IUOE Continues Gestapo tactics against Canadian Freedom of speech, harasses apprentice cancer victim

Dated: Jul 15, 2008

Crane apprentice who developed website threatened with being thrown out of union for not shutting down

presidential nominee's website. IUOE continues its stranglehold against anyone who seeks free and fair elections.

(Read the whole story)

IUOE 2nd VP Bill Dugan Resigns from Local 150 amid scandals and FBI investigations.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1029192,dugan062708.article

More problems for Giblin and Local 825

Both Kenneth Campbell and Pat Campbell in serious trouble.

http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-10/121454139452510.xml&coll=1

http://www.iuoewatch.info/PDF Files/Local825SupersedingIndict6_27_2008.pdf

http://www.iuoewatch.info/PDF Files/Local825t6_27_2008.pdf

Federal agents raid IUOE 2nd Vice President Bill Dugan's ranch

May 30, 2008

Federal agents early this morning raided a Maryland buffalo ranch and hunting store owned by prominent Chicago-area labor leader William E. Dugan in connection with a wide-ranging criminal probe.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/980339,dugan053008.article

 

Labor Board finds IUOE Local 150 Guilty of Unfair Labor practice against it's own members

May 13, 2008

In a decision issued April 30, 2008, Region 33 of the National Labor Relations Board denied an appeal by IUOE Local 150 for violating members rights and subversion of the hiring hall practices. The board and the ALJ John West found continually that one of the Dugan Administrations hand picked BA's Roddie Thomason lied repeatedly under oath to cover up an open violation of the hiring hall practices. (read the transcript here, especially page 19)

IUOE Local 17 a Criminal Enterprise

May 10, 2008

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES for the Western District of New York MAY 2007 GRAND JURY Impaneled 5/04/07.

There existed in the Western District of New York, and elsewhere, an "Enterprise" as that term is defined in Title 18,United States Code, Section 1961(4); namely, a labor union and a group of individuals associated in fact. The Enterprise consisted of a labor union known as the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 17, AFL-CIO (hereinafter, Local 17), a labor organization as defined under the Labor Management Relations Act, Title 29, United States Code, Section 152(5), with principal offices located at 5959 Versailles Road, Lakeview, New York 14085.

(read here)

Former Local 825 BA admits taking bribes from contractor.

May 10, 2008

NEWARK – A former business agent of Local 825 of the International Union of Operating Engineers pleaded guilty today to taking a bribe from a contractor in exchange for permitting the contractor to use non-union labor, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced. Arthur Heimall, 69, of Sussex, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal Information before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler, charging him with conspiracy to demand and receive an unlawful labor payment. Under federal law, it is unlawful for any officer or employee of a labor union, such as a business agent, to demand or receive money or anything of value from an employer that the labor union represents. (read here)

IUOE Local 547 Election Overturned by DOL

BREAKING NEWS
APRIL 26, 2008

Department of Labor overturns another crooked election. Gary Lucy reported today with good news that the Department of Labor has overturned last summers election in IUOE Local 547 and the election will be rerun. This is good news for all reformers who sometimes wonder if David has a chance against the IUOE goliath. More to come. To learn more about another crooked election go to http://restoretherespect.com/default.aspx

Operating Engineers supervising troubled Buffalo-area local

April 15, 2008

IUOE supervising Buffalo-area Local 17 because of racketeering indictments.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ The International Union of Operating Engineers is now running its Buffalo-area local because the president and 11 other officers and members are charged with racketeering and extortion. Local 17's executive board requested the supervision after President Mark Kirsch and the others were indicted last week. The parent union agreed, saying the action is necessary to protect the interests of the union and its members. The International Union of Operating Engineers represents 405,000 heavy equipment operators, mechanics and maintenance workers in the United States and Canada. Local 17 has about 2,500 members in western New York. The indicted members of Local 17 are on unpaid leave from the union.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--union-racketeerin0415apr15,0,6511226.story

4/15/2008

U.S. Labor Dept. sues 5/3rd Bank, IUOE Local 324 Pension in jeopardy?

$28 million real estate investment sold for $4.5 million

Troy, Michigan – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Fifth Third Bank, an Ohio corporation and advisor to the Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund in Troy, Michigan, to recover plan losses suffered when the defendants mismanaged the sale of property owned by the fund. The bank and Carey Milestone Advisors LLC, another Ohio company, managed real estate investments on behalf of the pension plan. Based on the advice of Carey Milestone Advisors, the bank furnished the plan with a strategy for development of property located at 1001 Woodward in Detroit, Michigan. Fifth Third  Bank subsequently reversed its development strategy and sold the property to the Cavaliere Group for only $4.5 million in 2004. At the time the sale took place, the plan had invested more than $28 million in the property. (click here to read story)         (more here)

4/11/2008

IUOE Union hogs feast at the members expense, Giblin gets $42,712 raise!

