Violent and Corrupt NY Laborers' Local Back in the News...

With 60 to 65% of its members unemployed, things are heating up inside Niagara Falls' infamous Laborers Local 91 (of the Laborers International Union of North America or LUINA).

According to the Niagara Falls Reporter, the union has local leadership elections going on and the union bosses are at war with each other.

Leadership of Laborers Local 91 here has become so fragmented that current kingpins Rob Connolly and Rico Liberale have been unable to put together a full ticket to run with them in the May elections.

And with 60 to 65 percent of the union's roughly 700 workers currently jobless, dissatisfaction among the rank-and-file has reached unprecedented proportions. 

Late last week, and against that backdrop, Dick Paladino formally announced his intention to run for Connolly's job, telling the Niagara Falls Reporter that the once-powerful union local has slipped into near irrelevance under the current regime. 

[snip] 

Union investigators -- and FBI agents -- have been particularly interested in both union hiring practices and the complicity of union leaders in a fraud and embezzlement scheme involving Newfane dentist Scott Geise and Local 91 member Tony Fazzolari, both of whom have pleaded guilty to federal charges and are actively cooperating with the feds.

The history of corruption and violence in Laborer's Local 91 is too vast to go into in one post.  However, with threats, political ties, violence and former officials now imprisoned, this former "brutal" criminal enterprise seems to be having a hard time shaking its all-too-recent recent past.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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As Simple as 1-2-3: How Teachers' Unions are Indoctrinating Kids on Unions

"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." Vladimir Lenin

The California Teachers Association has a glowing article about how a Los Angeles high school teacher indoctrinates teaches his students about the "benefits" of unions.

The question, posed by social studies teacher Dean Wood to his 12th-graders at Drew Medical Magnet High School in Los Angeles, draws mostly blank stares.

"It's a place where they treat workers bad. It's a place where people are overworked," one student ventures.

If this urban classroom is any indication, there is a great deal of work to be done when it comes to educating tomorrow's workforce — and the general public — about the importance of the labor movement and what it means to be part of a union. But Wood is up for the challenge.

He calls on another student, who informs her classmates that unions protect the rights of workers. Her teacher beams his approval before talking about union benefits, contracts, negotiations, mediation and arbitration — and last but not least, strikes. Everyone, it seems, knows what a strike is.

[snip]

"Do you know anybody in a union?" Wood asks. Most students shake their heads no and only a few raise their hands.

"Lots of people you know are in unions," says Wood. "I'm in the California Teachers Association and also a member of United Teachers Los Angeles. When you leave here, I want you to interview a family member or friend who belongs to an organized labor union. I want you to find out what union they belong to, what the union does for them, and why they joined a union."

After interviewing a union member, students must research the union their interviewee belongs to and write a paper that explains that union's history, goals and tactics.

"Find out how this union benefits the workers it represents," says Wood. "How does it get information to workers? What techniques does it use to gain leverage on behalf of the workers it represents? Have these techniques proven to be effective?"

Wood admits that he goes above and beyond the state standards when it comes to teaching his students about unionism. But he feels it's too relevant to just gloss over.

[snip]

"When I teach about unions, I'm honest and keep my own personal bias out of it," says Wood. "But when they ask questions, I explain about the good things my union does for me."

It does not appear that the topics Mr. Wood covers include union corruption, union violence, mafia involvement, union political influence, unionized companies closing, teachers unions protecting bad teachers, nor does Mr. Wood teach his students about unions brainwashing indoctrinating propagandizing students.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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The SEIU and Union Violence: When will the violence stop, Mr. Stern?

In the world of labor relations, all too often, union violence is commonly associated with unions when they are on strike. In many cases, union violence occurs when an employer maintains his ability to continue his operations using replacement workers while unionized workers are out striking.  In some rarer instances, union violence will occur during inter and intra-union battles, with union members occasionally being the victims of union violence at the hands of their own union.


According to the Center for Union Facts, an average of nearly 300 incidents of (reported) union violence occur every year. In one example, a three-year strike conducted by the Teamsters against the trucking company, Overnite Transportation (now UPS Freight), produced 55 shootings and prompted the Teamsters to settle with the National Labor Relations Board by posting a four-page notice on the union's website where the union agreed that (among other things):

“WE WILL NOT brandish or carry any weapon of any kind, including, but not limited to, guns, knives, slingshots, rocks, ball bearings, liquid-filled balloons or other projectiles, sledge hammers, bricks, sticks, or two by fours . . ..


