According to the Ohio auditor’s office, the president of the Am. Fed. of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3984 owes Ohio $8,217 that she admitted stealing last year while working in the Butler Co. Clerk of Courts office. Lori Lutes, who is also a motor-vehicle dep’t bookkeeper, pled guilty in Jul. to “theft in office,” a felony. [Cincinnati Enquirer 9/10/98]
LIUNA Boss Accused of Harassment
Two female construction workers who alleged that a union boss demanded sex for job assignments have won probable cause findings from the Mass. Comm’n Against Discrimination. Ruth Ann Niemeyer and Pamela J. Corey alleged James M. Porter, LIUNA Local 243 business manager, made the women perform sex in return for work. Winning the Sep. 3 decision was the women’s first legal hurdle. Despite complaining about Porter’s behavior, LIUNA refused to take action. The alleged actions are quite sick. Niemeyer alleges Porter forced her to perform oral sex at union job sites from 1986-97 for job placements. Shortly after her first job as a LIUNA member, Porter raped her and said “that this was her initiation into the union,” she claims. Corey also alleges she was forced to perform oral sex on Porter for jobs from 1993-97. [Worcester Telegram & Gazette 9/4/98]
Baton Rouge Boss Pleads Guilty
A Baton Rouge LIUNA boss pled guilty Sep. 16 to embezzling funds from from Local 1177. The amount Ann D. Page stole remains in dispute. Reportedly, Page originally admitted taking $21,000 from the union’s cash receipts, but later reduced it to $4,000. Page faces 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The U.S. Labor Dep’t said that an Apr. 1997 audit found a $26,000 shortage. Page has implicated another LIUNA boss in the scheme which ran May-Dec. 1996. [Advocate 9/17/98]
QUOTABLE QUOTE
“Let’s stop celebrating Labor Day…I mean, let’s stop assuming that the hard-won gains of organized labor in the United States are a done deal.”
-Service Employees Int’l Union President Andrew L. Stern in a Sep. 7 Wash. Post Op-Ed. Stern has been implicated in the Teamsters money-laundering scheme which has already brought down Ron Carey. According to court records, Stern illegally pledged to raise $50,000 for Carey’s campaign, and a SEIU attorney delivered $16,000.