Posts tagged embezzle
Closing arguments are underway in John Dougherty embezzlement trial
December 4, 2023 // Dougherty threatened to “beat up,” “run over” and put potential witnesses “under the water” in a speech secretly recorded by an FBI informant. Costello, addressing the jury Monday morning, pointed to the frequency with which those supposed mistakes occurred. “This conduct was not a one-time mistake,” he said. “It was something that was done all the time. It was pervasive. It was intentional. In fact, it was so pervasive it just became routine.”
Ford workers join those at GM in approving contract settlement that ended UAW strikes
November 20, 2023 // The United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with Ford, a pact that, along with similar deals with General Motors and Stellantis, will raise pay across the industry, force automakers to absorb higher costs and help reshape the auto business as it shifts away from gasoline-fueled vehicles. Workers at Ford voted 69.3% in favor of the pact, which passed with nearly a 15,000-vote margin in balloting that ended early Saturday. Earlier this week, GM workers narrowly approved a similar contract. At Stellantis, 68.7% of workers favored ratification, an insurmountable lead with votes at only two small facilities left to be counted.
Trial of Philadelphia labor leaders exposes the rampant corruption plaguing the country’s unions
November 16, 2023 // On Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Grenell showed evidence of Burrows billing the union for more than $65,000 “for renovations done on his New Jersey home and other properties he owned,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Last week, lawyers showed the jury proof that Dougherty spent $7,000 of union dues on a birthday party and lavish gifts for his wife and mistress, the union’s political director, “at separate Atlantic City shindigs within weeks of each other." Union corruption is nothing new, and Burrow’s and Dougherty’s trial details are relatively unsurprising. Those organizations have a long track record of dishonesty and exploitative tactics, such as forcing a company’s employees to pay union dues or strong-arming the city of Philadelphia to use union contractors for projects.
Oregon Woman Admits to $40K Embezzlement from Labor Union: Union Integrity Challenged
November 6, 2023 // Anderson held a part-time role that encompassed tasks such as signing checks, general clerk duties, bill payment, and oversight of the union's bank account. From 2013 to July 2022, Anderson purloined a cumulative $39,169 from BSAC, restituting only $8,000, resulting in a net loss to the union of $30,316 according to the press release.
‘Battle royale’: Tesla and anti-union Musk make enticing targets for UAW’s next push
November 5, 2023 // Some current UAW members are already fired up to take on Tesla. “Go out west to California? Absolutely, I would go,” said John Jake Kincaid, a Stellantis employee in Michigan. “Show them our strength.” Still, fighting for a contract at companies with established relationships with union workers is a far different effort than starting from scratch. Several workers who were key to Tesla’s earlier union effort are no longer at the company. The Fremont plant’s history with the UAW predates the electric vehicle maker. For about 25 years, Toyota and GM operated the facility together in an unusual joint venture. It was a union shop. In 2009, GM pulled out of the partnership as part of its bankruptcy proceedings and in 2010 Toyota shut the operation down, throwing 4,700 people out of work. A month later, Tesla bought the sprawling 5.3 million square foot factory; the union didn’t come with the purchase.
Big Labor Is an Economic and Political Dead End
October 26, 2023 // While misguided faux populists like Senator Hawley adopt the policy positions of union leaders who want to force as many workers as possible to fund their self-interested political agenda, other Republicans should stand with workers and co-sponsor the Employee Rights Act. It would protect workers’ right to secret-ballot union elections, the right of freelancers to remain independent (as the vast majority prefer), and allow workers to decide for themselves whether they wish to share personal information with union organizers or support union political spending. Too often, labor issues are inaccurately described as having two sides: “union” and “management.” But this populist moment is the perfect time for Congress to stand up for the oft-forgotten but most important third group: actual workers. The Employee Rights Act would be the perfect start. In the face of President Biden’s advancing radical agenda and some Republicans’ erroneously gravitating towards it, this pro-worker legislation can’t be enacted a moment too soon.
United Steelworkers Boss Brian Gerald Sentenced For Crimes
October 16, 2023 // On September 20, 2023, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Brian Gerald, former Financial Secretary of the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 13-189 (located in Bogalusa, La.), was sentenced to six months of home confinement and 60 months of probation. He was also ordered to pay $112,594 in restitution ($60,000 due within 60 days of the judgment) and a $100 special assessment. On April 24, 2023, Gerald pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement from a labor union, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 501(c). The sentencing follows an investigation by the OLMS Dallas-New Orleans District Office.
UAW president stoking members’ anger against auto executives
October 12, 2023 //
Brotherhood of Shoe and Allied Craftsmen’s Andrea Anderson Charged with Embezzlement
October 3, 2023 // On September 6, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Andrea Anderson, former employee of the Brotherhood of Shoe and Allied Craftsmen (located in Lakeville, Mass.), was charged in a criminal information with one count of embezzlement from a labor organization in the approximate amount of $39,169, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 501(c). The charge follows an investigation by the OLMS Boston-Buffalo District Office
UAW caught using threats and coercion to illegally seize workers’ dues
September 27, 2023 // Green’s federal charges against the union maintained not only that UAW officials had made her jump through unnecessary hoops to exercise her right to cut off union dues, but also that UAW bosses made threats against her job when she tried to resign, with one union official warning her “if it were up to me, you’d lose your job for leaving the union.” Green’s settlement also forced UAW officials to refrain from such illegal threats in the future. Meanwhile in Iowa, four employees of air filter manufacturer Donaldson won a recent settlement in which UAW officials were required to return over $1,000 in illegally-seized dues. In each Donaldson worker’s case, UAW bosses had either refused to stop dues deductions despite producing no original documentation showing the workers had consented to such deductions in the first place, or had kept seizing money after an employee resigned union membership and revoked authorization to deduct dues, which should have been effective in stopping the flow of dues.