October 2011 Big Labor Criminal Roundup

October 2011 Big Labor Criminal Roundup

From the US DOL we find that union corruption and criminal behavior continues.   Here are some highlights from October: Patricia Moore, former employee and Secretary-Treasurer of the National Union of Protective Services Associations (NUPSA), located in Washington, D.C., with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for obtaining $109,866.17 from NUPSA and the National Union of Law Enforcement Associations (NULEA) for her personal use. Frank Rago, former Representative of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and former President of ILA Local 1604 (located in Stoneham, Mass.), was sentenced to one year and one day incarceration followed by three years supervised release. Rago was also ordered to pay $216,384.57 in restitution. Freda Hensley, former President of Steelworkers Local 8-14505 (located in West Logan, W.Va.), pled guilty to a one count indictment of 29 U.S.C. 501(c) for embezzling $38,539.68 in union funds. The full list from DOL: On October 19, 2011, in the United States District Court of Massachusetts, Joseph Pavone, former President of Laborers Local 560 (located in Waltham, Mass.), pled guilty to three counts of receiving unlawful labor payments in the amount of $6,466.80, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 186(b)(1) and (d)(2).  The guilty plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Boston District Office and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General. On October 17, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Freda Hensley, former President of Steelworkers Local 8-14505 (located in West Logan, W.Va.), pled guilty to a one count indictment of 29 U.S.C. 501(c) for embezzling $38,539.68 in union funds.  The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office. On October 14, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Dennis Lee McGee, Jr., former President of Steelworkers Local 9-9506 (located in Bynum, Ala.), pled guilty to three counts of 29 U.S.C. 501(c) for embezzling union funds totaling $1,950.  McGee was then sentenced to three years probation and was ordered to pay $7,600 in restitution and a $300 special assessment.  The guilty plea and sentencing follow an investigation by the OLMS Nashville District Office. On October 14, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, Thomas Wagner, former Financial Secretary of Steelworkers Local 897 (located in Cheektowaga, N.Y.), was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and was ordered to make restitution of $5,526.  On June 26, 2011, Wagner pled guilty to falsifying union records. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Buffalo District Office. On October 13, 2011, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, a criminal information was filed charging Patricia Moore, former employee and Secretary-Treasurer of the National Union of Protective Services Associations (NUPSA), located in Washington, D.C., with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for obtaining $109,866.17 from NUPSA and the National Union of Law Enforcement Associations (NULEA) for her personal use, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371.  The charge follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office, the Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General, and the Employee Benefits Security Administration. On October 13, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Max Messamore, former President of National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 2039 (located in Somerset, Ky.), was sentenced to two years probation, fined $500, and was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $2,293.77.  He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $25.  On May 19, 2011, Messamore pled guilty to failing to maintain union records, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 439(a).  The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office. On October 12, 2011, in the County of Westmoreland in the state of Pennsylvania, Lesa Major, former Secretary-Treasurer of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 14821 (located in Monessen, Pa.), was sentenced for Theft by Unlawful Taking which had been reduced to a misdemeanor at sentencing.  Major paid restitution of $2,500 prior to sentencing and as stated in the plea agreement, probation was terminated when restitution was paid.  The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office. On October 11, 2011, in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, Nichelle Alstatt, former Secretary-Treasurer of the Professional Office Personnel Alliance (POPA), located in Las Vegas, Nev., was sentenced to five years probation, with a series of special conditions which included the successful completion of substance abuse and mental health treatment and the completion of 40 hours of community service.  Alstatt was also ordered to pay $51,613.37 in restitution through a garnishment of her wages and a lump sum court assessment of $150.  On June 8, 2011, Alstatt pled guilty to one count of embezzlement in the amount of $51,636.37, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 501(c); one count of making false entries in required records, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 439(c); and one count of making false entries in reports required to be filed under the LMRDA, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 439(b).  The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Los Angeles District Office.
Jimmy Hoffa Part 2 - Cleaning Up the Teamsters

