National Legal and Policy Center -- Organized Labor Accountability
Project
UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE
April 14, 2003 -- Vol. 6, Issue 8
For Influential Leaders & Important Decision Makers:
Information on America's most corrupt & aggressive unions
GOVERNMENT WORKERS (AFSCME)
New DC 37 Local President Sues Ex-Boss for more than $1.5 Million
Carmen Charles, the new president of a NYC local union in the scandal-tarred
Dist. Council 37, sued the ex-president for squandering nearly $2 million
of union funds for 30 years.
Last spring, James Butler
lost an election for president of Local 420 of the Amer. Fedtn. of State,
County & Municipal Employees to Charles. With Butler's exit, an audit
by KPMG of the Local's finances from 1995-98 finally was released.
The accountants found that Butler had spent nearly $2 million for a new
headquarters that remains a dilapidated shell, and charged tens of thousands
of dollars worth of his and his wife's travel expenses to the union without
documentation.
In the lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, Charles
also accused Butler and the Local's executive board of spending $14,600 for
alcohol at union meetings, held in hospitals where alcohol is not permitted.
In addition to the KPMG findings, Charles accused Butler and four board members
of taking $767,300 in pay hikes and expense stipends without the members'
required approval from 1997-2002. In the same period, Butler took
$77,860 in "vacation benefits" paid in cash, according to the suit.
In the suit, Charles is seeking $1,602,858 in restitution to the members
of Local 420. [Newsday 4/9/03]
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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