For Influential Leaders & Important Decision Makers:
Information on America's most corrupt & aggressive unions

 
TEACHERS (AFT)
DC Teacher Sues Union Hierarchy as Investigation Continues.
A high school history teacher on Dec. 27 asked a fed. judge to throw out his local union's executive bd. for failing to prevent several years of alleged embezzlement by the union's president and two other officers. The teacher, Nathan Saunders, also asked Judge Emmet G. Sullivan (U.S.D.C., DC, Clinton) for a restraining order against the 21-member ex. bd. of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) and its parent union, the Amer. Fedtn. of Teachers (AFT). A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7.

Saunders was one of many teachers who saw a deduction of $160 from his paycheck for union dues last summer when only about $20 was expected. Saunders contacted the WTU several times to try and resolve the overcharge, but was rebuffed. Finally, officials from the AFT began a probe which has now expanded into a federal investigation of WTU president Barbara Bullock, chief asst. Gwendolyn Hemphill and treasurer James Baxter. The three are alleged to have stolen some $2 million from the WTU since 1995.

Local AFT affiliates are required to submit an audit of their finances to the natl. headquarters every two years. But the WTU never submitted an audit under Bullock's reign, and Saunders blames both the WTU ex. bd. and the AFT for failing to properly oversee the officers' actions.

Fed. investigators have retrieved hundreds of expensive clothes, shoes, artwork and electronics allegedly bought with union dues by the three officers, but prosecutors have yet to file formal charges against the three, who have been forced to resign their offices by the AFT. [Washington Post 12/31/02]

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.

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