State Rep. Jeff Roorda is, according to his website, “currently employed as the Business Manager with the St. Louis Police Officers Association,” which is a union. Among his top contributors are…unions.

Last week, Representative Roorda sponsored Missouri House Bill 677 which states:

Any member of the general assembly who proposes a piece of legislation that further restricts the right of an individual to bargain collectively, as set forth under section 29, article I of the Missouri Constitution, shall be guilty of a class D felony.

The Daily Caller speculates that Roorda’s bill could be in response to Republican Rep. Mike Leara’s bill to criminalize any efforts by legislators to restrict gun ownership.

However, the Democrat Roorda’s efforts (and that of his bill’s co-sponsors, Reps. Burns, Hummel and Colona) are more than that: Fighting for the Constitution’s Second Amendment is far different than Roorda’s inanely direct nod and wink to union boss buddies, saying “we’ve got your back.”

Missouri is currently not a Right-to-Work state. This means unions can have workers at unionized companies fired from their jobs if they refuse to pay union tribute (either union dues or agency fees).

Moreover, Right-to-Work legislation has nothing to do with an individual’s right to bargain collectively and everything to do with unions’ ability to strongarm collect money. Yet, Roorda, like most union bosses like to try to confuse the two.

Much like Michigan and Indiana before it, the Show-Me state has recently become the latest battleground where citizens are attempting to break the union stranglehold on their paychecks.

Right-to-work legislation has been proposed for several years in Missouri without gaining much traction. But last year, Indiana and Michigan both passed right-to-work laws, giving the effort a potential boost here.

A month into the state Legislature’s session, hearings on bills that aim to make Missouri the latest right-to-work state have been held in House and Senate committees, drawing standing-room-only crowds.

A group of pro-workplace freedom Missourians have set up a Facebook page with regular updates. However, union bosses and their allies are pushing back–as they always do–knowing that without the ability to have people fired for refusing to pay them, will severely cripple their capacity to continue inflicting harm on cities like St. Louis.

If the workplace freedom advocates are successful in overcoming the likes of Sate Rep. Roorda and his union boss buddies by bringing Right-to-Work to Missouri, like Indiana and (especially) Michigan before it, the Show-Me state would be able to cast off the dark cloud of forced unionism to better compete for jobs.
________________________
“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

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Despite union bosses lying to their members in 2008 about Barack Obama’s gun-control desires, according to his legislative record, he apparently would rather have a person killed in their own homes than have them defend themselves with a gun.

Not surprisingly, in keeping with their standard of not letting a good crisis go to waste, Obama and his left-wing cronies have launched a full-on frontal assault on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms.

This is despite the fact that they are not addressing the real gun violence problem.

As opportunistic, anti-Constitutional leftists use the Sandy Hook tragedy assault the Bill of Rights, it is worthy to note that not all teachers and law enforcement officials are aligned with the Left’s agenda to disarm Americans.

As Jason Hart noted earlier, Over 1,000 Educators Apply for Armed Teacher Training…in Ohio.

Moreover, (via Drudge) in Louisiana, the Sheriff’s Department in Caddo Parish is “inviting children to participate in the “Kids First Gun Program,” which will teach young children how to safely operate firearms.”

In Wyoming, lawmakers are proposing “gun protection” legislation. While it’s hoped that other states follow suit, only time will tell.

The question then becomes:

Would you rather be unarmed (like those in this Los Angeles clothing store) when criminals come to do you and others harm?

Or, would you rather be like the mother who saved her children?

Or, these Glock-carrying diners (via YouTube)…?

Remember: When they outlaw guns, only outlaws (and tyrants) will have guns.

Related:
• ‘Checking the box…’ NRA blasts Biden after gun task force meeting
• After Meeting, NRA Says White House Has ‘Agenda to Attack the Second Amendment’
• Handy pro-gun talking points
• Why I’m against gun control
• Two-Faced Union Bosses Help Shape Obama’s Attack On 2nd Amendment
• Did Union Bosses Lie To Their Members About Obama’s Gun Control Ambitions?

__________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

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Unlike most political opportunists who have fought and climbed their way to the top of the political ladder like Solis has, Solis owes her political power almost exclusively to unions (literally).

Given Solis’ (and her boss’) general disdain for employers and their financial and organizational dependence on union bosses, Solis’ Labor Day message to the nation’s most notorious union, the SEIU, makes complete sense.

