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Operator Talk
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Operator Talk
How many more former IUOE VP's will it take to get Ethics guru Zazalli or Vince Giblin off their ass and help this membership achieve transparency and Democracy?
RETIRED HEAD OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 150 and former IUOE VP and General Executive Board Member CHARGED WITH ILLEGALLY OBTAINING FEEDER FOR HIS MARYLAND BUFFALO FARM.
A thief is a thief is a thief.
For over 3 long years thousands of Local 150 members have waited for what everyone thought was the obvious. Dugan would go to jail. Should go to jail. He abused his position and authority. For years he took thousands and thousands of dollars from staff members for a cash fund that on one saw and spent but him. He claims it was voluntary, but when you missed a payment his secretary was on the phone pronto wanting you to make sure you came to countryside and pay your $100 to da boss. And where did all those crown vics end up that were supposedly traded in. How did that track loader get to Maryland? And what was it doing there for months with plenty of hours on the hour meter when it got back to Illinois. How many projects came out of the shop from the training site and ended up in Maryland? And what about all the corn that for years was taken to his buffalo farm in maryland with training site personnel and equipment, oh yea he said he paid it back, maybe he did, but only after years and years of doing it. He only paid because he got caught. Well what about the smoke eaters that went from countryside to his tavern in Hancock Maryland, I suppose he bought those, even though they rightfully belong to the membership. The fact of the matter is he used his power and authority to do what he damn well pleased with the assets of Local 150, the tragedy is he only was charged with demanding and getting a god damn buffalo feeder from a contractor. The funniest part of this horror story is that the dumb ass BA's will end up paying his lawyers fees and his fines from the Dugan defense fund they are forced to pay, while he laughs all the way back to Hancock Maryland. What a tragedy, indeed. This is the guy that fat hog IUOE member and Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon said was the greatest labor leader in Chicago, well I hate to tell you Dennis, a great labor leader gives all to the membership, and takes nothing, but then how could you possibly know. Now Mr. Zazalli when the hell are really going to start protecting the members of this IUOE? Who the hells side are you on?
Ethics? What Ethics?
In a Democratic union be it local or International you would think that all locals and members would be treated equal. You would think. Apparently and not surprisingly President Giblin cares neither for union democracy or equality. On September 18th, 2009 king Giblin issued a letter to the members of Local 501 ordering an investigation of that Local for many issues. One good thing is that maybe just maybe he is trying to nip corruption in the bud, but more likely this is an axe to grind issue. This is for sure a issue of hypocritical dictatorship. In November of 2006 the entire executive board of Local 150 except for one sent a letter to Vince Giblin pleading for an investigation into the shenanigans of the then President Bill Dugan. Many of the charges were exactly the same as that contained in the letter from Giblin to local 501. The difference is that the letter he sent back to the members of local 150 was very indifferent and a slap in the face because the person being asked to investigate was then current 2nd VP of the IUOE. The person under investigation in the local 501 case happens to be on the outs with the Giblin regime and seems to be fair game for the DC thugs. But the bigger question the membership should be asking is why he hell isn't he sending investigation letters to IUOE Local 68. Oh that's right its his old local and the one that his son and brother control. The local his son was arrested at and charged with embezzlement and bribery. Where is the letter to that local? Has Dennis been removed from office? Is his brother under investigation? Where is our ethics officer? Where the hell is the justice in the IUOE?
More on labor’s lasting quest for ethical practices: from the Operating Engineers (reprinted with permission) James
R. Zazzali, a former New Jersey State judge with many other impressive
credentials, has been selected by Andy Stern to preside over a mixed committee
of eminent citizens and SEIU officials charged with the task of developing a
code of ethics cogent enough to discourage SEIU representatives from
misappropriating union money. The question is whether it is fair to burden him
with so heavy a responsibility, one that could require intense concentration and
a heavy investment of time. The problem is that Judge Zazzali is already
occupied with his job as a staff member of the International Union of Operating
Engineers. Earlier this year, he was hired, or retained, as the IUOE Ethics
Officer to enforce its newly strengthened Code of Ethics, which he had drafted.
Fulfilling just that responsibility alone could put anyone under an intolerable
strain because there is so much to do. SUBSCRIBE to Union Democracy Review!
IUOE Local 324 member expresses his plight!
