
Workers at a pork processing plant may not have the most pleasant job in the world, but at least some of them are feeling more confident about where their union dues are going. On July 8, Keith Ludlum, former president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1208, was sentenced in Raleigh federal court to 14 months in prison, and ordered to pay full restitution for conspiracy, for embezzling around $213,000 from the Tar Heel, N.C. union, which represents about 3,600 Smithfield employees in the Carolinas. He had pleaded guilty in January. The union’s former secretary-treasurer, the aptly-named Terry Slaughter, already has been sentenced for his role in the scheme. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).
Union Corruption Update has covered this case several times since the guilty plea of Terry Slaughter in February 2019, which quickly led to a plea … Read More ➡