Any day now, it is expected that the Dep’t of Justice and the Laborers’ Int’l Union of N. Am. will announce what is to be come of their 1995 quasi-oversight agreement due to expire Jan. 30. As reported in the last Union Corruption Update, a new deal was expected in “early” Jan. Given the fact that its already mid-Jan., maybe the negotiations aren’t going as smoothly as one or both parties may like.
New news: BNA reports that sources close to the negotiations indicate that there will be a new agreement, but that it may be more limited in scope than previous agreements and could have a term longer than the 12 months of the previous agreements. One source predicted that the scope of the agreement could be substantially changed in terms of authority and duration and, in general, be less intrusive. [BNA 1/7/00]
QUOTABLE QUOTE
“It would be nice to say that the resignation of Arthur A. Coia as president of the Laborers’ Union puts an end to [its] long history of dubious practices. But that hardly seems the case. [He] will retain his $335,516 annual salary for the rest of his life, and serve as General President Emeritus well into the millennium. [He] is getting a sweetheart deal that no member of his union could ever hope to emulate…
[T]he hard-working, dues-paying members of the Laborers’ Union [is left] with a vision of their (now ex-) president, a wealthy lawyer who served just six years in office, retiring at age 56 with a pension of $335,516 a year. Perhaps they could augment the picture with an image of Mr. Coia driving off into the sunset behind the wheel of that $450,000 Ferrari he purchased from a Rhode Island dealer.”
– Editorial, Providence Journal-Bulletin, Jan. 3, 2000.