Would like to stay just a concern member Just would like to comment about John Hamilton 324 business manager. 324 is not suppose to be a hiring hall and we as members can seek work on are own but it seems that when you go looking specially at the big jobs your told that they have to hire from the hall. Seems like there are a lot of agreements out there that have names like the Presidential agreement but try to get a copy and no one from the hall can give you one or knows where to get a copy. These agreements have a favoring to the in crowd from the looks of things. Mr. Hamilton says he wants to protect 324 members’ jobs but in the Aug/Sept newsletter there a group photo of a member from 181, while on the referral list (not a hiring hall list which they say we are not) there are men and women from 324 sitting home. Calling different locals thru-out the states it just as bad out there but we need to protect the Michigan 324 member first. Than there is the thing of down sizing when he first took the job started to streamline now we have more on the payroll than when Mr. Hamilton took the position. That is just my opinion which my wife says you should say something at the meetings but if you go to the mic at a meeting you might as well forget getting anything for sure.
What is wrong with my Local? My IUOE? The answer is here!
NO TEETH TO BITE, NO
PROTECTION OF RIGHT! A
report by
(read this
important document now, and see why democracy is dead in the IUOE)
Association For Union Democracy exposes corruption and inaction in the IUOE Friday August 29, 2008 This Article is from the Association for Union Democracy, “Union Democracy Review” #174, July/August 2008 (reproduced with permission) Action and inaction in the Operating Engineers Think of a town that's plagued by deaths, arson, and robberies, and yet the mayor and police don't seem to have the time or inclination to do anything about it because they are preoccupied by a campaign to stop residents from cluttering up the streets by passing out unauthorized handbills. That act of imagination could prepare you for these events in the International Union of Operating Engineers:
Local 150: Take the 22,000-member Local 150, which represents operators of heavy construction equipment in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. In August last year, William Dugan, the incumbent president-business manager, was opposed by a rival slate. The insurgents set up their own campaign website. The international office, moving against what it perceived as this acute threat to the union's well-being, announced a new policy that made the website unauthorized. From now on, candidates could establish a website only if they restricted access to members and barred all others with a secret password system. The grave danger, the international union attorney explained, was that information about the union might leak out to employers. And so the international acted swiftly and decisively to protect the union against a possibility, hypothetical and remote. Soon after, Local 150 was overwhelmed by an avalanche of a different kind of harmful information. But this time the international lacked the time or inclination to act. Dugan headed the local for some 20 years and in that August election, he won by 8,202 to 5,329; but he never served out the term. In June this year, motivated, he said, by his wife's ill health, he retired. Actually, he resigned during federal investigations into charges of criminal misuse of union resources and of improper practices during the August 2007 election. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that, on May 30, 2008, federal agents had raided Dugan properties in Maryland in the course of an investigation. Federal action was prompted, in part, by a private suit in January 2007 against Dugan by six members of Local 150; four are former business agents; all supported Joe Ward, the local treasurer who ran against Dugan in August 2007. They charged that for fifteen years, Dugan had forced some 125 local employees to kickback $100 a month into what he called a "Christmas Fund" which he personally controlled without accountability to anyone. Since he had the right to hire and fire, they felt compelled to comply. The six charged also that Dugan used local resources and staff for his farm in Maryland and a tavern he owned. Dugan denied the charges, insisting that the fund was voluntary, that the money was expended in the members' interests, and that he had reimbursed the local for expenditures on his own behalf. His supporters have filed a kind of countersuit against Joe Ward, accusing him of self-dealing in a 12 year old union land transaction, which Ward denies and rejects as politically contrived. (Meanwhile, a complaint by the Ward slate against the August 2007 election is pending before the U.S. Labor Department. The charges are familiar and, as always, must meet the burden of proof: that stewards had collected and voted mail ballots, that ballot secrecy was compromised, union resources used on behalf of incumbents, hiring hall referrals manipulated in exchange for votes.) On July 24, came a new blockbuster, a federal private suit filed under the RICO statute by Peter and Daniel Pena, both Local 150 members. They charge that a contractor had paid $25,000 in bribes to officials of Local 150 to allow the company to underpay the Penas and to cheat union insurance funds. According to the complaint, a union auditing firm reported that the firm had underpaid the Penas by $110,546 in past wages and owed the pension and welfare funds $52,740; but, after taking the bribes, the union reps allowed the company to reduce payments to the Penas to $27,637 and the fund payments to $8,865. At one deposition, Steve Cisco, the local recording secretary, took the Fifth Amendment in answer to questions about those bribes. And so the Local 150 story is depressing and devious. Who took or stole what or anything and from whom if anyone? These are surely important questions. What is at least as important is this fact: an international union leadership which is alert to limit the simple rights of its members on the internet, is asleep at the switch in the face of basic challenges to union integrity. If you are charged with stealing money, no need to worry about international intervention. But if you clutter up the internet with a website, watch out!
