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organized crime connections

UDR Story

  • Hoffa faces two challengers for IBT president
    It’s now official.  Two rival candidates will be on the ballot to oppose Jimmy Hoffa for president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the coming union election. Sandy Pope and Fred Gegare were both formally nominated by receiving support from more than 5% of the delegates who signified their choice by secret ballot at the July international union convention.  
     
  • It’s happening in the Teamsters Union



    At the IRB

    Local 82, Boston

  • Resisting attack from the right; fighting the mob
    Facing the most outright attack since President Reagan broke the air traffic controllers association, unions are responding with an unusual display of labor power. Reagan destroyed the union, but he stopped short of challenging the fundamental right of unions to represent workers. The new assault goes further as the anti-union right seeks to end or drastically curb the very principle of collective bargaining itself.
     
  • After 20 years, federal prosecutors convince the judge -- Drastic new move vs. NYC Carpenters corruption

    In June, upon application of Federal prosecutors, Judge Charles Haight appointed a new Review Officer to monitor the New York City Carpenters District Council and invested him with sweeping powers in the hope of ridding the union of corruption and restoring democracy.

  • Moving slowly while opportunity knocks at IUOE L. 14

    It was back in July 2008 that the government settled its civil RICO lawsuit against International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14, the 1,600-member union of heavy construction equipment and crane operators in New York City. The government charged that Local 14 had been dominated by organized crime; the consent decree that settled the case provides for two court-appointed monitors armed with wide-ranging powers to eradicate corruption, establish a fair job referral system, require fair elections, and promote union democracy.

  • In the Teamsters Union: What’s the dollar cost of cruel beatings?

    The Teamsters Independent Review Board has been doing a scrupulous job of policing the union for corruption and expelling characters with organized crime connections. But some Teamster reformers feel that the Board has been slow in dealing with the kind of offenses against union democracy that resist evaluation in dollars, like intimidation, election fraud, and blacklisting. Which makes reports of the Board's investigation into events in Local 82 (in TDU's Convoy-Dispatch) of special interest.

  • Action and inaction in the Operating Engineers

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    Think of a town that's plagued by deaths, arson, and robberies, and yet the mayor and police don't seem to have the time or inclination to do anything about it because they are preoccupied by a campaign to stop residents from cluttering up the streets by passing out unauthorized handbills. That act of imagination could prepare you for these events in the International Union of Operating Engineers:

    Local 150: Take the 22,000-member Local 150 which represents operators of heavy construction equipment in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.

  • At the Teamsters Independent Review Board

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    The board still has plenty of work to do. Its 150th report in December, stated that 85 calls had been received on its hot line since the previous report.

$100 Plus Story

  • On the Mob-controlled waterfront: at the Waterfront Commission's public hearings
     
  • New Independent Investigator Appointed as Former Leader Convicted in The New York Carpenters District Council

    Ace reporter Tom Robbins' Village Voice article (see next page) deftly sums up the sordid history of Michael Forde's corrupt career. While under the influence of cocaine, drugs, and booze, he brazenly avoided ouster as the top officer of the huge Carpenters union until he pled guilty in July 2010. Back in 1998 and again in 2002, Forde was fined for violating the union's job referral rules. Designed to give first priority to out of work members, Federal Judge Charles S. Haight wrote that Forde's conduct "was dishonorable and revealed his personal contempt" for the job referral system.

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