For 90 years, SEIU has organized workers to give them a stronger voice in the workplace, and now is not the time to let up. Some say that we cant afford unions right now, that labor unions are the problem in this country. But I think theyve got it just plain wrong. Unions like SEIU helped build Americas middle class. You are now — and always will be — part of the solution. [Emphasis added.]

Unfortunately for the rest of America, the SEIU’s (and Solis’) socialist “solution” is nationalized health care, open borders, no-vote unionization (through the delusionally-dubbed Employee Free Choice Act), and further attacks on America’s job creators.

Read Solis’ entire message to the SEIU here.

_________________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

“Socialism has no place in the hearts of those who would secure the fight for freedom and preserve democracy.”
Samuel Gompers, (1850-1924)

Cross-posted at LaborUnionReport.com

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Since the target of the Longshoremen’s union protests is the U.S. Marines, according to this union press release, ‘misunderstood’ might actually be an understatement:

Union longshore workers from many Atlantic Coast District Ports are joining forces outside the United States Marine Barracks in Washington, DC to protest the loss of handling military cargo at the Port of Charleston, South Carolina.  Hundreds more members of the International Longshoremen’s Association are also picketing simultaneously at the Port of Charleston.

Both demonstrations in Washington and the Port of Charleston are to protest the US Marines allowing Portus Stevedoring Company, a Jacksonville-based company, to move its military cargo operation from Jacksonville, Florida to Charleston but bypassing the use of ILA workers in Charleston. The ILA learned that Portus intends to transport members of the International Union of Operating Engineers and, perhaps even non-union workers, aboard the vessel Lewis and Clark, and have these non-ILA members work the ship at Joint Base Charleston beginning on Monday.

For the past several months, International Vice President Kenneth Riley, ILA military consultant General Patrick Kelly and our ILA staff in Washington has been trying to resolve this issue with the International Union of Operating Engineers.  We have been in frequent contact with the leadership of the AFL-CIO, the Seafarers International Union and other AFL-CIO affiliates to support our campaign.

Following Monday’s demonstration, the ILA protesters in Washington will join their Sister and Brother ILA members for the remainder of the week at the Port of Charleston, South Carolina to protest near the Lewis and Clark vessel at Joint Base Charleston.

It should be noted that the union protests are not over the Marines actually using non-union labor, but of using labor from a different union.

Once again, AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka seems to be abrogating the federation’s responsibility of adjudicating jurisdictional disputes between AFL-CIO member unions.

____________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

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Then, back in April, Cecil Roberts, the President of the United Mine Workers of America, had a stunning revelation: Barack Obama would like to do to coal miners’ jobs what the President had the Navy Seals do to Osama Bin Laden—kill ‘em dead.

Now, the Obama Administration’s war on coal is costing Candidate Obama an important union endorsement–that of Roberts’ UMWA.

“As of right now, we’ve elected to stay out of this election,” said Mike Caputo, a UMWA official and a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. “Our members right now have indicated to stay out of this race, and that’s why we’ve done that…. I don’t think quite frankly that coalfield folks are crazy about either candidate.”

During a radio interview in April, UMWA’s Roberts was clear in his opposition to the Obama Administration’s open declaration of war on the coal industry:

“You have to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions throughout the world.  You can’t just regulate them through the EPA of the United States,” Cecil Roberts said on Tuesday’s MetroNews Talkline.

[snip]

“Coal is the fastest growing energy source in the world and they’ve decided, at the EPA, well, we’re going to control what goes into the atmosphere worldwide by halting the construction of coal fired facilities in the United States,” Roberts said.

“It doesn’t work, for one thing, and, the second thing, it is just devastating for our economy.”

[snip]

“The Navy SEALs shot Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and Lisa Jackson shot us in Washington,” Cecil Roberts, president of the powerful union, said during an interview Tuesday on the West Virginia radio show MetroNews Talkline. [Emphasis added.]

Obama’s war on coal is already costing American workers their jobs, according to the New York Post:

Most recently, American Electric Power withdrew its application for a $1 billion retrofit of its Big Sandy plant in Kentucky; it now plans to shutter five of its 21 coal-fired facilities.Nationwide, some 100 of 500 coal-burning plants are slated for the slag heap.

Many closings will come in Ohio, where Akron-based FirstEnergy was first out of the box in announcing several planned shutdowns. It spent five years and $1.8 billion installing scrubbers on its largest plant located on the Ohio River; costly upgrades to the smaller units simply didn’t make sense.

Last month, the Ormet Corporation issued a WARN Act notice that 1,000 (mostly union) jobs may be eliminated. The cause, according to the Marietta Times is poor market conditions and “increased power costs.”

