On Aug. 14, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the Eastern Dist. of La., Joyce Griffin, former office secretary for the New Orleans Metal Trades Council of the AFL-CIO, pled guilty to embezzling $2,383 in union funds. She admitted to charging personal items to the union’s charge accounts and taking cash from the union’s petty cash fund. She had been charged in a one-count information on April 25, 2002, following an investigation by the N.O. Dist. Office of the U.S. Labor Dept. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards. [DOL OLMS 8/21/02]
DOL Takes Action Against DC Postal Union for 8-Year Failure to File LM-2 On Time
On August 9, 2002, suit was filed in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the Dist. of Columbia against Postal Workers Local 140, for failing to file its annual financial report. Local 140 has filed its annual report late every year for the last eight years and during the last six years it has filed, on average, 357 days late. It has failed to file the report that was due on March 31, 2002, despite reminders by OLMS and warnings that failure to file would result in legal action. The complaint seeks an order compelling Local 140 to file its annual financial report for fiscal year 2001 and enjoining it from further violating the reporting provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. [DOL OLMS 8/28/02].
NJ Postal Union Bosses Used Members’ Money to Laud Selves in Campaign
On June 27, 2002, the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the Dist. of New Jersey granted the U.S. Department of Labor’s motion for summary judgment concerning the April 2000 election of officers in the North Jersey Area Local of the American Postal Workers Union. The court found that the local violated Section 401(g) of the Labor Mgmt. Reporting and Disclosure Act by making two mailings to the membership at union expense and on union letterhead. One mailing was laudatory of the incumbents and critical of an opposing candidate and the other “provided gratuitous and damaging material” about the opposition candidate. The court held that all members of the opposing candidate’s slate are entitled to a new election under the supervision of the Secretary of Labor. The court case resulted from an investigation by the New York ofc. of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards [DOL OLMS 8/28/02].