Check out this report taken from the 2006 and 2007 LM2 report on the $42,712 raise for poor Vince Giblin

4/8/2008

12 Union Officers and members of IUOE Local 17, indicted in New York!

The corruption continues in the IUOE henhouse under fox Vince Giblins watch as United States Attorney Terrance P. Flynn announced today the unsealing of an 8-count Superseding Indictment charging 12members of Operating Engineers Local 17, based in Hamburg, New York, with engaging in a violent scheme to extort jobs and compensation associated with those jobs from both local and out-of-town, businesses and their employees. (Click here to read the press release)

3-26-2008

Former Business Agent from IUOE local 825 pleads guilty to taking bribes, implicates others.......

(click here to read the report of the U. S. Justice Department just published today)

3-11-2008

Kenneth Campbell 8th IUOE VP and Business Manager of Local 825 indicted!!
Newark: Kenneth P. Campbell, 56, of Basking Ridge, and Peter O. Strannemar, 66, of Blairstown, were
arrested this morning on an Indictment, which was unsealed today, by Special Agents with the
FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General’s Office of Labor Racketeering
and Fraud Investigations, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Both defendants appeared
before U.S. Magistrate Judge Esther Salas for their initial appearances. Campbell and Strannemar
were each released on $100,000 bonds secured by equity in their homes.

According to the Indictment, these defendants and their co-conspirators demanded and received
cash from the companies in exchange for labor peace and to permit the companies to circumvent
requirements of a collective bargaining agreement. According to the Indictment, the defendants
and their co-conspirators obtained at least $88,000 in cash from the steel erector company and at
least $23,600 in cash from the plumbing company. In addition, the Indictment alleges that
Strannemar received free household appliances from the plumbing company, which were
delivered to his cabin in New York. The Indictment alleges that after A.M. obtained the cash
payments from the companies’ representatives, it was given to C.W., who then delivered it to
Campbell and Strannemar.
 

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/2_union_leaders_charged_with_t.html

2-8-2008

Edward C. Levy Co. Workers decertify Local 150

http://www.post-trib.com/business/783494,levy.article

2-4-2004

IUOE Members continue to get punished while the IUOE does nothing to uphold the IUOE Constitution or punish the Business Manager....

In 2006 the Business Manager for Local 98 in Massachusetts was found guilty by the Local trial board for denouncing a black member in blatantly racists term and of threatening him with reprisals. The BM got 20 hours of diversity training, but for the black operating engineer of 28 years things continued to get worse. Why wasn't this BM fired? Why wasn't this member supported by Giblin and his do nothing VP's? You have to read this story to believe it. This is your IUOE at work.......

http://www.uniondemocracy.com/UDR/162-Race_gender_and_unfair_hiring_in_construction_two_cases.htm

BNA Reports 1-2-08

Members Can Sue IUOE Local 150 President Bill Dugan for using training fund for personal use

United States Federal Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer gave the go ahead for members of Local 150 to sue its President/Business Manager and 2nd Vice president of the IUOE with their claim that Dugan breached his fiduciary responsibility under ERISA by using assets of unions apprenticeship training fund for his own personal benefit. Read the BNA report.

