On April 10, the General Exec. Board of the Intl. Assn. of Iron Workers dropped their massive fines of two Atlanta members who contacted NLPC for help in ferreting out corruption in their local union.
Local 387 member Carl Bishop and trustee Oscar Ingram had been fined a total of $11,000 for contacting NLPC and the U.S. Dept. of Labor in an effort to obtain documentation of expenses charged to Local 387 by its president, Hugh Dryden. In July, Dryden used a union meeting to incite a mob against Bishop and Ingram, demanding that the two be expelled. Soon after, the two were fined for violating the Ironworkers constitution for revealing information about the union to outside organizations, including NLPC and the labor dept. At first, the Intl. hierarchy in Washington, D.C. supported the discipline, upholding Ingram’s $1,000 fine, while reducing Bishop’s from $10,000 to $5,000.
But on Feb. 25, Bishop and Ingram turned the tables on the union bosses suing them in the U.S. Dist. Court for Washington, D.C., for violating their right of free speech under the Labor-Mgmt. Reporting and Disclosure Act. On April 10, Bishop and Ingram were notified that the General Exec. Board had dismissed all charges and penalties against the two. Bishop and Ingram are still seeking verification that Local 387 president Dryden has reimbursed the union for personal airfare charged to the union credit card, as well as records of Dryden’s cell phone usage, paid by the union.