Teamsters Local 705’s firing of an Italian-American business agent didn’t constitute “national origin discrimination,” but was motivated by the local’s desire to eliminate all vestiges of a formerly corrupt organization; so ruled the U.S. 7th Cir. Court of Appeals in Chicago Nov. 9. The evidence of plaintiff Jack Indurante consisted primarily of a few anti-Italian “stray remarks” and was thus insufficient to reverse a lower court judgment against him. In May 1992, Daniel Ligurotis, then Local 705 president, hired Indurante. Then a court-appointed trustee removed Ligurotis and Indurante due to findings of corruption by the U.S. Dist. Court in Manhattan. Indurante sued Local 507 on May 10, 1996, alleging that he was fired because of his age and Italian heritage. The local defended its discharge of Indurante as an effort “to implement the mandate of the government-ordered trusteeship of the Teamsters, to clean house.” [BNA 11/10/98]
