Right to Work Blog

Some things just never seem to change. Forced unionism continues to breed corruption.

An August 12 article by Steven Greenhouse and William K. Rashbaum in the New York Times is a case in point:

Citing continued corruption, a federal judge has ordered a one-year extension of government oversight of the New York City carpenters’ union, which has spent 14 years under supervision.

Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. of Federal District Court in Manhattan pointed to widespread off-the-books work and the bribery convictions of several shop stewards in ordering the extension in a decision issued on Friday. Under the government’s supervision, Judge Haight and an independent investigator oversee the union.

The union, the New York City District Council of Carpenters, which represents 25,000 carpenters, had asked Judge Haight to end the supervision, saying that the union was no longer under the influence of the Genovese crime family. The union signed a consent decree in 1994 agreeing to court-appointed supervision after federal prosecutors filed a civil racketeering lawsuit alleging that organized crime figures held sway over the union and assigned mob-linked workers to high-paying and no-show jobs at many sites, including the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

The carpenters’ request to end supervision was undercut last week when a dissident candidate in a union election was harassed and assaulted at a candidates’ forum that was held in the auditorium of a Catholic school in Manhattan.

According to witnesses and accounts provided to the union’s independent investigator, the candidate [William Davenport] was beaten unconscious outside after the meeting on Aug. 5 by a group of men who had been yelling during the forum.

On Monday, in response to the assault, Judge Haight issued a memorandum urging union leaders to ensure that there would be no more beatings at candidates’ forums. He also directed the union and the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan to inform him of the results of a Labor Department investigation into the attack.

Judge Haight rejected the union’s assertion that the standard for ending court-ordered supervision should be whether mob control of the union had ended. The judge, accepting the arguments of the United States attorney’s office, instead concluded that the standard should be whether all forms of corruption and labor racketeering had been eradicated.

Judge Haight cited federal criminal cases brought against the construction contractors On Par, Boom Construction and Tri-Built, which prosecutors said had saved on wages and benefit payments by employing carpenters off the books, with shop stewards often being bribed to turn a blind eye to the practice. The contractors paid far less into the health and pension funds than they were supposed to, prosecutors said.

Judge Haight wrote that the shop stewards and other union officials “played vital roles in facilitating, enabling or abetting the employers’ fraud” by failing to supervise job sites or keep track of hours worked.

The judge also noted that rank-and-file carpenters had reported serious corruption earlier this decade. Investigators later found that out-of-work political supporters of union leaders were frequently allowed to jump the job-referral line and were assigned jobs before many carpenters who had been out of work longer.

In asking that supervision be continued, the United States attorney’s office cited a “culture of corruption that continues to impede efforts to fight that corruption.”

Read on.

Every month, the Department of Labor announces criminal enforcement actions against labor union bosses and officials who put personal gain above the interest of the membership. March was a busy month. Check out what they reported (the information has been rearranged in date order):

On March 4, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, Steve Dobyns, former Secretary-Treasurer of Glass Molders Plastics Local 325, was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay the balance of his restitution totaling $415 and a $500 fine. On December 3, 2007, Dobyns pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $865. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Dallas District Office.

On March 6, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Robert Walston and Thaddeus Bania, former President and Comptroller, respectively, of Teamsters Local 743 were indicted as part of a 14-count superseding criminal complaint alleging conspiracy, mail fraud, theft of honest services, and embezzlement of union funds arising from multiple schemes involving the local’s voided October 2004 regular election of officers and a rerun election that was held in December 2004. This indictment supersedes the indictment issued by the grand jury on September 6, 2007 and includes three original defendants who were either officers, agents, or employees of Local 743: Richard Lopez, who was an incumbent candidate for Recording Secretary in 2004 and who also briefly held the position of president after Walston; Cassandra Mosley, a former business agent who resigned in December 2006; and David Rodriguez a former organizer who resigned in July 2007. The superseding information includes a forfeiture allegation of over $2 million dollars in salary, expenses, and benefits. A superseding misdemeanor information was also filed against Mark Jones, a former business agent and director of organizing for the local, involving allegations of opening mail not directed to him relating to the voided mail-ballot election in October 2004. The indictments follow an investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office, the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

On March 6, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Brad DuBray, former Treasurer of Carpenters Local 113, was sentenced to three years probation, including six months of home confinement, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $12,048.11 and a special assessment of $100. On November 14, 2007, DuBray pled guilty to embezzling union funds in the amount of $14,548.11.The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office.

