There always seemed to be money missing when Betty Wing served as secretary-treasurer of United Steelworkers Local 1077. Now after several years of trying, the union will get the money back. Wing, 42, a resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., pleaded guilty on Friday, June 27 in Detroit federal court to embezzling $6,584 in union funds. Under the terms of the agreement, Wing faces up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, and will have to pay restitution to the Lambertville, Mich.-based union.
Wing, said federal prosecutors, from July 2003 until March 2004 had claimed reimbursements for supposedly union-related activities that never occurred. She also altered union checks payable to herself in order to increase their monetary value. Her sentencing is set for October. “Union members have a legitimate expectation that their leaders will not operate with their hands on the till,” remarked U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy. (Detroit News, 6/28/08, Ann Arbor News, 6/28/08; OLMS, 7/7/08).