Justice in labor corruption cases can work very speedily. Maxine Davis and Shirley Johns found out the hard way. On July 27, Davis, former president of National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) Local 1953, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana to making false statements in union financial records immediately after being charged. Three days later, on July 30, she was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. She already had paid $4,875 in restitution. Davis was in good company. On July 14, Shirley Johns, former secretary-treasurer of NFFE Local 1953, was charged in the same court with making false statements. On July 17, she pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. Johns already had paid $7,190 in restitution.
The National Federation of Federal Employees is an affiliate of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and its Local 1953 represents employees at Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, La. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.