Local 793 in Toronto, Ontario: When Monti Rose decided to run for local president against the incumbent in early 2008, he hired Don Styles, an apprentice engineer, to set up his campaign website. Rose had been a local member for 18 years, worked on heavy construction equipment, and served the union as an organizer and in other positions. Like other young workers, Styles is computer and internet savvy. To his surprise, Styles was directed by the local business manager to shut down the site. Neither Styles nor Rose had ever heard about the international's new requirement for a membership password. Styles replied that as Rose's employed agent he was not authorized to close the site. Nevertheless, Rose acted promptly to comply with the spirit of the ruling without losing the use of his site during the campaign. The site was modified with a clear notice that only members were authorized to click on it for information. It was not good enough. The incumbent local president filed disciplinary charges against both Rose and Styles. Trial is set to begin in mid-September.
Local 825 in New Jersey: In March, the business manager and former president were indicted on federal charge of taking bribes of more than $110,00 to permit contractors to use non-union labor and enjoy "labor peace." Last year, state prosecutors charged that a Gambino family member was manipulating local finances and took a $20,000 bribe from a contractor who wanted to avoid hiring local members. However, no danger threatened from any rank and file website. There was no public expression of interest from the international.
Locals 14 and 15
in New York: The two locals, which share a hiring hall, were accused in federal
court of domination by organized crime back in November 2004. Tom Robbins wrote
in the Village Voice, “So far, 39 individuals, including Thomas Maguire, former
head of Local 15 and Joseph Rizzuto, Sr., who was leader of Local 14, have pled
guilty. Rizzuto ...describing routine payoffs between major construction firms
and mob-tied officials." A month later, five top executives of construction
companies were indicted on charges of bribing union officials. This summer the
scandal that has been New York construction in general and heavy construction in
particular erupted in all its shame when two heavy cranes collapsed in crowded
Manhattan killing workers and bystanders and crushing neighborhood residential
apartments. A hurried investigation followed revealing a pattern of corruption
in inspection, violation of safety standards, and fraud in the issuance of
licenses. These events prodded federal law authorities into action. Under
pressure of these events Local 14, the union of crane operators, consented to
government oversight.
Two monitors appointed by Federal Judge Sterling Johnson
will police the union for at least five years to get rid of organized crime. In
all this time, nothing heard from the international. No problem; the threat came
only from racketeers, not from a dangerous rank-and-file internet. Herman Benson
/ AUD
Brothers and Sisters don't we deserve a better IUOE?
Buffalo Chips fly as Federal Agents Raid the Maryland Empire of IUOE 2nd Vice President William E. Dugan
Friday, May 30, 2008
Well the chickens are finally coming home to roost at the buffalo ranch of William E Dugan. Federal officers armed and with search warrants swarmed over Hancock Maryland searching for clues in the ongoing federal criminal investigation. The Chicago Sun Times reported today that Dugan owns a combination hunting/fishing shop and tavern in downtown Hancock -- a town of about 1,700 that's 100 miles northwest of Baltimore near the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line. His buffalo ranch is on the outskirts of town. Dugan continually sued his election opponent Joe Ward and accused him of wrongdoing with the members money only to find himself the only one under federal criminal investigation. To add to the IUOE 2nd Vice Presidents woes 2 separate lawsuits were filed in federal court on Wednesday May 28th, 2008. One against Local 150 and another against the Local 150 apprenticeship program accusing Local 150 and Chief Counsel Dale Pierson of refusing to hand over documents relevant to an ongoing USDOL investigation into election fraud by Dugan and the United Engineers Party. These documents were subpoenaed by the USDOL in March of this year and were continually refused by Local 150. What comes around goes around.
Giblin request meeting over IUOE Local 825 International Supervision.
