Let me tell you something. This story you’re about to read is not an isolated incident in one union local. I’ve been a union member all my adult life, 26 years. And I’ve heard of this stuff happening all the time.
It’s the dark side of unions that rarely gets publicized. My beef has always been with union leaders who for the most part are thugs. They love to portray themselves as fighting for the working guy while stealing out of their pockets with lavish salaries.
Here in New York the head of DC 37, the largest municipal union gets paid more than the mayor and the governor of the state.
So these guys will have no problem going Tony Soprano on anybody that would mess with their cash.
And these are the same element that backs President Barack Obama.
New York Daily News reports unionized phone company employees say they were beaten or threatened after they accused their labor bosses of looting their coffers through various scams.
One member of Communications Workers of America Local 1101 said that after he reported a time-sheet padding scheme, a thug beat him so badly his spine was injured.
Another says he found a dead rat in his locker, while a third said a union officer warned that suspected informants should be brought off company property and "taken care of."
The threats come to light as the U.S. Labor Department is probing charges that union bosses lined their pockets at the rank-and-file's expense.
Accusations include an unauthorized 401(k) plan union officers gave themselves funded with members' dues, along with hefty weekly allowances, lavish expense accounts and six-figure salaries, union documents show.
The feds are also looking into allegations that double-dipping union bosses illegally received pay from Verizon and the local for the same hours, sources said.
"This was union greed and that's worse than corporate greed," said Kevin Condy, a reform movement leader of the 6,700-member local that represents mostly Verizon workers in Manhattan and the Bronx. "These guys acted like they felt they were entitled."
And, some members charge, the bosses retaliated when threatened with exposure.
In August, business agent Patrick Gibbons said he received death threats and his office was vandalized after he complained that union bosses were misappropriating cash.
"They were warning me that if I continue to complain about their finances, they would have me killed," Gibbons wrote in an open letter to union members.
Six months earlier, Verizon heavy equipment operators Salvatore DiStefano and Sebastian Taravella sued the local in Brooklyn Federal Court.
They said they were harassed after telling Verizon security officials a manager allowed workers to leave early but claim a full day's pay - as long as they completed a quota of assigned jobs.
DiStefano told the Daily News he was "attacked by a union thug" as he started the morning shift at a Verizon garage in the Bronx in April 2009.
"He pounded me with his fists, he spit on me, he choked me and threw me down to the floor," he said.
DiStefano said he suffered two herniated discs and had knee problems that required surgery. He got workers' compensation as a result, records show.
Taravella said a dead rat was put in his locker with "a note tied to his tail" that said "Rest in Peace, Sebbie."
The incidents came after a local vice president purportedly told members at a meeting, "We have to deal with these spies on a personal level, like take them ... off the company property and off company time and take care of them," the suit charged.
Taravella still works at Empire City Subway, a Verizon subsidiary; DiStefano was fired in July 2009 for "violation of the business code of conduct."
Verizon officials declined to comment except to say they'd given probers "a small amount of payroll information."
More details here
Don’t expect to see a follow up to this story in the Daily News because the topic always seems to fade away.
New York is a union town ya’ know.
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