How Stacey Shaw managed to avoid detection isn’t certain. But it is fair to say that the union whose interests she allegedly represented isn’t happy. On April 16, Shaw, former president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 712 Federal Credit Union, pleaded guilty in Pittsburgh federal court to one charge each of embezzlement and […]
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
New Indictments Handed Down in Philadelphia IBEW Scandals
For John Dougherty, business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, there seems to be no end in sight. His nephew, Gregory Fiocca, a member and shop steward of the Philadelphia union, isn’t seeing a bright future either. On March 3, each were indicted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of […]
Philadelphia IBEW Contractor Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud, Theft
For Donald Dougherty, the old habits wouldn’t go away. That’s why he’s likely to go to prison. On January 21, Dougherty, a Philadelphia-based electrical contractor, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to one count each of tax fraud and theft related to his work with International Brotherhood of Electrical […]
Contractor, Accountant Indicted in Philadelphia IBEW Scandal
The net has grown wider for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, if not necessarily for its allied power brokers at Philadelphia City Hall. On November 25, Donald “Gus” Dougherty and Michael McKale, respectively, a Local 98 contractor and an accountant for Dougherty’s firm, were indicted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District […]
IBEW President in Arkansas Sentenced for Embezzlement
On November 13, Michael Johnson, former president and business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1658, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas to five years of probation, with the first six months to be spent on a monitored curfew, for embezzling $9,317 in funds from the Pine […]
FBI Raids Office of Philadelphia Electrical Workers Local
Don’t tell International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 that lightning can’t strike twice in the same place. For them, it’s now happened. Around 7 A.M., October 16, FBI agents raided the headquarters of the Philadelphia union in search of evidence of threats of violent retaliation by union leaders against certain dissenting members. Authorities would […]
IBEW Business Manager in Pennsylvania Sentenced for Benefit Fraud
Melvin Fishburn couldn’t delay the inevitable forever. Belatedly, he is going away for a while. On March 5, Fishburn, former business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 743 and a trustee of the pension plan of the Reading, Pa.-based union, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to […]
President of Arkansas Electrical Workers Local Charged with Theft; Pleads Guilty
On March 6, Michael Johnson, former president and business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1658, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas with one count of embezzling $9,317 in funds from the Pine Bluff union. He then pleaded guilty. The charge follows an investigation by the U.S. […]
Philadelphia IBEW Associate Sentenced for Fraud
The decline of the corrupt old guard at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 continues. On January 27, James Moylan, a close ally of the powerful Philadelphia union, and for a while chairman of the City of Philadelphia’s zoning board, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to 15 […]
Top Ten Union Corruption Stories of the Year
Perhaps more than usual, corruption stories in 2019 involved the overlapping worlds of unions and politics. In Chicago, former Teamster boss John T. Coli Sr., whose ability to cut deals with City Hall and the Illinois legislature for years went virtually unchallenged, pleaded guilty in July to shaking down a television studio owner. One of […]