On March 7, 2008, in the County Court of Adams County, Colorado, William J. Kohut, former Treasurer of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1755, pled guilty to a one count felony charge of forgery. On May 23, 2007, Kohut was charged with theft (one count), identity theft (one count), unauthorized use of a financial transaction device (one count), and forgery (one count), in connection with his alleged conversion of union funds totaling $2,839.65. The plea follows an investigation by the Denver District Office.

On March 10, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Darren Johnson, former President of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 78, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, including six months in a community corrections center, ordered to make restitution in the amount of $13,748.50 and attend a substance abuse program. On December 3, 2007, Johnson pled guilty to one count of bank robbery and incidental crimes. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Detroit District Office.
On March 12, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, an information was filed charging William Day, former Treasurer of Steelworkers Local 1-1462, with one count of embezzlement of union funds in the amount of $11,140.88. Subsequently, Day pled guilty to the offense. The charge and plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Cincinnati District Office.

On March 14, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Deborah Anthony, former Financial Secretary of Steelworkers Local 1196, pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $1,245.45. The plea agreement requires Anthony to make restitution in the amount of $34,134.47. On November 7, 2007, Anthony was charged with eight counts of embezzling union funds totaling $6,955.18 and one count of preparing false union records. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Pittsburgh District Office.

On March 17, 2008, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, a criminal information was filed charging Zona Albritton, former Manager of General Services for AFSCME, with one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $75,446. The charge follows an investigation by the OLMS Washington District Office.

On March 18, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Joseph Capece, former Business Manager and Financial-Secretary of IBEW Local Union 163, was sentenced to six months imprisonment, two years probation (to include six months in home confinement), fined $4000 and ordered to pay a special assessment fee of $100. On September 11, 2007, Capece pled guilty to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $256,000. Capece had previously made restitution of the full amount, plus any other costs associated with his crime. The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Philadelphia District Office.

On March 19, 2008 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, Karimah Bailey, former Treasurer of AFGE Local 3197, was charged with making a false statement and representation of a material fact, knowing it to be false, on the local’s annual financial report. The charge follows an investigation by the OLMS Seattle District Office.

On March 19, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Norman K. Brown, former Bargaining Committee Chairperson of UAW Local 2911, pled guilty to embezzling approximately $41,478 in union funds. On March 7, 2008, an information was filed charging Brown with one count of embezzlement of union funds in the same amount. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Chicago District Office.

On March 31, 2008 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Kurt E. Swanstrom, former Financial Secretary and Treasurer of PACE/USW Local 5-1560, pled guilty to embezzling union funds in the amount of $12,328, falsification of union records, and filing a false financial report with the Secretary. On January 8, 2008, Swanstrom was indicted on one count of embezzling union funds in the same amount, one count of falsification of union records, and one count of filing a false labor organization report. The plea follows an investigation by the OLMS Cleveland District Office.

For nine years, Don Adams has sought justice. This week, he got some.

It was nearly a decade ago when Adams was assaulted by a group of Teamsters in Philadelphia while he protested a visit by then President Bill Clinton. John Morris, the secretary of Local 115, placed a fedora over Adams’ face, a gesture known as “capping.” Capping is a sign for Morris’ union goons to attack. And attack they did.

Mr. Adams suffered several injuries as a result of the attack.

As reported by Bradley Vasoli in the Evening Bulletin:

By January 1999, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office arraigned several suspects in the incident, including Don Adams. He was charged with simple assault and other misdemeanors.

Video footage of the event by television news teams depicted Mr. Adams and Miss Adams [Mr. Adams’ sister Teri is a signatory to the settlement.] having fallen to the street as several individuals with Teamster T-shirts and jackets pushed and kicked them. When Mr. Adams arose, blood dripped from his cheekbone. Television interviews later revealed his eyes blackened.

Criminal proceedings against Mr. Adams went on until September 2000, at which point he was found not guilty.

Five Teamsters did endure modest punishments for their role in the events of October 1998. A few days after the 1998 congressional elections, two male union-affiliated suspects were arrested. They pled guilty to assault and other charges in the summer of 1999 and received probation.

In September 1999, two more male Teamsters and one female were arrested and pled guilty the next year, similarly sentenced to probation. Mr. Morris, who died in May 2002, was never charged.

