Mine Workers (UMW)

West Virginia Local Financial Secretary Pleads Guilty to Theft

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 10/22/2007 - 00:00

On October 2, Danny Beyser, ex-financial secretary of United Mine Workers Local 1638, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia to embezzlement. He had been charged in June with one count of embezzling $83,274.39 in funds from the Moundsville, West Va.-based union. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 10/12/07).

Alabama Business Manager Indicted for Embezzlement

Former Officials of Philadelphia Local Plead Guilty to Thefts

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 00:00

On June 11 and 12, Lawrence Marable and Deborah Powell, respectively, the former president and treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1793, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to one count of conspiracy, five counts of property theft, and one count of making a false statement. Marable and Powell had conspired to convert $184,129.85 in dues and union checks for their personal use. The local represents employees at the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. The guilty pleas follow a joint investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General. (OLMS, 7/5/07).

Michigan Local Treasurer Secretary Sentenced for Theft

CPA Sentenced for Misclassifying Costs of Seattle-Area Union

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 00:00

On June 5, James A. Pulsifer, a certified public accountant, was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $1,000 for knowingly making false entries in the annual Labor Department reporting form of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA). In the course of making accounting adjustments, he had misclassified some $500,000 in union expenditures. SPEEA officers who signed the report believed it was free of errors and in compliance with federal regulations. Pulsifer was charged in November and pleaded guilty in February. The union, based in Seattle, represents professional employees of Boeing, BAE Systems and other aerospace companies. The action comes in the wake of an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. (OLMS, 6/15/07).

Former Treasurer of Atlanta Union Indicted for Embezzlement

Alabama Local Secretary Sentenced for Embezzlement

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 03/26/2007 - 00:00

Sharon Ann Burt, secretary of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 611, was sentenced in federal court to one year in prison for embezzling $72,701 in union funds. Federal prosecutors said that Burt, 49, a resident of Fort Payne, Alabama, in the northeast part of the state, wrote checks without authorization, paid her bills with union money, and doctored bank statements delivered to her personal post office box. She was indicted last May and pleaded guilty to embezzlement and mail fraud in October. Local 611 represented employees at the Earthgrains plant in Fort Payne, which closed in 2005. (Gadsden Times, 3/14/07; Huntsville Times, 3/15/07).

Pittsburgh-Area Local Chieftain Pleads Guilty to Thefts

Wisconsin Ex-Local President Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 02/13/2006 - 01:00

On January 13, Rebecca Bandt, ex-president of Local 717 of the United Food & Commercial Workers, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of embezzling union funds totaling more than $14,000. She had been indicted on a variety of charges in September. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the Labor Department. (OLMS, 2/3).

Nebraska Local Treasurer Charged with Embezzlement

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 10/10/2005 - 00:00

Crime paid well for Antoinette Cox-Burress – at least for three and a half years. But now the former treasurer of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1293, in Lincoln, stands accused of stealing $14,663 from the union. During June 2001-December 2004, Lancaster County prosecutors allege, she embezzled funds from the local account at First Choice Credit Union in Lincoln. Officers served a search warrant at the credit union on September 22, and determined that she had made 42 unauthorized withdrawals. In some cases, Cox-Burress took cash; in others, she transferred funds to another personal account at the union. She posted a $300 bond and

Ala. Union Chief Testifies before Grand Jury about Contribution to Ex-Gov.

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 08/16/2004 - 00:00

State UMW chief John Stewart testified before a grand jury on Aug. 9 about a 1999 contribution to the Ala. Dem. Party that went unreported. The $50,000 contribution was made at around the same time that then-Gov. Don Sigelman was campaigning for a state lottery. It was not reported by the Dem. Party in 1999, but showed up on the next report filed with the Ala. Secy. of State. A former partner in the investment firm AFS Equities appeared before the grand jury a week earlier to discuss Democratic Party donations that his firm handled for about a week in 1999. The money was sent to an out-of-state investment account.

Unions Fail to File Disclosure Reports

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 10/22/2001 - 00:00

According to politicalmoneyline.com, several int'l unions have failed to file their basic financial disclosure reports (LM-2) with the Dep't of Labor. These include five unions: the Int'l Ass'n of Asbestos Workers, Int'l Longshoremen's & Warehousemen Union, Bhd. of Maintenance of Way Employees, Am. Fed'n of Musicians, and Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees. [politicalmoneyline.com 10/19/01]

New Mexico Boss Admits Bogus Recordkeeping
On Oct. 3, in the U.S. Dist. Court for the Dist. of New Mexico, Ygnacio Angel, ex-president of Am. Postal Workers Union Local 402, pled guilty to an information charging him with false recordkeeping in violation federal labor law. [Dep't of Labor 10/3/01]

Pennsylvania Staffer Charged with Theft
On Feb. 28, the Dist. Atty. of Armstrong County (Pa.) charged Gail McGranahan, an ex-staffer of Mine Workers Local 1378, with 20 counts of forgery and 20 counts of theft and is seeking $6,610 in restitution to the union. [Dep't of Labor 2/28/01]

Firing of Miners for Wrongful Protest Upheld

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 06/21/1999 - 00:00

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an arbitrator's ruling that Island Creek Coal Co. was within its rights to fire two United Mine Workers from Local 7555 for picketing. The ruling was based on the collective bargaining agreement and was not based on the arbitrator's own sense of justice. In Mar. 1997, a group of miners gathered near company property to protest. Some of the protesters told supervisors that they were going to stop work at the plant if they did not get answers about disputed pay issues. The five-day protest caused Island Creek employees and other contract employees to stop working resulting in the plant losing two full days and three partial days of production. The company identified protesting miners and discharged them.

3 Hoffa Slate Members in Trouble

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 01/04/1999 - 01:00

Teamsters president-elect James P. Hoffa is already under fire amid corruption allegations. The Teamsters' court-appointed Independent Review Board filed charges Dec. 14 against J.D. Potter, Texas Teamsters boss and a vice-president on Hoffa's slate, for lying to the election officer about funds he contributed to the Hoffa campaign. Potter allegedly falsely claimed that a $5,000 check to Hoffa's campaign came from members of his local. This follows IRB charges of Dec. 3 against another Hoffa vice-presidential candidate, Thomas R. O'Donnell, president of Local 817 in Lake Success, N.Y., for filing false reports on campaign expenditures. O'Donnell failed to disclose payments to a campaign aide who is a convicted felon. On Dec. 10, IRB also charged a 1996 Hoffa vice-presidential candidate, Thomas Ryan, ex-president Local 107 in Philadelphia who was suspended in 1996 for embezzlement. The IRB alleges Ryan has ignored the terms of his suspension barring him from union involvement. Hoffa's opponent, Tom Leedham, a member of ex-Teamster president Ron Carey's 1996 scandal-ridden slate, filed a protest Dec.