Posts tagged Boilermakers
NC couple, execs stole $20M from union for ritzy trips, meals & salaries, jury finds
June 10, 2026 // Nearly $2 million more in salaries and benefits were paid to others for jobs that did not require them to work, including $1.8 million paid to Kateryna Jones, documents show. She got some of the money while she was dating Newton Jones and still living in Ukraine, they said. The Chapel Hill couple also enjoyed date night meals that totaled over $160,000 and charged shopping trips and other personal expenses to the union, prosecutors said. Over $5 million was spent on “unnecessary and lavish international travel,” including executive meetings held “for no apparent purpose in extravagant hotels” in Paris, Rome and other cities.
Kearney man among former union leaders convicted of embezzlement
June 9, 2026 // Prosecutors said the group used union money for no-show jobs, expensive trips, lavish meals, and other personal costs. They also said there were unearned payouts, and an unauthorized $7 million loan tied to a union-related bank.
Jury deliberations underway in KCK in Boilermakers monthlong racketeering trial
June 3, 2026 // The defendants are charged with using union funds for salaries and benefits for no-show jobs, luxury international travel, fine dining, vacation payouts and unauthorized loans. On trial are former International President Newton Jones, 72, and his wife, Kateryna, 33, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; former International Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden, 78, of Kearney, Missouri; and former International Vice President Lawrence McManamon, 78, of Rocky River, Ohio. The four defendants are among seven former union members indicted in August 2024 for conspiracy to commit offenses under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as embezzlement, health care fraud, wire fraud and other felonies.
Alabama Sherwin-Williams Production Site Workers Win Vote to Eject Boilermakers Union Bosses
May 27, 2026 // Employees at a Sherwin-Williams Packaging Coatings Group production facility have freed themselves from the unwanted “representation” of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers union officials. The workers’ effort was spearheaded by Jacob Miller, who filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), seeking a “decertification” election to end the Boilermakers’ exclusive bargaining powers over the workers. Miller’s petition was filed with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
Boilermakers members call for federal probe into KC-based union’s elections
February 24, 2026 // Filed by two members of Kansas City’s Local 83, the complaint was sent to the Office of Labor-Management Standards, an agency within the Labor Department. It alleges that the union’s election system locks rank-and-file members out of the process and ensures that those in power will remain in their positions. The action comes as a trial is approaching in a federal corruption case in which several former union executives — among them ousted International President Newton Jones — are charged with allegedly scheming to steal $20 million in union funds. The union’s executive council voted to remove Jones in 2023, accusing him of misusing union funds for personal gain, including funneling large sums of money to his Ukrainian wife for work she never performed.
Unions ask California to lead fight for workers at the state level
June 23, 2025 // California Chamber of Commerce was the only group that spoke in opposition to the bill. It argued the bill is preempted by the Garmon doctrine, which stops state and local governments from regulating activities protected or prohibited by the National Labor Relations Act. But, preemption, McKinnor said, was designed to create consistent protection for workers, not to shield companies from the consequences of breaking the law