Read the court case description here. http://pub.bna.com/pbd/07c286.pdf

Federal agents raid union offices and Jersey City home

of Local 68's president, Dennis Giblin

U.S. agents raid union offices led by a key Jersey Democrat

Nov. 22 -- JOHN P. MARTIN AND ELIZABETH MOORE -- Star-Ledger Staff
Federal agents yesterday raided the offices of a West Caldwell union long headed by state Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin, part of what sources said is an ongoing corruption probe into the union and the politically active family that has run it for decades. Armed with a search warrant, about a dozen agents from the Department of Labor and U.S. Postal Inspection Service arrived at the West Caldwell offices of International Operating Engineers Local 68 around 9 a.m., ushering workers into a hall and demanding personnel and business records from union leaders. Agents also served warrants at other Local 68 sites and the Jersey City home of Giblin's nephew, Dennis Giblin, the union's current president and fund administrator.
Thomas Giblin, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party who served as Local 68 president for nearly three decades, emerged from the West Caldwell offices and denied any wrongdoing. Giblin, whose current title is business manager, said he and other workers complied with the agents' requests. "We're going to cooperate, whatever the government wants," he said later. "Based on my feeling, I don't believe I've done anything wrong."
Giblin, 59, said he had "no idea" what the probe was about, and speculated it might involve a disgruntled employee.
The sources, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, declined to discuss specifics of the case and a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said the office would have no comment.
The warrants listed Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Moscato, a member of the U.S. Attorney's Strike Force, a unit that focuses on organized crime.
In past years, the same unit has investigated mob influence and prosecuted labor officials in other New Jersey locals for embezzling benefit funds, awarding no-show jobs and defrauding their unions.
Agents spent more than six hours at the Local 68 site in West Caldwell, poring over contracts, correspondence, payroll logs and other records. It was unclear how much material they seized.
But the raids were an unexpected development involving one of New Jersey's more politically active and prominent Democratic families. Giblin, a longtime Democratic powerbroker in Essex County, rose to state party chairman after helping James E. McGreevey win the governor's seat in 2001. He stepped down four years later and the next year lost a bruising party primary for Essex County Executive. Giblin, from Montclair, is in his first term as a Democratic assemblyman. He has been a Local 68 member for more than 30 years, following his father, John, who served as the union business agent and later won election to the state senate.
His brother, Vincent, was until this year chairman of the New Jersey Casino Redevelopment Authority, the state agency that collects and distributes casino taxes. Vin cent Giblin also serves as general president of the Washington, D.C.- based International Union of Operating Engineers, a 400,000-member construction workers union. Dennis Giblin is his son; he could not be reached for comment late yesterday. Local 68, founded in 1958, represents nearly 5,800 New Jersey workers. The West Caldwell site and another one in Atlantic City provide specialized training for the engineers, from apprentices to journeymen, who work with refrigeration systems, power plants, boilers and air-conditioning systems.
For nearly half its existence, Thomas Giblin was president of Local 68. He said he left that post in 2004. He collects a $199,000 salary as business manager, according to an annual report filed this year with the Department of Labor.
The union buildings are located in a corporate park off Passaic Avenue, a main thoroughfare that runs from Fairfield through West Caldwell. The buildings are in the flight path of the Essex County Airport. About 14 employees were at the offices when the agents arrived yesterday morning. Giblin said neither he nor the union had a defense lawyer but they would be hiring one. He called the raids "unfortunate" but said he was hopeful Local 68 could still hold training classes last night. "These are civic and law-abiding folks," he said.

John P. Martin covers federal courts and law enforcement. He may be reached at 973-622-3405 or at

jmartin@starledger.com.

OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE Local 150)
Illinois President Re-Elected Despite Kickback Accusation

The word of Bill Dugan proved more believable than that of his accusers - at least to most members of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. Dugan on August 25 was re-elected to his eighth term as president and business manager of the suburban Chicago local in the face of allegations from about 125 members that he'd been accepting monthly kickbacks of $100 each. Receiving 61 percent of the vote, Dugan denied wrongdoing, insisting that a lawsuit filed earlier this year by dissenters against him was politically motivated. Still, the lawsuit remains in force, which suggests that the dissenters, led by challenger Joe Ward, might have a point or two. The 22,000-member Local 150, based in Countryside, Ill., represents operators of cranes, backhoes, bulldozers and other equipment in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.
(Chicago Tribune, 8/28/07). .

OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE)
Northern New Jersey Business Manager’s Office Raided by Feds

International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68 is a Giblin family affair. Federal law enforcement officials think this affair has been going on for too long. In an exclusive interview with Brian Thompson of New York City’s WNBC-TV, Tom Giblin, the union’s business manager, admitted that agents from the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General had executed a search warrant of the West Caldwell, N.J. union’s offices. Moreover, the agents had served subpoenas on several employees who manage the union’s trust funds.
Giblin hastened to note that he himself had not been served, and added that the searches were based on questionable accusations of a disgruntled former employee. But that hardly means he’s out of the woods. Law enforcement sources told Thompson that Giblin is a key target of a corruption probe, along with his brother, Vincent, a top official of the international union. What’s more, agents on November 21 searched the home of Vincent Giblin’s son, Dennis, who runs Local 68’s trust funds. The unfolding case has political significance for New Jersey. Tom Giblin long has been active in Essex County politics, and for several years was chairman of the state Democratic Party. (WNBC-TV.com, 11/22/06).

IUOE Local 3

Local sues outgoing Business manager and attorneys to recoup hundreds of thousands given to Don Doser.

