Corruption at Local 990 at the United Food and Commercial Workers was a family affair. Last year Barbara Ann Hayes, a bookkeeper for the Greeley, Colo. meatpackers union, pleaded guilty to embezzlement. This past June 20 her brother, Stephen Bush, a former local vice-president, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on 51 counts of embezzling more than $22,000. Their father, ex-local president Ronald Bush, is now the latest casualty.
In a complaint dated June 29, federal prosecutors accused the elder Bush of diverting about $8,000 in union funds toward his own personal use, much of it related to trips to Las Vegas. Bush waived his right to be charged by a federal grand jury, and was released on bond. Local 990 no longer exists, having been disbanded by the national union. Former rank-and-file members now belong to UFCW Local 7, which covers workers at the Swift packing plant in Greeley. (Denver Post, 7/1).