On July 14, Charles Fleming, former president of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Lodge 1814, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to two years probation for making false entries in financial records of the Bridge City, La.-based union to cover embezzlement. He also was ordered to pay $1,190.83 in restitution, a $3,000 fine and a $25 special assessment. The current local president, Christopher Burnett, pleaded guilty in September to a similar offense. The sentencing follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
The increasing overlap of labor and political activism is an insidious form of public corruption in this country. It enables union officials to deemphasize their role of representing workers at the bargaining table in favor of advocating policies to socialize the economy, building incestuous relationships with politicians, and fattening their bank accounts. This tendency was heavily felt in 2012, a presidential election year. Union leaders recognized the need to re-elect their ally and benefactor, President Barack Obama, over someone a wealthy Republican with a strong business background; i.e., someone they truly could despise. They got what they wanted. In the process, they further built a political infrastructure. Yet union leaders also experienced reversals of fortune at the state level - most of all, in Michigan - where they had been used to getting their way.
On September 28, Christopher Burnett, president of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Lodge 1814, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to two years probation for making false entries in records of the Bridge City, La. union. He also was ordered to pay $410 in restitution and a $100 special assessment. Burnett pleaded guilty in July. The guilty plea and sentencing follow an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On May 17, Christopher Burnett, president of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Lodge 1814, was charged in an information count in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana with making false entries in the records of the Bridge City union. The charge follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 17, Charles Fleming, former president of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Lodge 1814, pled guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to one count of making false entries in financial records of the Bridge City, La. union. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Carolyn Sue Alderman-Connon was hired to manage funds for a union job training program. For her, managing and stealing apparently meant the same thing. In early October, Alderman-Connon, former financial secretary for Southeast Area Joint Apprenticeship Program of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, agreed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to plead guilty to two counts of embezzlement totaling more than $1.2 million from the Ruskin, Fla.-based (Hillsborough County) regional union fund. Each count carries up to five years in prison.
On May 12, Warren Demmin, formerly president of Local Lodge 449 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to four months in prison, four months electronic monitoring and three years probation for embezzling $169.12 from the Sturgeon Bay union. The actual theft was a good deal higher, as evidenced by his previously having made $14,045.48 in restitution. Demmin, who also must pay a $100 special assessment, pled guilty in February. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On February 11, Warren Demmin, former president of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local Lodge 449, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to embezzling $169.12 in funds from the Sturgeon Bay union. He had been indicted in November for theft of $681.44. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On December 8, Thomas Jon Witham, former financial secretary of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 106-D, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa to 21 months in prison for embezzling $52,037.19 from the Mason City union during the period September 2002-August 2006. He had pleaded guilty in September. The sentencing follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
