IAM Local 2339N: Nasty aftermath to a Trusteeship

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If you have confidence in the report of an investigating committee assigned by the international office of the Machinists union, and there are people with that kind of confidence, you would agree that there were substantial grounds for imposing an international trusteeship over Local 2339N, the union which represents airline stewards in Newark, NJ. However, what followed thereafter is another story: the heavy hand of the IAM overlords at work.

After open hearings, the investigating committee (official title: "trial committee") reported that the local was in disarray: the top officers had resigned, the books were messy, mail not picked up, bills paid late, no newsletter, and more, including the now familiar charge of pornography on computers. (The IAM seems to be keeping a fascinated eagle eye out for pornography. It's not clear whether the trial committee actually verified the charge by a close scrutiny of the computer contents.) And so on October 10, International President R.Thomas Buffenbarger dispatched a trustee to take over. So far, a normal kind of trusteeship. But then things got IAM-normally nasty.

A year ago, in November 2007, Bob Korzuch, an IAM member for 16 years and Local 2339N president back in 2005, had opened what he called a "campaign" website. On November 4, 2008, about three weeks after the trustee showed up, Korzuch formally announced that he was a candidate for international president against Buffenbarger. The ax fell swiftly. On November 24, Korzuch received a short (22 lines) certified letter from Warren L. Mart, IAM General Secretary Treasurer.

Mart informed Korzuch that an IAM auditor had reported that, back then, when Korzuch had been local president, the books revealed a "shortage" of $24,114.72, and that "in order to secure and preserve the remaining assets of the lodge, you are hereby permanently disqualified from holding any office or representing members of the IAM in any capacity…." If Korzuch objected, he could ask for a hearing before a representative appointed by Mart who obviously had already passed sentence.

As an explanation or justification of the swift draconian fall of the guillotine, Mart's letter makes no sense. Korzuch had been defeated for local president back in 2005; no one had detected any old "shortage," whatever it may have been, in those three years. Moreover, he no longer had control over local money, so that peremptory disqualification to "preserve the remaining assets" was an absurdity. There was plenty of time for leisurely due process, charges, trial, and sentence.

But there is another possible explanation: The process of electing IAM international officers begins on January 1, 2009. The IAM obviously had to act promptly if it wanted to stop Korzuch from campaigning for international president against the administration. Only in that context does Mart's letter make sense.

The IAM elects international officers by direct membership vote. To be eligible for a spot on the final ballot, candidates must be nominated by a least 25 locals; the two who receive most nominations are submitted for vote at membership meetings. Local nomination meetings begin in January 2009. The IAM had no time to fool around with extended due process. To keep Korzuch from exercising his LMRDA right to campaign, he had to be disqualified quickly.

The IAM is not scrupulous about providing due process. UDR readers may remember its report that negotiations for unification of the IAM and the United Auto Workers fell through because, according to the UAW, the IAM would not tolerate the existence of the impartial UAW Public Review Board. In this case, Korzuch was found guilty and punished without formal charges or trial. Already sentenced, he asks for an impartial judge to hear his appeal, not an appointee of Mart, the official who had pronounced him guilty without trial.

Korzuch has never seen the auditor's report which allegedly accuses him. To prepare a defense, Korzuch asks for a copy and time to study it. Secretary Mart, evading the substance of the request, agrees only to make relevant documents available for "review," and only "immediately prior to the hearing.."