Am. Fed. of State, County & Municipal Employees’ Dist. Council 37 suffered two more guilty pleas from Local 1549 bosses Robert F. Myers, on May 26, and James Edey, on Jun. 2. Now six AFSCME bosses have pled guilty to union corruption and nine have been indicted.
Myers pled guilty to using the union’s credit card for personal expenditures that he never repaid and stole over $50,000 in personal “hospitality money.” Myers made nearly $200,000 for being the treasurer of Local 1549 and DC37 and is the highest ranking DC37 boss to plead guilty to date. He was a close associate of the indicted and expelled top boss Albert A. Diop. Edey pled guilty to similar charges. Both were ousted from AFSCME in Apr. after the union’s judicial panel found that Myers received $134,100 in unexplained “hospitality expenses.” The panel also found that Edey received $63,925 and charged $143,819 on the local’s credit card including $17,363 for clothing. [N.Y. Times, Newsday 5/27 & 6/3/99, N.Y. Post 5/27/99]