In October 2000, Mr. and Miss Adams filed civil complaints to obtain redress for his criminal trial and to elicit an admission of responsibility from the Teamsters.

This month, the ordeal came to an end when the Teamsters settled with Mr. Adams out of court.

The Northwest Indiana Times reports that “[n]onunion workers at the Hilton Garden Inn construction site . . .” in Hobart, Indiana, “. . . were victims of an attack that went well beyond a union-based picket line.”

Project Superintendent Kim Lackey was cited in the report:

“We were verbally harassed and property was damaged,” she said. “These people acted like a mob of crazy lunatics.”

Lackey said that Friday, the day of the union pickets, workers at the site found evidence of vandalism, including 14 slashed vehicle tires, a cut phone line to the trailer and epoxy glue in the locks on the gate and the framer’s trailer.

Lackey and other workers said the union representatives spewed both racially and sexually biased slurs at them, including targeting Hispanics, blacks and women.

“They were totally out of line,” she said.

Indeed!

As the late Nobel Prize-winning economist Friederich A. von Hayek wrote, “[T]he coercion which unions have been permitted to exercise . . . is primarily the coercion of fellow workers.”

Walter Williams, a respected economist and syndicated columnist, has been more blunt.

“The union struggle is not against employers,” Mr. Williams wrote. “It is against workers. One way you see this is to ask: Who gets beat up or killed during a strike? It’s not the owners or management; it’s workers who’ve disagreed with the union and wish to work.”

The coercive powers union officials wield courtesy of federal labor law not only rob individual employees of fundamental freedoms, but exert a damaging and corrupting influence on work places, the economy, and other aspect of everyday American life.

The Daily Citizen in Searcy, Arkansas reports that “[v]iolent incidents at the Kohler factory in Searcy escalated over the weekend after the labor union withdrew three of four charges before the Federal Labor Relations Board. Members of the United Auto Workers Local 1000 rejected a proposed contract Dec. 9 and went on strike at the stainless steel sink factory. Replacement workers have been hired by Kohler. One of those new workers, Jon David Hicks, was injured by what he said were the actions of a union member walking the picket line.” The article continues:

On March 21, at 8:03 p.m. Hicks was exiting the driveway of the Kohler factory at Beebe-Capps Expressway on his new motorcycle.

“I saw this guy lunge at me,” Hicks said. “Instinctively, I swerved to miss him. Next thing I know, I’m laying on the ground, pulling my helmet off, and there is a first responder standing over me.”

Hicks went into the inside lane and struck an eastbound truck driven by Patrick Parrott. He was transported to the White County Medical Center and treated for a broken collarbone and a bruised right side.

“If I hadn’t been wearing my helmet and jacket I’d be dead right now,” Hicks said.

Hicks wasn’t alone:

Another replacement worker, who asked their name be withheld in fear of retaliation, told The Daily Citizen what they had experienced crossing the picket line.

“They do everything in their power so we will run over them,” the Kohler employee said. “They put nails in the driveway. I’m one of the Maytag people that got laid off. The unemployment office didn’t give us a choice to take this job. They told us if we didn’t take this job we wouldn’t have unemployment.”

According to this man, 20 to 30 percent of the replacement workers are former Maytag workers.

A second temporary worker, who also asked their name be withheld, described what it was like to cross the picket line.

“They follow people home and spray paint their vehicles,” the worker said. “They scream obscenities and hit my car with their signs. They’re being down right vicious.”

A striker who was walking the picket line Monday and who refused to give his name, said he saw a replacement worker flash a gun last week.

According to a Searcy police report, a black male in a Chevrolet Tahoe pointed a handgun at strikers. One witness told police, the man with the gun said, “I’ve got something to take care of you” as he held up the handgun.

On Friday, police reports show three other incidents occurred.

A Kohler employee had the right side mirror broken off her vehicle, causing $200 in damage. The suspect was wearing a black jacket with white stripes.

Another Kohler employee said a small dent was put in the passenger door of his car, knuckle prints were put in the trunk lid and a sign was used to scratch the trunk lid. Damage was estimated at $250.

A picketer said he was hit by the mirror of a small four-door black car occupied by two white females.