Related:

• The Human Consequences of EPA’s War on Coal
• EPA’s ‘War on Coal’ Claims Another Victim in Kentucky, 3rd in 23 Day

Last week, the United Mine Workers stated on its website:

The UMWA National COMPAC Council has not made an endorsement in the 2012 election for President of the United States. Neither candidate has yet demonstrated that he will be on the side of UMWA members and their families as president.

That’s not exactly true, however. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has come out in support of jobs in the coal industry, stating:

“We have 250 years of coal, why in the heck wouldn’t we use it?” Romney said, speaking in front of hard-hat-wearing miners who roared in approval. “We’re going to take advantage of our energy resources to save your jobs, to create more jobs.”

While unions have publicly voiced opposition to Obama’s policies in the past, few have actually carried through with their threats.

Earlier this year, for example, Laborers’ union boss Terry  O’Sullivan expressed outrage over Obama’s killing 20,000 Keystone XL jobs and vowed not to forget the betrayal. Yet, barely two months later, the Laborers’ union leadership endorsed Obama for a second term—even before a GOP nominee had been selected.

Whether or not the union bosses at the United Mine Workers ultimately bow to pressure and end up endorsing Obama’s re-election remains to be seen. However, if the recent history of today’s unions is any indicator, chances are, like so many of their peers, the union bosses at the UMWA will end up putting politics over principle and endorse Obama again.

Related:

• Obama’s War On Coal Finally Dawns On Union Boss: “Our people’s jobs are on the line.”
• Barack Obama’s war on coal
• Mercury rule at center of the war on coal

____________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

Last year, when the DNC announced that it would be holding its convention in Charlotte, North Carolina—the least unionized state in the nation (in a stadium built by non-union labor!)—several unions claimed they would be boycotting the convention.

The boycott, according to USA Today, is hampering the DNC’s fundraising efforts.

Four years ago, unions accounted for five of the top 10 organizational donors to the Democrats’ convention in Denver, according to a tally by the non-profit Campaign Finance Institute.

“We feel that a better use of our members’ money would be spent on grassroots mobilization efforts this election cycle,” Jim Spellane, a spokesman for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said in an e-mail. In 2008, the union donated more than $1 million to help stage the Denver convention.

Last month, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka announced the union would not make any “major monetary” contributions to the convention.

To make matters worse for Democrat party planners, according to Newser, not only are unions boycotting the DNC’s convention, they held their own shadow convention in Philadelphia on Saturday, but several are also apparently planning to protest the progressive powwow in Charlotte.

Beyond the shadow convention in Philadelphia, several labor groups have said they plan to protest outside the Charlotte convention. On Monday, a group of unionized Charlotte city workers picketed city hall, as they plan to do every Monday this month.

Left-leaning union members are generally considered to be among the strongest pillars in the Democratic base, so images of them picketing the party’s big soiree has Republicans salivating. But political observers warn against reading too much into what is fundamentally a lover’s quarrel.

“The unions have to maintain face with their own membership after the party chose a right-to-work state to hold the convention, but in the end they aren’t going to abandon the Democrats,” said John Szmer, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. [Emphasis added.]

Although unions may be boycotting and even protesting the DNC convention in Charlotte, they are worried. As a result, AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka has vowed to send 400,000 union “volunteers” door-to-door to union and non-union homes on behalf of Barack Obama.

According to reports, the AFL-CIO’s home invasions visits begins on August 25th. The DNC’s convention is in early September.

Let the games begin.

Related:

• Did Union Feuds Cause DNC Convention Planners to go Union-Free?
• DNC Convention Planners Provide Stark Contrast With Choice Of Union-Free Stadium
• 2012 DNC Discriminates Against Charlotte Businesses, Demands Unionization
• Charlotte Workers Offered Free Legal Aid To Fight DNC Convention Discrimination

___________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

Earlier this week Communist Party USA supporter, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro [D-CT] joined her striking campaign contributors on the picket line, telling strikers, “They don’t know how tough we are.”

Of course, DeLauro’s visit is only the latest in the parade of union-bought politicians the SEIU put together.

Previously, Connecticut’s publicity-seeking senator, Dick Blumenthal, as well as the state’s attorney general and governor* have shown up at the SEIU’s picket lines.

While their visits to the picket lines make for good photo ops with campaign contributors, their political presence may be nothing more than a ruse to help the SEIU hide the real reason for the strike, as well as the SEIU’s potential complicity in the alleged sabotage of elderly residents’ care (which Connecticut politicians seem to be ignoring).

