On April 22, Britta Duncan, former secretary-treasurer for Local 5 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon to eight months of home detention and five years of probation for embezzling funds from the Portland-based union and falsifying union financial reports to cover up the thefts. She also was ordered to pay $43,183 in restitution and a $500 fine, and receive counseling. Duncan, formerly an employee of the Portland flagship store of Powell’s Books, pleaded guilty last October to three counts of embezzlement and two counts of records fraud. She had been charged in March 2013 following an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
