Joe Dougherty Archives

January 8

Ex-Ironworkers Union Boss's Extortion Defense: I Just Did What Other Philadelphia Construction Union Chieftains Do

Both the prosecution and the defense in the ongoing extortion trial of Joseph Dougherty, the former union boss of Philadelphia Ironworkers Local 401, agree that, over the years, a band of Local 401 officers and rank-and-file militants routinely terrorized construction…

September 21

Vexing Enmons Decision Again Under Scrutiny

Violence Committed For ‘Legitimate’ Union Goals Isn’t Extortion?? (Article first appeared in the September 2014 National Right to Work Committee Newsletter) This summer, pro-Right to Work U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) introduced in…

February 22

Big Labor Boss Allegedly Itching to 'Shoot' Workers Who Don't Belong to His Union; Philadelphia Construction Union Czar Insists He's an Okay Guy

The indictments this week of Ironworkers Local 401 union boss Joe Dougherty and nine of his lieutenants. militant followers, and other cohorts for “conspiring to torch and damage property when the union wasn’t given jobs on construction projects” has put…