While leaders of New York's Central Labor Council were agonizing over what to do after their president was indicted for stealing a few million dollars from unions and assorted other sources, members of Operating Engineers Local 3 on the West Coast did not wait upon law enforcement authorities after they discovered that their business manager had misdirected the local's money. By New York standards, it was a modest amount, only $500,000. Still, it was their money. They shamed their executive board into retaining an independent investigator whose report became public property in the local. They organized an insurgent slate which defeated the business manager and ended his control over the local. Then the local sued to try to get the money back. It was not an easy undertaking. This is a construction local with over 40,000 members scattered over four states, including Hawaii. Here, according to informed local members, this how they did it:

http://www.uniondemocracy.org/UDR/139-Confronting_corruption_charges_in_IUOE_local_3.htm

TEAMSTERS STEAL ELECTION

Teamsters indicted in union vote fraud case

By Jeff Coen | Tribune staff reporter
11:56 AM CDT, September 7, 2007
An officer of Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago has been indicted along with three former union employees in an effort to rig elections in 2004, authorities announced today. In two closely contested elections a few months apart, the defendants allegedly diverted hundreds of mailed, official ballot packages to friends, relatives and confidants instead of Local 743 members. They then cast the ballots to ensure the election of an incumbent slate of officers running under the "Unity Slate," the indictment alleges.
Charged with conspiracy to commit fraud are Richard Lopez, 53, of Maywood, identified by prosecutors as the secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 743; as well as Cassandra Mosley of Gary, Mark Jones of Joliet and David Rodriguez of Chicago. Mosley and Jones were union business agents until last year, authorities said. Rodriguez was an organizer since 2003, the U.S. attorney's office stated.
There were no immediate court appearances set in the case. The four charged could face up to 5 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said. Local 743 represents about 12,000 union members in warehouse, office, medical, service and other industries, authorities said.
jcoen@tribune.com

UNION AIMS TO START WITH A CLEAN SLATE

LABOR | Reformers win Teamsters vote supervised by feds

October 24, 2007

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES fknowles@suntimes.com

A slate of reformers has been elected to head the Teamsters' 12,000-member Local 743, where last month its president was indicted for helping steal the last election.

Members elected all but one trustee of the 743 New Leadership Slate headed by Richard Berg, who received 1,112 votes for president, narrowly beating opponent Reginald D. Ford, who garnered 1,058 votes.

"This is great," said Berg, who lost in his last bid for president. "It's been a long time coming. The 743 New Leadership slate has been part of the rank-and-file movement that has been tying to rid our local of corruption and give the union back to our workers. We've very pleased." The union represents transportation, clerical, food service, nursing home and manufacturing workers.

The election was supervised by the U.S. Labor Department. In September, federal prosecutors indicted Local 743 President Richard Lopez along with three other union members alleging they schemed to defraud the local by diverting hundreds of ballots that had been returned to the union by mail because the addresses were old or no longer good. The four were accused of changing the addresses in a union database and having the ballots sent to friends, relatives or associates who weren't union members.

Berg filed a complaint with the Labor Department, which found the ballots had been diverted. In a July settlement, union officials admitted a controller shredded the eligibility list, noting that might have affected the outcome of the election.

"Our first priority is to clean all the corruption out of 743 and then use the resources to give full representation to the members," Berg said.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/616695,CST-FIN-teamsters24.article

FROM THE IUOE

IUOE President Vincent J Giblin had to report, on LM-30, that he had received $181,900 in salaries from Blue Cross, a union vendor. However, the Lawyers decision in Local 237 is not the ruling of a law enforcement authority but a private finding. The form is on file with the Labor Department, which will have to decide what to do about it.

Click here to review the LM30

from the Union Democracy Review

Corruption charge dropped against a Jersey City man

woes continue for Giblin

Thursday, January 17, 2008
BY GUY STERLING
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
A federal complaint charging a Jersey City man with participating in a kickback scheme was dropped yesterday, an accusation that implicated the president of a union local who's a member of a family prominent in New Jersey labor circles.
U.S. Magistrate Claire C. Cecchi in Newark signed an order brought to her by government lawyers that stated prosecution of Christopher Ruton, 35, on the conspiracy charge was "not in the best interests of the United States at this time."

Ruton's attorney, Henry Klingeman, predicted the charge against Ruton - that he had his apartment in Jersey City renovated at a discounted rate as part of the scheme - will not be brought back.  In the days since his client was arrested on a criminal complaint in late November, Klingeman said, he presented federal prosecutors with evidence that Ruton had properly contracted for the work and paid fair market value for the job. "I'm grateful the government rectified its mistake within a relatively short period of time and did not put Mr. Ruton through the ordeal of a trial," Klingeman added. But prosecutors weren't as definitive. "This doesn't mean that aspect of the investigation or any part of the investigation is over," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Moscato. "This is very much an ongoing investigation.' In the complaint charging Ruton, Dennis J. Giblin, president of the International Operating Engineers Local 68 and administrator of its Education Fund, was identified by his title and initials.
Giblin was not charged but allegedly accepted free and discounted painting and carpentry services for his Jersey City home from a contractor who worked for the union. According to authorities, Giblin directed the contractor to work on Ruton's unit in exchange for additional work with the fund.

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1200552985318840.xml&coll=3

(if you see or know of a local story in your area please email us the link or article asap)