According to a company press release, SEIU’s strike appears to be centered over an unrealstic view of today’s economy:

The context of the Health Care Centers’ negotiations with the Union is one in which skilled nursing centers, in the steadily eroded U.S. economy, had suffered significant cuts and/or failures to keep up with increased costs in Medicaid – the primary funding for the vast majority of Center residents – and Medicare.  Negotiations also occurred at a time in which the days of 100% employer-paid medical and other insurance, and 100% employer-paid pensions, were both long gone. HealthBridge Management knew that business as usual was simply not viable in the current economic environment.

Yet the Union demanded terms that showed no recognition whatsoever of the changed economic circumstances. It insisted that the Health Care Centers increase their pension contributions from 8% to 8.5% of Union members’ salaries into the SEIU pension plan, with no employee contribution.  The Union insisted that the Health Care Centers should continue paying 1% of the salaries of Union members into the SEIU Training Fund, when in fact it is doubtful whether many employees receive any benefit from this Fund. The Union also insisted that the Health Care Centers pay virtually 100% of all employee health insurance costs (until, late in the negotiations, the Union conceded that its members could pay a token amount).

Unsurprisingly, the SEIU’s spin on things is quite different:

The company’s position has barely changed since negotiations began in March 2011, according to SEIU 1199NE spokeswoman Deborah Chernoff.

Those alterations include eliminating staffing ratios, requiring workers to pay health insurance premiums for the first time, cutting sick days by half, preventing delegates from hearing grievances during work hours, and switching from an employer-funded pension to a 401k.

While union members contributing to health care may be a novel idea to the SEIU, just as a company not wanting to pay for union business may seem “evil,” it is this last issue (switching from a pension to a 401[k]) that is most interesting, since the union’s pension fund looks like a sinking ship. Like many union pension funds, the SEIU’s pension fund in New England appears to be under water.

According to the union’s filing with the Internal Revenue Service [ IRS Form 5500], as of December 31, 2010, the SEIU’s New England Healthcare Employees Pension Plan appeared to be only 54.29% funded and unable to meet its future obligations by hundreds of millions.

According to the SEIU’s 5500s, at the end of 2010, the pension fund only had $363.6 million in assets ($454.3 million according to the actuaries). However, it’s liabilities (the money it owes to present and future retirees) are $669.9 million.

In the best case, according to the 5500s, the SEIU’s pension is nearly $20 million underfunded. In the worst case, it is over $200 million underfunded.

Yet, according to the SEIU’s propagandists and union-bought politicians, HealthBridge Management is somehow at fault for wanting off the SEIU’s plummeting pension.

As the SEIU perpetuates its abandonment of nursing home residents and continues its parade of Democrat politicians in Connecticut, it is unfortunate that Connecticut Democrats refuse to investigate the truth behind this labor dispute—as well as the incidents of sabotage that took place as the SEIU walked out on strike.

Then again, truth is not something unions (or Democrats) are known for.

*Related: Malloy’s working groups to unionize daycare and healthcare get started quietly

______________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

For the last 17 months, a nursing home company, HealthBridge Management, has been locked in heated battle against the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 (a SEIU division).

After the SEIU refused to agree to a contract offer with some concessions in exchange for raises totaling 9 percent in the first year and 17 percent over the next six years, HealthBridge chose to exercise its legal right to implement its “last, best and final offer” in late June. As a result, the SEIU called its 700 members out on strike and abandoned the residents at five nursing homes HealthBridge operates on July 3rd.

In the hours leading up to and those after the SEIU members walked out on strike on July 3rd, reports were filed with the police departments in Danbury, Newington and Stamford that include such incidents as:

• “…clean linens being thrown on the floor to more serious incidents whereby patients’ identification wrist bands were removed as well as patient identifiers on room doors and wheelchairs….[T]he persons involved are presumed to be employees who are part of a protest taking place outside against the Danbury Health Care Center.” [Source: Danbury Police Department Incident Report.]
• “Also of note for disruptive behavior that occurred prior to the employee labor strike was: The name tags on patient’s doors for the Alzheimer’s ward were mixed up. The photos attached to the medical records for these patients were removed further complicating, but not making impossible the identification of the patients. Also dietary blue stickers affixed to the door name tags were removed. Again, there would be unrestricted, unsupervised access to the areas that that occurred.” [Source: Newington Police Department Crime/Incident Report]
• In Stamford, the glass door to the industrial washing machine was shattered. In the officer’s comments, the following was noted: “Local 1199 of S.E.I.U. union is going on strike at 6:00 am on Tuesday 7/3/12 (may be related).” [Source: Stamford Police Department Incident Report]

While the SEIU may try to shrug these incidents off as mere coincidence, the fact that extraordinarily similar incidents occurred in 2001 during a SEIU nursing home strike across Connecticut may make the SEIU’s protestations ring hollow.

