Union Corruption Update

The mop-up work at Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 continues. This past December, two former officials of the Queens, N.Y.-based school bus drivers union, plus a key associate, were sentenced in Manhattan federal court for their roles in an extortion-and-bribery scheme. On December 14, brothers Nicholas and Paul Maddalone, each an ex-local board member, were sentenced to 10 months in prison and two years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit extortion to obtain bribes. A week earlier, on December 7, Ira Sokol, a former New York City public school bus inspector, was sentenced to two years probation, including six months home confinement, after pleading guilty to bribery conspiracy.

For more than two and a half years Deidra Lucas couldn't stay out of her organization's cookie jar. Her main challenge now will be to stay out of prison. Lucas, formerly president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 100 in Pontiac, Mich., was indicted a month and a half ago by a Detroit federal grand jury on four counts of embezzling nearly $40,000 in union funds. The local represented workers at the former (city-owned) North Oakland Medical Center, since 2008 having operated as Doctors' Hospital of Michigan, a privately-owned entity.

On December 4, Christine Throckmorton, formerly office secretary/bookkeeper for Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 57, pled guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to embezzling $9,674.95 in funds from the Pittsburgh union. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On December 10, Karen Snelling, former treasurer of Communications Workers of America Local 34014, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana to one count of embezzling $18,100 in funds from the Gary-based union. She had been indicted in September. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On December 2, Tiffany Freeman, Tiesha Hamer, Lavina Smith, LaDonna Turner and Britton Russia were charged in Hamilton County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas with forging more than $40,000 in checks belonging to Local 1 of the American Federation of Musicians. The alleged stolen amounts from the Cincinnati-based union are: Freeman, $2,260; Hamer, $749; Smith, $2,500; Turner, $15,800; and Russia, $21,309. Russia also was charged with receiving stolen property. The charges follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

For Gary A. Barner, a 16-month sentence in federal prison for theft is anticlimactic. Maybe that's because he's already doing time in state prison for something a lot more serious. Barner, formerly treasurer for Local 518 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), was sentenced in federal court on January 14 to one year and four months in prison for embezzling nearly $30,000 from the Rome, Ga.-based union. He pleaded guilty in October. PACE is now part of the United Steelworkers of America, the two having merged in 2005.

On December 1, Dianne Drawdy, former financial secretary of Security Police Fire Professionals Union Local 576, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to six months imprisonment and three years of supervised release for embezzlement of $17,900 from the Baxley-based union. She also will have to pay $18,818.74 in restitution. Drawdy pled guilty in July. The sentencing follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On November 17, Ruth Olson, former financial secretary for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1225 in Marina (Monterey County), was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to four years probation and 200 hours community service, and ordered to pay $12,904.56 in restitution and a $25 special assessment. She pleaded guilty in July to one count of making a false entry in union records. The sentencing follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

For organized labor, if there's anything better than a federal takeover of health insurance, it's a federal takeover of health insurance with a major tax break for union members. Union leaders, led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (see photo), this week gave the country a first-hand lesson on how to play behind-the-scenes political hardball. Yesterday, following a three-day marathon negotiating session, the nation's top labor officials announced they had reached an agreement to delay introduction of a federal excise tax on high-cost health insurance plans on their rank and file. While a number of Republicans are calling the deal a giveaway, union leaders are spinning it as another example of doing right by working Americans.