The Serv. Employees Int’l Union placed Local 49 in Portland, Or. into trusteeship on Jan. 19. Local 49’s ex-secretary-treasurer, Don Weston, resigned Jan. 19 and SEIU appointed trustees Alice Dale and Alonzo Suson as interim managers. Dale is executive director of SEIU Local 503 in Salem, and Suson is SEIU’s regional organizing director based in Seattle. Allegedly, internal dissension, and not financial wrongdoing, prompted the move. No time limit was placed on the trusteeship. [BNA 01/24/01]
Boss’ Unpaid Taxes, Fines Questioned
Janice Loux, president Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int’l Union Local 26 in Boston and board member of the Mass. Bay Trans. Auth. is in trouble for avoiding taxes and parking fines. The “combative” boss, who has blasted the T (Boston’s subway) for blowing taxpayer money on wasteful construction projects, had her car registration revoked two years ago after failing to pay auto excise taxes and a series of Boston parking tickets. Loux, a registered voter in Boston since at least 1988, has also been driving with a Vermont license after letting her Mass. license expire in 1990 after compiling a “sketchy” driving history.
Asked by the Boston Herald about her car problems last week, Loux said she had no idea she owed any taxes or tickets to the city. “I don’t believe I owe that stuff,” said Loux, “But if I do, it’s been an oversight.” She also said the license issue is a mistake, saying she got a license in Vt. because she owns a vacation home there. “I’ve just never bothered to change it over.”
Despite not being allowed to register a car or get a license in Mass. until she pays the $136.42 in outstanding excise taxes and the $276 she owes for six Boston parking tickets, Loux has a parking spot reserved for her at the Mass. Trans. Building. The $250-per-month spot (an extra perk for MBTA board members if they request it) is paid for by MBTA, which also gives all board members a $7,500 stipend. [Bos. Herald 01/29/01]
Democratic Staffers Land Union Posts
Effective Jan. 22, Bill Samuel, who has been a senior adviser to ex-Vice President Al Gore on labor policy, became the legislative director of the AFL-CIO. Prior to his job with Gore, Samuel worked for four years in the Dep’t of Labor. For 15 years, he held various positions in the union movement including legislative director for the United Mine Workers (the former home of corrupt AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard L. Trumka). [BNA 01/23/01]
Separately, the Serv. Employees Int’l Union announced Jan. 29 that it has hired political strategist Gina Glantz, who was ex-Sen. Bill Bradley’s campaign manager for the 2000 presidential campaign. She has been named assistant to the SEIU president, Andrew Stern, for strategic issues and political action. She founded Martin & Glantz, a political consulting firm. She previously served as field director for the 1984 Mondale-Ferraro campaign. [BNA 02/02/01]