In 2001, during a one-day strike, incidents of strike-related sabotage targeting nursing home residents were so pervasive that the Connecticut’s Chief State’s Attorney John M. Bailey “concluded in a damning report that many of the alleged incidents not only occurred but also were criminal.”

“There is no doubt while some of the acts in question are crimes of nuisance and mischief, others could have had an effect resulting in seriously jeopardizing the [nursing home] residents’ health and safety,” the prosecutor’s report said.

Mr. Bailey’s investigators looked at evidence and information reported by 10 homes and found that equipment and sterile medical supplies had been tampered with, patient identification bracelets were removed, drugs were missing and a door to a supply room containing oxygen had been glued shut.

During the 2001 strike, according to one report, the SEIU stopped short of denying the allegations that involved even potentially deadly sabotage:

Although stopping short of saying that the allegations had no merit, workers at a union press conference said they were stunned by charges that in the hours before a one-day strike on March 20, patient ID bracelets and “Do Not Resuscitate” stickers were removed, diabetics were given chocolate and some residents were told they’d be killed or poisoned by replacement workers.

SEIU boss Jerry Brown later called the investigation a “witch hunt.”

This past Wednesday, Connecticut’s Democratic Governor, Dannel Malloy unsurprisingly showed up on the SEIU’s picket lines voicing support for the union.

The Democrat joined the picket line at Newington Health Care Center, which is owned by Parsippany, N.J.-based HealthBridge/Care One. Malloy said it’s clear the company has taken “unfair actions” against employees, citing last week’s federal complaint against the company issued by the National Labor Relations Board.

“These types of tactics are unacceptable,” he said. “They negatively impact the lives of the residents who live in these nursing homes and the residents’ families because the continuum of care gets interrupted.”

Apparently, in the mind of Governor Malloy, the removal of name tags or photos from Alzheimer’s  patients does not negatively affect residents or their families.

Malloy’s support for the SEIU is not at all surprising given his partnership with the SEIU in unionizing the state’s daycare providers and personal care attendants.

As the police reports were filed ten days before the Governor Malloy’s visit to the SEIU picket line at one of the nursing homes where the sabotage occurred, it appears that Malloy won’t be undertaking any investigation like the one that occurred under Republican Governor John Rowland in 2001.

_______________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

Emphasis added throughout.

Photo credit: d3b…*

Not so.

Though he tried to walk it back ten minutes later, earlier today, the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee, Patrick Gaspard let his thoughts about SCOTUS’ Obamacare ruling be known to his followers (and detractors) on twitter: “It’s constitutional. B*tches.”

You may remember Patrick Gaspard. He’s the life-long community organizer and ex-SEIU boss who was, for two years, inside the White House as the Director of the Office of Political Affairs and was described by the Huffington Post in 2009 as, “may very well be the most brilliant strategist and organizer you have never heard of.”

After being dispatched from the White House in January 2011 to spearhead Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, Gaspard is now running the Democratic National Committee and its “grassroots” astroturf machine, Organizing for America.

Over the next week or so, the institutional Left and union bosses will be crowing about their “victory” and how Obamacare is but one small step in the direction of their next goal: European-style socialized medicine.

However, as they gather their talking points to put on the full-court press to kill opposition to Obamacare and push the reelection of Barack Obama, in one brief tweet and one word, Patrick Gaspard revealed the Left’s view of Americans opposed to their vision:

“It’s Consitutional. B*tches.”

In other words, screw you.

Related:

• Meet the SEIU Operative Running Barack Obama’s Re-Election Campaign’s Ground Game
• Patrick Gaspard’s $37K disclosure form lie.
• Actually, Patrick Gaspard IS affiliated with ACORN.
• Patrick Gaspard chosen as Obama’s new political director.

_____________________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

SCI Illinois Services, Inc. is a company that provides funeral services in Chicago and vicinity. Being in the Chicago area, the company’s employees (which consist of funeral directors, embalmers, embalmer trainees, and auto livery drivers) are represented by Teamsters Local 727.

