UTU Bribes Are Reportable U.S. Court Affirms

Summary: United Transportation Union (UTU) officials would receive payments, which some call bribes, from attorneys because these union officials provided special access to UTU members.  UTU bosses created a list of “Designated Legal Counsels” that were recommended to UTU members.  One of those payments (bribes) in exchange for access was caught on an undercover video camera by the federal investigators. (see below)

The average settlement for these UTU cases is about $1 million; making this a very lucrative business for trial lawyers. 

Essentially, UTU Designated Legal Counsels have argued that the bribes were a regular cost of doing business and therefore the payments to the union bosses were not reportable.  In this case, Michael J. Warshauer argued that even though the law in question specifically states “any employer” must report these types of payments, the U.S. Department of Labor should only require employers involved in persuader activity to report these payments.  Fortunately, both courts disagreed with Warshauer. (See Warshauer campaign contributions)

Until forced unionism and monopoly bargaining ends, unscrupulous union bosses will be able to continue to establish these types of self-enriching schemes.  Please join the National Right to Work Committee in its effort to end forced unionism and monopoly bargaining.