Posts tagged corruption
Legal documents say union funneled $1.8M into lost trust fund
April 2, 2024 // New legal documents filed recently in an ongoing union corruption case in Pennsylvania say officials funneled $1.8 million into a trust fund that’s yet to be recovered and then destroyed evidence of its existence. The lawsuit, filed in 2020 by The Fairness Center on behalf of three workers at a state prison in Huntingdon, accused the treasurer of the local chapter of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association of misappropriating $20,000 between 2009 and 2018. The three workers – Cory Yedlosky, William Weyant, and Chris Taylor – even shared their concerns with union executive board members in Harrisburg but were ignored, according to court documents.
Commentary: Biden fosters Big Labor cronyism
March 25, 2024 // It is bad enough that union dues go to political activity that workers may or may not agree with. It is worse that some union bosses are stealing money from the workers that they claim to represent. Every dollar that a union boss steals is one dollar less that a worker can put toward sending their children to school, putting food on the table, or building a nest egg. The Biden administration enables union corruption because union dues overwhelmingly go toward electing Democrats. Biden’s refusal to pull union bosses away from the trough directly harms workers. Unlike Biden, House Republicans are leading the charge to stamp out union fraud and corruption.
House Seeks Information from Unions on Policies to Prevent Corruption
March 20, 2024 // Each of the letters asks for a comprehensive description of the policies and procedures the union has in place to monitor and deter fraud, corruption, and improper accounting, including any third-party audits, the types of training and education provided to prevent fraud or corruption, internal reporting mechanisms, and disciplinary policies. These questions apply both to each union’s headquarters as well as its locals. U.S. House Subpoenas UAW Local over Controversial Resolution Chairwoman Foxx cites specific examples of corruption for each union. For example, in the Teamsters letter, she cites a state senator from Illinois who was indicted for taking more than $245,000 in fraudulent income and other benefits from Teamsters Joint Council 25 while purporting to be a union organizer.
Chair Foxx Investigates 12 Unions for Recent Fraud, Corruption Seeks answers on protecting workers from further union malfeasance
March 18, 2024 // “The Committee on Education and the Workforce (Committee) is concerned about fraud, embezzlement, and corruption perpetrated by union officials. To ensure workers represented by labor organizations are shielded from malfeasance by union officials, the Committee requests documents and information relating to…efforts to protect employees and deter fraud, corruption, and improper accounting.”
Broward school board approves teacher contract amid discord
March 4, 2024 // The board on Tuesday voted 6 to 3 to approve the contract, but before the vote, board member Torey Alston said there was “blatant corruption” in the process, saying the union endorsed board members who pledged to support the package, accusing unnamed colleagues on the board of colluding with the union. “School board members were talking to the president of the BTU potentially about items discussed in closed sessions, I think a third party needs to examine the communications that occurred between the board members, staff, and the BTU president,” Alston said during the school board meeting.
Philly AFSCME President Fired for Getting Caught
March 4, 2024 // Garrett’s $270,000-plus salary during a time when Americans are watching more and more of their budgets eaten up by the cost of groceries, gas, healthcare and household necessities. AFSCME’s national office in Washington, D.C., ordered Garrett’s removal following a hearing about allegations from fellow union officers over his penchant for altering staff salaries, hiring more than a dozen friends as employees, contracting with his sister-in-law for catering services and purchasing union-branded hoodies and other apparel from a union ally’s nephew totaling half a million dollars.
Op-ed: The Price of Bent Unions Is Red Unions
March 2, 2024 // It’s important to point out that the lesson of this pattern isn’t that corrupt unions are somehow “better” than their ideologically fanatical alternative. Every political activist, no matter how wrong on policy, deserves to have money that he or she voluntarily contributes to advocacy groups be used for the purposes for which it was contributed, rather than lining the leaders’ pockets. (Inclination to this sin does not distinguish by party or ideology, it must be said.)
After decades of corruption Florida teachers seek new union with integrity
February 25, 2024 // “I noted that the increase in union dues and health care costs were not matched by commensurate salary improvements,” Beightol said. “I began investigating what was going on.” Around the same time, former UTD president Pat Tornillo was arrested for swindling the union out of millions of dollars. Beightol unsuccessfully ran for president of UTD twice, before being expelled for “anti-union” behavior.
COLORADO: Stephen Varela investigated for alleged misuse of union funds
February 23, 2024 // When Stephen Varela became president in 2016 of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2430 in southern Colorado, former union officers say one of the first things he did was ask the bank for a debit card for the union’s account. Local 2430, a union representing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employees, explicitly states in its bylaws that its president and treasurer must both sign checks covering any union expenditures. That way there can be oversight of union money and how it’s spent. Debit cards are not normally allowed.
Some of the 18 Teamster officials in the Western region charged by the Teamster Independent Investigations Officer (IIO) in May and July of 2023 have been suspended from office or resigned their positions, while others await the decision of Judge Barbara Jones. Judge Jones serves as the Teamster Independent Review Officer (IRO) and makes the final decisions on corruption charges filed by the IIO.
February 22, 2024 // Three officials who ran on the Vairma-Herrera Slate in the 2021 International Union election are among the charged officers. They are all charged for their role in aiding disgraced former IBT Vice President Rome Aloise to direct union business after he was suspended from the union for corruption and taking gifts from a major employer during bargaining.