On Saturday, a man reported strikers had dented his vehicle with a ball bearing, broke the mirror and dented the hood. Damage was estimated at $1,000. Another employee said two small dents that appeared to be from a pellet gun were made in his car, causing $1,000 in damage. Replacement workers have also said screws have littered the entrance to Kohler as they enter.

Union president David Smith said he had no knowledge of the nails thrown in the driveway, but had not told the picketers to not do that.

“I didn’t see anybody do it,” Smith said. “How about that. That’s as far as I can be truthful about it.”

Smith said he had never asked picketers if they had thrown nails in the driveway.

“I’ve heard of things going on but personally I haven’t done it,” Smith said. “I didn’t tell them to do it but I didn’t tell them not to.”

As union president, Smith said he was in charge of the picketers. A meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Smith said, in which he plans to tell the strikers that if they have been doing anything violent it needs to stop.

Under the Supreme Court’s 1973 Enmons decision, vandalism, assault, and even murder by union officials are exempt from federal anti-extortion law. As long as the violence is aimed at obtaining property for which the union can assert a “lawful claim” — for example, wage or benefit increases — the violence is deemed to be in furtherance of “legitimate” union objectives. By the Court’s peculiar logic, such violence does not count as extortion.

The result has been an epidemic of union-related violence. The National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) has recorded thousands and thousands of incidents of violence from public news reports. Most acts of violence go unreported in the media. For example, in the Daily News Strike in New York City there were over a thousand “police blotter” items relating to the strike, but only a couple of dozen incidents that were reported on in the press. Using this ratio, it is possible that there have been, literally, over 100,000 incidents of violence and property damage during labor disputes over the last 20 years.

A general manager of a New York construction firm has asked a federal judge to dissolve an 800,000 member union because several supporters of the local in New York allegedly waged a three-year “campaign of terror” against him, according to the New York Sun newspaper.

The lawsuit filed against the Laborer’s International Union of North America claims that a group of members of the Local 78 threatened and stalked the employees of a nonunion construction firm in Queens. The construction firm, Asbestos & Lead Removal Corporation, and its general manager, George Kourkounakis, filed the suit recently in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

The legal complaint catalogs a long list of alleged run-ins between Mr. Kourkounakis and local union members. Most recently, a union member last month struck Mr. Kourkounakis with a billy club, breaking his hand, according to the legal complaint. Starting three years ago, union members have been harassing Mr. Kourkounakis by throwing bricks through the windows of his home, leaving threatening phone calls, and vandalizing his car and his employees’ cars, the complaint alleges.

The suit claims the union would also tamper with his job sites in order to create safety violations for regulators to discover. In one instance, union members littered one of the company’s job sites with asbestos roofing material so the company would be fined, the complaint said.

Don and Teri Adams attended a rally protesting President Clinton outside Philadelphia City Hall in 1998 — and were beaten to a bloody pulp by a group of Teamsters. The Adams have filed a lawsuit. A special three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals will convene to hear arguments as to whether a federal civil rights suit may proceed against Governor Ed Rendell for his alleged role in the 1998 Teamster beating.

Rendell, Philadelphia mayor at the time, has since admitted in a deposition to personally inviting Teamster boss John Morris and Teamster Union Local 115 members to attend a pro-Clinton rally, despite knowing the Teamsters’ propensity to use violence against opponents. Rendell acknowledged that he had specifically instructed the Teamsters to “drown out” Clinton protesters.

Moments before the Oct. 2, 1998 beating, Morris was caught by several news cameras marking one Clinton protester for attack by placing a Fedora over his head. The teamsters then charged the man, Don Adams, and his sister, knocking both to the ground before viciously assaulting them. Adams was treated at an area hospital for a concussion, lacerations, and several bruises. His sister suffered minor injuries.

According to a statement from Morris’ top deputy, Rendell later tried to console Morris about the negative publicity the teamsters had generated by promising no charges would be filed against Morris and by suggesting ways to have the victim, Adams, prosecuted.

In July 1999, Adams stood trial after several Teamster women alleged he had assaulted them prior to his own beating. Adams was found not guilty and the women have since recanted their stories.

Morris was never charged. He died in 2001. Five Teamsters pled guilty to various assault and conspiracy charges and were given probation.

Three judges from outside the 3rd Circuit’s jurisdiction were appointed to hear the appeal after the appellees filed a motion asking the entire circuit to recuse itself — due to the fact Rendell’s wife, Judge Marjorie Rendell, is one of its members.