On October 3, Frank Rago, former representative of the International Longshoremen’s Association and former president of ILA Local 1604 in Stoneham, Mass., was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to a year and a day of incarceration followed by three years of supervised probation for making unlawful payments and falsifying union records after the fact. Rago used his position as an ILA representative to secure a no-show job with a local employer in order to continue making his line handler’s salary without performing any work. He directed his union to pay his salary out of member deductions. In addition to receiving a sentence, he also was ordered to pay $216,384 in restitution, $10,000 in asset forfeiture and a $200 assessment. Rago was convicted by a jury in January 2010. The actions follow a joint probe by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.
