Union Corruption Update
Since 1997, NLPC has become a high-profile and credible source for information about America’s labor unions through our publication Union Corruption Update.
The newsletter has been referenced in many other media outlets including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and National Journal.
One only can guess where Cora Carper spent all that money. On April 5, Carper, a former clerical employee at the Lanham, Md. headquarters of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to embezzling funds from a union-sponsored political action committee (PAC). She had been indicted by a grand jury last November following an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards. She faces up to five years in prison plus forfeiture of stolen money at her June 4 sentencing.
Nobody doubts for an instant that rebuilding the New Jersey coastline in the wake of Hurricane Sandy will be costly. But a little over two weeks ago Republican Governor Chris Christie took a step that should make it a good deal less so. On April 15, 
Wayne Boudoin represented public safety employees. Apparently, member dues weren't safe with him. On April 23, Boudoin, was charged in an information count in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana with embezzling $16,367.96 over a more than seven-year period from Local 709 of the Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America International Union. Prosecutors allege that Boudoin, 60, a resident of Edgard, La. (St. John the Baptist Parish), during September 2003-January 2011 used the bank debit card of the Houma, La. (New Orleans-area) union to make unauthorized purchases at various retail establishments and to make cash withdrawals from ATM machines. The charge follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On April 4, Annie Walker, former vice president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2730, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to eight months of home confinement and five years of probation for wire fraud against the St. Louis-based union. She also was ordered to make pay $27,098.62 in restitution and a $100 special assessment, and participate in a financial education program. Walker pled guilty in November. The guilty plea and sentencing follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 28, William Price, former president and financial secretary of United Paperworkers International Local 1762, was indicted in the Superior Court of Dougherty County (Ga.) for theft of nearly $100,000 from the Albany, Ga.-based union. Price, 46, during 2003-09 allegedly stole funds from the local, which is a United Steelworkers affiliate. Initially, Price left the city when he heard there were arrest warrants in his name. He was later arrested, and posted bond. The indictment follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 28, Frank Rysz, former secretary-treasurer for National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 1124, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to three years of probation and five months of home confinement for embezzling $12,514.91 in funds from the New Stanton, Pa. union. He also will have to pay the remaining restitution in the amount of $4,914. Rysz had been indicted last March and pleaded guilty in November. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 27, Lyle Vance, former president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 412-U, pleaded no contest in Rock County, Wisconsin District Court to theft from the Beloit-based union and was ordered to pay $794.56 in restitution plus a $250 fine and court costs. The conviction and sentencing follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
When Michael Williamson resigned last summer as head of Australia's Health Services Union, his legal problems were only beginning. Now they've been raised to a new level. This April 8, police in Sydney accused the former labor leader with diverting about $600,000 in union funds to personal use over a more than three-year period. The charges follow 20 embezzlement, fraud and obstruction charges lodged against him early last October. Williamson and several other persons were arrested. In all, the union during his tenure allegedly made at least $20 million in questionable, if not illegal payments to vendors without proper documentation. The case also serves as an example of why mixing union business and national politics, in any country, is an invitation to corruption.
If there were any doubts that the oft-used term "comprehensive immigration reform" is a stalking-horse for amnesty, 
On March 22, Rufino Sanchez, former president of National Association Government Employees (NAGE) Local R3-10, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to one count of mail fraud resulting in the loss of $18,565 in funds from the union, formerly based in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. Sanchez had been indicted last July on 22 counts of mail fraud relating to the theft of $15,723 in union funds and arrested in August. NAGE is an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The indictment, arrest and guilty plea follow a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 21, David Caivano, former secretary-treasurer of International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers Local 148, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the State of New Jersey to three years of probation for receiving unauthorized loans from the Jersey City-based union. He pleaded guilty in January. Caivano, along with former Local 148 President Stephen Arena, had been arrested and indicted in September 2010 for embezzling a combined more than $375,000 over nearly a half-decade. In addition to serving his sentence, Caivano must make restitution in the amount of $110,000. The actions follow an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Labor-Management Standards.
A bookstore isn't a place where one normally finds a union scandal. Powell's Books, one of the largest in the world, is an exception. On March 27, Britta Duncan, former secretary-treasurer for International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 5, was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon with embezzling $43,500 in funds from the Portland-based union and with falsifying union financial reports. Powell's employees had voted to form a union back in 1998, later affiliating with the ILWU. The charges follow a probe initiated by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards in or around September 2011 at the request of local leaders.
On March 20, Perry Dino Martini, former financial secretary for National Air Traffic Controllers Local ZME in Memphis, was charged in an information count in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee with one count of possession of a forged security. The charge follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Al Sprague collected two incomes. Unfortunately, one of them may have been under false pretenses. Late in January the International Brotherhood of Teamsters determined that Sprague, president-business agent of Teamsters Local 164, received unemployment benefits while drawing an income from the Jackson, Mich. union. Apparently, he's not the only official at the local with ethical problems. To safeguard assets, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa 
On March 20, Charles Rocha, former national political director of the United Steelworkers at union headquarters in Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to embezzling $418.68 in union funds to cover expenses related to a trip to Detroit to attend an NHL Stanley Cup game. He also acknowledged responsibility for the other 17 counts of the 18-count indictment. Rocha had been indicted in September for embezzling $6,971.19 in union funds. The actions follow an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 19, Paulette McClure, former treasurer of United Government Security Officers of America Local 36, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi to two counts of embezzling $8,166.13 from the Pattison, Miss.-based union. She had been charged in December. The charge and guilty plea follow a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 15, Jacquelyn Pugh-Rodgers, former vice president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2107, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to one count of mail fraud. Pugh-Rodgers had been indicted in July along with two local officials, James Charleston and Mary Craigen, for two counts of mail fraud and one count of embezzlement in excess of $1,000 from the North Chicago, Ill.-based union. The actions follow a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 15, James Dalton, former executive secretary-treasurer of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Northeast Regional Council of Millrights, was indicted in the Trial Court of Massachusetts, BMC Department, on one count of larceny totaling $15,297 from the union, which is based in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. The indictment follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Teacher union scandals have been occurring in this country with disturbing regularity. Yet even the worst cases pale in comparison before one now unfolding south of the border. On Tuesday evening, February 26, Esther Gordillo, the autocratic head of Mexico's National Union of Education Workers, 
On March 12, Katrina Hall, formerly secretary-treasurer for Maintenance of Way Lodge 389, was sentenced in the Superior Court of Washington, County of Pierce, to 30 days in jail and six months probation for theft from the Puyallup, Wash.-based union. She also was ordered to pay $10,995 in restitution and a $500 fine. The sentencing follows an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