“WE WILL NOT use or threaten to use a weapon of any kind, including but not limited to guns, knives, slingshots, rocks, ball bearings, liquid-filled balloons or other projectiles, picket signs, sticks, sledge hammers, bricks, hot coffee, bottles, two by fours, lit cigarettes, eggs, or bags or balloons filled with excrement . . ..


WE WILL NOT damage, threaten to damage or attempt to damage any vehicle or equipment owned or operated by Overnite, its employees or security guards, by any means or manner, including but not limited by slingshots, rocks, ball bearings, liquid-filled balloons or other projectiles, knives, picket signs, sticks, sledge hammers, bricks, bottles, two by fours, eggs, or paint, or by tearing off mirrors, windshield wipers or antennas, or breaking windows.


WE WILL NOT disable or attempt to disable vehicles owned or operated by Ovemite, by any means or manner, including but not limited to disconnecting or otherwise severing air brake lines, padlocking doors, spraying substances in or otherwise jamming locks, stealing keys, puncturing radiators, cutting hoses or door cables, flattening tires or throwing, placing or otherwise spreading any nails, screws, star nails, jack rocks or similar devices capable of puncturing tires on any road surface.


WE WILL NOT endanger or impede the progress of or harass any non-striking employee or any employee of a neutral person doing business with Ovemite, while he or she is operating a company vehicle or his or her own personal vehicle, by forcing or attempting to force him or her off the road, blocking, delaying or limiting his or her access to or passage on any road, swerving toward, driving recklessly near, tailgating or braking abruptly in front of him or her, impeding his or her progress by speeding up and slowing down, driving at speeds below the legal minimums while in front of him or her. [Emphasis added.]


[To read the rest of the notice, go here.]

Until recently, when the topic of union violence arose, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was missing on the list of  "most violent unions." In fact, this 1999 study by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research showed that, over a 25-year period, the SEIU didn't even rank in the top 20 most violent unions.

Times Change: A Portrait in Union Dictatorship


While the SEIU has never been on the radar screen for its use of violence, it has always been known as a 'militant' union. However, with the ascendancy of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States, the influence of the SEIU has grown beyond its members and their employers, with much of its agenda having an impact on all Americans. As a result, its actions have garnered the SEIU and its leaders Andy Stern and Anna Burger more of a spotlight than they might have had in years past and, so far, many Americans do not like what they see.

For example, as many Americans never knew who Andy Stern was before 2008, they likely did not know that Mr. Stern:

• Almost single-handedly orchestrated the 2005 break-up of the AFL-CIO.
• Is reviled by many within his own union for forcibly merging SEIU locals with one another, using union appointments, rather than members electing their own leaders (see article here)
• Has created a "civil war" within his own union
• Has engaged in so-called "union busting" of his own staff's union (see related video here)
• Is at war with many other union leaders for his engaging in "piracy on the high seas of organized labor," in reference to his raiding (or stealing members of) other unions.

As Andy Stern's influence has grown, so too has knowledge of the SEIU's militant ways and, even more recently the SEIU has taken on an image of a 'thug-like' union.

• In April 2008, at a Labor Notes (a pro-union group) conference, while at war with the California Nurses Association, the SEIU bused in 200-300 purple-shirted members who stormed the conference, sending one attendee to the hospital and leaving one SEIU member dead (from an apparent heart attack).  
• In June 2009, amid a battle to keep 10,000 SEIU-represented home care workers from voting for a rival union:
• SEIU organizers used threats of physical violence, profanity, and sexually threatening gestures to intimidate NUHW supporters as they walked door to door.
• At least two workers' doors were vandalized or defaced, and many had signs stolen which they had placed on their homes to show their support for NUHW.
• The Town Hall Beating: In August, SEIU "thugs" allegedly beat conservative activist Kenneth Gladney as he was handing out Gadsen flags.  This beating, captured on video, catapulted the SEIU into the public spotlight. 
• In November 2009, SEIU protesters allegedly threw eggs at attendees of an event honoring a rival union, the NUHW, with several attendees, including Vice President of the United Teachers of Los Angeles.  Members of  UNITE HERE Local 11 were also targets of eggs and water bottles.
• Also in November 2009, SEIU members allegedly beat (California) state worker Ken Hamidi at a SEIU local union hall.
• Last week, SEIU staffer Lisbeth Castillo was caught on camera yelling at a Garden Grove Hospital employee and spouting obscenities before lunging at an NUHW volunteer and striking him (see video below).