According to the RICO suit, SCI is required under its union contract with the Coli-controlled Teamsters, to pay money into the union’s health, pension, and education funds for its Teamster-represented employees. The health, pension and educations funds are where out of the four fund trustees, according to the suit, the Coli family has installed three of its family members.

The funds are also where the Coli dynasty has, according to the RICO suit,  allegedly created a “scheme to defraud and extort” money from SCI by inflating audit findings. Over many years, the union would claim that the company owed more money than it believed it owed to the Coli-controlled funds.

Defendants have conspired to and have falsely and intentionally inflated audits relating to how much was owed to the Local 727 Funds, continually abusing the legitimate audit process year after year to extort as much money as possible from Plaintiff for the Funds.

Finally, after years of Plaintiff submitting to extortion and incurring enormous legal expenses, Plaintiff decided to fight instead. In litigation brought by the Funds at the control and direction of the Defendants, Plaintiff sought the deposition of key individuals, including Defendant John Coli, Sr. Coli Sr. resisted his deposition vigorously. When the court finally ordered him to attend he did appear, but was belligerent and uncooperative, stating, “For the record, go f**k yourself.”

According to the RICO suit:

By engaging in the scheme to extort contributions from Plaintiff into the Funds, the Coli Defendants are seeking to increase the viability and perceived financial soundness of the Funds by any, including illegal, means.

By engaging in the scheme to extort contributions from Plaintiff into the Funds, the Coli Defendants and the Union are seeking to serve and protect their own direct and indirect financial interests. The Union’s pension fund is seriously underfunded and a source of potential embarrassment and criticism for the Union and its leadership. The underfunded status of the Funds impacts the Union’s ability to recruit and retain members, which has the effect of diminishing membership dues − the primary revenue source for the Union. The Coli Defendants and the Union are therefore seeking to augment the pension fund by engaging in this fraudulent and extortionate scheme to reduce the level of underfunding. The seriously underfunded status of the pension fund is also a potential source of embarrassment for and criticism of the Coli Defendants, causing their job performance to be called into question, and raising questions about their competence and issues of nepotism, cronyism, qualifications, experience and general fitness to carry out their responsibilities, placing at risk their job security and generous compensation packages. Similar motives exist with regard to the other union benefit plans. The Coli Defendants are engaging in this scheme to wrongfully extort money that the Funds are not entitled to for the purpose of improving their image, consolidating their control and thereby protecting their own financial interests and maintaining control of the Funds and the Union.

Earlier this month, a U.S. District Court judge denied the Coli’s motion to dismiss the RICO suit.

In his denial of the motion to dismiss, Judge Zagel summarized the complaint as follows:

The gravamen of the complaint is that Defendants have manipulated a series of audits to fraudulently inflate the amounts for which the Funds billed Plaintiff. Specifically, the complaint alleges that beginning in August 2002 and continuing to the present, Defendants have deliberately withheld records from auditors, signed off on final auditing reports that they know to be materially flawed, imposed unreasonably burdensome procedures on Plaintiff to challenge the audits, and sued Plaintiff to collect payments to which they were not entitled. For years, Plaintiff capitulated to the fraud by settling rather than incurring the costs of litigating each individual audit. The complaint states that, between April 2004 and April 2008, Plaintiff settled seven lawsuits with Defendants for amounts far exceeding what Plaintiff actually owed the Funds.

The most recent scheme allegedly involved an employer-wide audit covering all of Plaintiff’s funeral homes in the State of Illinois. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant deliberately withheld information from the auditing firm which “caused the draft audit report to have intentional misrepresentations,” such as the inclusion of non-Local 727 employees, as well as employees and funeral homes covered by previous settlement agreements.

The complaint contains enough facts to infer the existence of an agreement between Defendants to violate § 1962(c). The conspiracy claim stands. Causation and injury have been sufficiently pled–there is no question that Plaintiff has payed out hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Funds in order to settle ERISA actions based on disputed audits.

While the Coli case is about one individual union and the family that controls it, the case may have much farther reaching impact as there are thousands of companies across the United States that contribute to underfunded union pension plans.

If the allegations against the Coli-controlled funds prove to be true, not only might the Coli dynasty come to a well-deserved ignominious end, but there may be other companies that are overpaying moneys into ‘schemes’ such as the one the Coli’s are accused of masterminding.

Related:

• Teamsters Coli RICO Complaint
• Teamsters Coli Dimissal Denied
• Random Acts of Vandalism Cause Teamsters To Postpone Funeral Directors’ Strike

_____________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

[Emphasis added throughout.]