LIUNA’s in-house prosecutor Robert D. Luskin, who is responsible for the integrity of LIUNA’s “internal reform effort,” admitted to being paid about $4 million from LIUNA since Nov. 1994 in the Jun. 7 Washington Post . It’s a rare public account of what LIUNA has paid to Luskin and his 11-lawyer firm.
$4 million over 44 months (11/94 to 06/98) equals $90,909 a month, or… $1,090,909 a year… $20,979 a week… $4,196 a day…$524 a hour (at 40 hours a week)… $8.74 a minute… all thanks to the mandatory unions dues of LIUNA members. Note too that LIUNA is not Luskin’s only client.
Laborers Fired Over Pay Questions
On May 29, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority upheld the firings of 2 LIUNA electricians at Orlando’s airport for reportedly falsifying payroll records. The records in question show the 2 collected $34,000 for over 1,500 hours of allegedly bogus overtime. LIUNA Local 678’s appeal for reinstatement was rejected, and the local’s business agent said the LIUNA’s executive board may seek a federal arbitrator to intervene. [Orlando Sentinel 05/06 & 05/30/98]
Pension Crimes Charged
2 Boston LIUNA bosses were recently charged in U.S. District Court with criminal offenses arising from violations of pension and labor laws.
U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern announced that Joseph P. Mandarini and his father, Louis A. Mandarini, Sr., were charged respectively, in a criminal information with making false statements in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and with failing to file financial disclosure documents required by federal labor law.
J. Mandarini is the Sergeant-At-Arms of LIUNA Local 22, and L. Mandarini is the Business Manager of Local 22 and Board of Trustees Chairman of the MA Laborers’ Pension Fund.
At the root of the complex scheme is the charge that MJM Asbestos Abatement, Inc., which employed LIUNA members and was a wholly-owned Mandarini business, had not paid approximately $120,000 in pension, health and welfare, and other ERISA benefits which it was obligated to pay to LIUNA members.