With SEIU boss Andy Stern being appointed to the White House deficit reduction commission last week, many view the President's appointment of Stern with disdain due to Stern's "progressive" ideals of bigger government and higher taxes.

However, Stern's appointment raises a greater concern:

By elevating Mr. Stern to a White House commission, does this mean that the Obama administration is condoning Mr. Stern's actions and that of his union against other unions, his members, or persons like Kenneth Gladney?

This leaves us to wonder:  When will the violence stop, Mr. Stern?


And, more importantly, will the Obama administration ever condemn the SEIU’s violence?

Read more on union violence here.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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Seeing Red: When a Union Beats Up Its Own Members

You may have seen them climbing in and out of sewers, or climbing a telephone pole.  They may have come into your house or you might have seen them astro-turfing at a town hall meeting last summer. 

Who are they? 

They're the Communications Workers of America and, the chances are, if you've ever had a telephone repairman into your home, he was a member of the CWA.

Their shirts are red, not purple.  However, they can sometimes be just as nasty as their purple-clad cousins over at the SEIU.

A case in point:

Two members of the Staten Island local of the Communications Workers of America say they were beaten and harassed - and one had a dead rat put in his locker - after they reported that union brothers were being paid for work they did not perform. The men say the union supported the retaliation: that a local vice president told members that "we have to deal with these spies on a personal level, like take them outside of the yard, off the company property and off company time and take care of them, because we can't be ratting each other out," according to the federal complaint.

....

According to the complaint in Brooklyn Federal Court, DiStefano was a member in good standing with the union when in the summer of 2007 a union manager overseeing worked for Verizon on Staten Island told his men that so long as they did three "fiber to premises" jobs each day, they could put in for a full day's pay no matter how many hours they actually worked.

DiStefano says he refused to participate in the scheme, and told other workers, supervisors and union management that the practice was illegal. When Taravella went to work at the Verizon garage, he says, he expressed the same reservations.

DiStefano and Taravella say revealed the scheme to Verizon's corporate security in May 2008. From then on, they say, they were subjected to increasing abuse from union brothers, shop stewards and union chiefs.

They claim that Richard Meltz, a union chief, told angry union members to "do whatever you want with those two guys."

Immediately afterward, the two men say they were brought up on false charges that they had made "discriminatory" gestures" to their co-workers. The case was supported by affidavits signed by many of their union brothers.

As a result, DiStefano and Taravella say, they were "terminated" from the Staten Island garage, relocated, demoted, and placed on bogus "final warnings" due to the false charges of "discrimination" and "harassment" and "making gestures" to their union brothers.

When they complained to superiors, they were told, "You guys did it to yourself," according to the complaint.

Soon after that, Taravella says he discovered that somebody - allegedly shop steward Manny Rincon - had put a dead rat in his locker.

A month later, a union member called DiStefano a "rat" while hitting him about the face and head, an attack that left him with two herniated discs, he says.

In neither case did the union take action against the alleged perpetrator. Instead, in DiStefano's case, he says the incident led to his termination for allegedly starting the fight.

The plaintiffs say the union encouragement the violence against them. They say that at an August 2009 meeting, Joe Macaleer and Mike Luzzi, two vice presidents of the Local, told members that the company was "having a lot of problems right now 'due to a couple of troublemakers,'" and that "We have to learn that we can't call corporate security because we don't want those people getting involved in our business."

The complaint claims that Macaleer said, "I don't want nobody in this room to call corporate security any more." [And] "I don't care if somebody comes to work with a gun saying they're going to shoot people, you don't say anything ... we have a lot of problems here due to the fact there are 'spies 'in the room." [Ellipsis in complaint.]

Macaleer added, "You know who you are," while looking directly at the plaintiffs, according to the complaint.

DiStefano and Taravella sued the CWA Local 1101, seeking damages for reckless indifference, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. [Emphasis added.]

This isn't the first time the CWA local's heavy-handedness has...well...gotten out of hand.

Following the Verizon strike of 2000, then-CWA boss Jim Trainor sent a letter to his members bragging about charges the union had filed against 'scabs' (people who had crossed the union's picket line to work).

Imagine, paying a union that (allegedly) turns a blind eye to fraud, then beats the person who turns them in. 

And union bosses wonder why they keep losing members! [Ha!]
 
Photo credit: Molly Theobald
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com