Jimmy Hoffa Part 2 - Cleaning Up the Teamsters

Big Labor history of forced unionism abuses from Robert F. Kennedy’s The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee’s Crusade Against Jimmy Hoffa And Corrupt Labor Unions: By August of 1958, the McClellan Committee had uncovered a mass of crookedness and wrongdoing in the Teamsters. There were demands that Hoffa take steps to clean up his union. However, I was convinced by this time that he was completely incapable of doing the job-had he cared to. He was dependent on the racketeers and ex-convicts with whom he had surrounded the Barney Bakers. So when in August of 1958 Hoffa announced that he was appointing a special committee to investigate corruption in his union, I was suspicious. And when I heard that George Bender was to be the chairman of the committee I was flabbergasted. Although at that point we had not made it public, we had learned not only from Jim Luken but from a friendly source within the Teamsters that the Hoffa-Bender relationship was an intimate one dating back to the 1954 Bender investigation. (The Committee had found that approximately $109,000-at least $30,000 in cash-went through George Bender's campaign committee bank accounts following that 1954 election. The money was never reported to state authorities-though there may be some question if it is necessary to report campaign funds received after an election is over and won.)
Jimmy Hoffa Part 1 - Tough Guys

Jimmy Hoffa Part 1 - Tough Guys

Big Labor history from Robert F. Kennedy’s The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee's Crusade Against Jimmy Hoffa And Corrupt Labor Unions: As I was going out the door, Hoffa said: "Tell your wife I'm not as bad as everyone thinks I am." I laughed. Jimmy Hoffa had a sense of humor. He must have laughed himself as he said it. In view of all I already knew, I felt that he was worse than anybody said he was. In the next two and a half years, nothing happened to change my opinion. On my way home I thought of how often Hoffa had said he was tough; that he destroyed employers, hated policemen and broke those who stood in his way. It had always been my feeling that if a person was truly tough; if he actually had strength and power; if he really had the ability to excel, he need not brag and boast of it to prove it.
Union Workers Beaten by Union Bosses Who Enriched Themselves on a Forced Dues Feast

Union Workers Beaten by Union Bosses Who Enriched Themselves on a Forced Dues Feast

  “They were warning me that if I continue to complain about their finances, they would have me killed," a New York union member, who caught the union bosses with their hands in the union member coffers, told the New York Daily News: Unionized phone company employees say they were beaten or threatened after they accused their labor bosses of looting their coffers through various scams. One member of Communications Workers of America Local 1101 said that after he reported a time-sheet padding scheme, a thug beat him so badly his spine was injured. Another says he found a dead rat in his locker, while a third said a union officer warned that suspected informants should be brought off company property and "taken care of." The threats come to light as the U.S. Labor Department is probing charges that union bosses lined their pockets at the rank-and-file's expense. Accusations include an unauthorized 401(k) plan union officers gave themselves funded with members' dues, along with hefty weekly allowances, lavish expense accounts and six-figure salaries, union documents show. The feds are also looking into allegations that double-dipping union bosses illegally received pay from Verizon and the local for the same hours, sources said. "This was union greed and that's worse than corporate greed," said Kevin Condy, a reform movement leader of the 6,700-member local that represents mostly Verizon workers in Manhattan and the Bronx. "These guys acted like they felt they were entitled." And, some members charge, the bosses retaliated when threatened with exposure. In August, business agent Patrick Gibbons said he received death threats and his office was vandalized after he complained that union bosses were misappropriating cash. "They were warning me that if I continue to complain about their finances, they would have me killed," Gibbons wrote in an open letter to union members. Six months earlier, Verizon heavy equipment operators Salvatore DiStefano and Sebastian Taravella sued the local in Brooklyn Federal Court. They said they were harassed after telling Verizon security officials a manager allowed workers to leave early but claim a full day's pay - as long as they completed a quota of assigned jobs. DiStefano told the Daily News he was "attacked by a union thug" as he started the morning shift at a Verizon garage in the Bronx in April 2009. "He pounded me with his fists, he spit on me, he choked me and threw me down to the floor," he said. DiStefano said he suffered two herniated discs and had knee problems that required surgery. He got workers' compensation as a result, records show.