Engineers L. 98 disqualifies rivals, avoids elections

Printer-friendly version of this pageSend by email

The business manager of the 1,200-member Local 98 of the International Union of Operating Engineers in Massachusetts glided in easily to a second term this year because there was no one on the ballot against him. Todd Downey tried to run but was disqualified. No election necessary. Ken Moulton, a critic of business manager Eugene Melville, tried to run for president, the second highest spot, but he too was disqualified. Grounds for Moulton's disqualification? He was disqualified because he had been nominated by Todd Downey who was disqualified.

The net of disqualification that ensnared Downey, and by extension trapped Moulton, is familiar in construction. He was, he reports, ruled ineligible by the local election committee on two grounds. The first, borders on farce: the union requires two years continuous good standing prior to nominations to run for business manager. Downey is a 20-year member who pays his dues one year in advance. But after a ludicrous dispute over just when he paid a special assessment, the election committee found that he was short one dollar one time.

The second ground for disqualification, belatedly contrived, requires explanation. In short, he was charged with being a "contractor member" because about four years earlier, at a time when he was considering opening his own shop, he signed an agreement with Local 98. The plan never materialized, the agreement went into deep storage, and was resurrected by the union only after Downey opposed the incumbent business manager.

Highly skilled workers with long experience are often better at the trade than many employers or their representatives. And so they sometimes try their hand as small independent contractors, signing agreements with the union, even while maintaining their union cards. As a skilled 20-year engineer, Downey is capable of operating cranes and heavy construction equipment and knows the industry. He says that after leaving the army reserve in 2005, he thought he might fill a neglected niche in the trade. He and a colleague planned to set up a company that would specialize in servicing and repairing heavy equipment. Toward that end, he signed that contract with Local 98. But they changed their mind, the company was never created, Downey and his friend continued as before to work as employees. The contract was filed and, for the moment, forgotten.

Some months later, in 2006, Todd Downey and Ken Moulton were elected to the Local 98 executive board. Downey served for years as a board member. That inoperative contract was no barrier. It was only three years later, when he tried to run against business manager Melville, that the hibernating contract was extracted from deep freeze and Downey was declared ineligible to run, or to hold office, or to nominate a candidate.

A lot happened between 2006, when Downey was first elected to the executive board, and 2009 when he tried to run for business manager. . When they were first elected to the executive board in 2006, Downey and Moulton anticipated working harmoniously with Eugene Melville, who had just taken office as the new business manager. But days of disenchantment soon followed. Studying the local's LM-2 financial reports they concluded that Melville and his business agents had received enormous pay increases shortly after their election. They were e-board members, but it was news to them. They asked questions at local meetings, but remained unsatisfied with Melville's explanations. By 2008, relations on the board became so tense that Downey resigned. When the 2009 elections approached, Downey and Moulton decided it was time for Melville to go. They tried to run but the membership never had a choice. With no alternatives on the ballot, the two top spots went by default.

The 1,200-member Local 98 represents a whole range of construction engineers: crane operators, heavy road construction operators, and related crafts. It made news in UDR before. Three years ago, upon order of the international, the local directed a previous business manager to attend 20 hours of diversity training after having been found guilty of abusing an African-American member of the local executive board.