Fire Fighters (IAFF)

The U.S. Supreme Court for nearly 30 years consistently has held that workers who pay dues or fees to a union have a right to withhold the portion of their payment going toward activities unrelated to collective bargaining.  This principle, as the Court made clear in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education and Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, applies to public-sector as well as private-sector employees.  City officials of Lexington, Ky. see their instance as an exception.  They’re joining forces with a local firefighters’ union to make sure nonunion fee payers aren’t eligible for a refund.

Wayne Kruse, president of the Lawrence Education Association from 1999 until early this year, pleaded guilty in Douglas County (Kan.) District Court on September 6 to stealing nearly $100,000 from the union.  The former sixth-grade teacher admitted to one count each of theft and forgery totaling more than $97,000.  In return for the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a second forgery charge.  Sentencing is set for October 3.  The LEA is affiliated with the National Education Association.  (Associated Press, 9/6). 

In Chesterfield, Mo., the 3 members of the Monarch Fire Protection Dist. Bd. meet twice a month to discuss district business.  Some of the meetings, held in a boardroom attached to a firehouse, last little more than half an hour.  For that part-time work, the board members -- a surgeon, a business owner and a college teacher -- have been paid a total of $13,050 so far this year.  That doesn't count the health insurance the dist. provides to each of them, bringing the board's expected compensation this year to more than $70,000.

Two trustees of the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund have spent nearly $220,000 of the Fund's money on travel expenses since 1998.  The trustees as a whole have spent $612,451 on travel costs between 1998 and this past July.  Dayton fire fighter David Harker and Dayton detective Thomas Bennett have spent more than 1,100 days since 1998 traveling to pension fund conferences out of state and meetings of their pension fund in Columbus.

The board members' expenses have come under particular scrutiny as the $7.4 billion fund lost $1.67 billion from 2000-2002, and this year imposed huge increases in the premiums paid by retirees on their health insurance, with monthly bills rising by anywhere from $40 to $500.  Agendas from the 36 conferences attended by Harker and Bennett show only 10 with full-day schedules.  Many of the conferences had only half-day work sessions, with afternoons available for softball games, golf tournaments, boat rides and other recreational activities.  Harker and Bennett arrived early or stayed late for a conference more than a dozen times.