May 20, 2008
Letters went out to the members of IUOE Local 825 on May 7th to alert them of a hearing to be held by the IUOE over the scandal plagued union. The hearing is to be held on a Thursday at 9AM, wow talk about member inconsideration. I'm pretty sure most members work during those hours, except of course for Kenneth Campbell's ghost patrollers. I believe this is the usual procedure Giblin uses to cover his ass when trouble erupts and he needs to protect control over any given local. He claims the Local executive Bd. pleaded for his intervention. When all the top cats are arrested or indicted does he expect the membership to believe that the remaining executive board is squeaky clean? IUOE watch have received many letters from good hard working members of 825 asking for help and guidance. The unfortunate thing is that they have to be told that the IUOE constitution and their bylaws protect the top of the IUOE food chain not the bottom. The rules are written for absolute control not Democratic unionism. For all you good and hard working members of 825 keep the faith and give em hell. (click here to read Giblins letter)
IUOE Local 324 Pension Fund on shaky ground? from mq April 14, 2008
The USDOL is suing Fifth Third Bank on behalf of the members of IUOE Local 324 to recoup approximately 25 million dollars in a bad investment on the 1001 Woodward building in downtown Detroit. Members should be asking where were our pension fund trustees? Why was this travesty allowed this to happen and no one said anything until the D.O.L. stepped in years later. Where is the transparency, the honesty, the truth? There is also another case with AA Capital that screwed the fund for millions. Were the heck were our trustees? While President John Hamilton says in his Business Managers Report, all is well with 1001 Woodward. Members need to be asking who is AA Capital Partners, Inc. and who are they related to in the local union or international? Then ask who is managing our funds now? All the while Mr. Hamilton claims all is well, the Pension Plan for local 324 does not look very good from the members standpoint. As one members tells it, the monthly payment was based on 3.3 %of what was paid in. For example if a member paid in 100.oo the member would receive $3.33 per month on retirement at 3.3% Under the new formula the member would only receive 1.5% credit for money paid in to the fund, IE. 100.00 paid in = 1.50 per month. As you can see members now have to work twice as long to get the same benefit we used to have. Its a shame that its always the member who suffers when the ones on top screw up. You would think that President Hamilton would donate his $60,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield board of directors salary to help the retirees with their $810. per month self payment for health Insurance. I thought when we elected our union leaders they were here to run our local and our union business full time, not get paid thousands upon their already hundreds of thousand in salary from the local (LM2 324-2007) and the International (LM2 IUOE 2007). Hamilton received $78,556 from the IUOE as VP and Executive Board Member, $198,578 from local 324 and another $60,000 from Blue Cross Blue Shield (oh by the way can you name another IUOE officer that was on the Blue Cross pay role while drawing a full salary from the members?), that's a total of $337,134 not bad. You see even while the members continue to struggle they never do and unfortunately our IUOE leaders never seem to go down with the ship, just the members. Check out the links below to see what's really going on with 1001 Woodward.
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/07-1958-CHI.html http://www.planadviser.com/article.php/2052 http://cbs2chicago.com/local/investment.firm.pensions.2.698314.html http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071016/METRO/710160369 http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2006/lr19826.htm
Freedom of speech stolen with IUOE members own dues money.
From mq April 11,2008
IUOE General President Vince Giblin and his anointed executive board spent well over $200,000 in members dues money in 2007 to take away union democracy and quietly threaten and coerce union members. Using a high powered Washington DC law firm that touts on it's web site the "we have been characterized as “the voice of labor,” sure as hell doesn't know what an operating engineer life is all about. Isn't it amazing how a small group of letters or numbers can have such a brutally chilling affect on people, a password, a simple password that a person enters, yet never ever knows whose watching chills one to the core. How many members passed on clicking enter instead of choosing to be informed because they were scared? How many members didn't vote in a local election because they had to sign one of the ballot envelopes? They say justice is blind, but I didn't realize it was stupid too. In what I believe to be an insanely dumb and reckless decision the UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of big brother union taking away the rights of members to surf the internet freely and without coercion simply because big brother international union is scared to death of new and emerging technologies that tell the truth at the speed of light, and light up the dark, dank think tanks of the anointed not elected leaders of our international union like never before. In a one page statement the court found in favor of the IUOE in what I believe was a travesty for every union members in this country. The internet is the last free space where a citizen member can criticize, challenge, and possibly even win an election against the forces of evil that exist in every bylaw and constitution in the IUOE international or local. Brother and Sister members the deck is stacked against you unless we start challenging what is going on around us, if we don't we will forever be slaves to the IUOE and they will forever use your dues as their personal piggy bank. This union belongs to the membership, not the dictatorship, yet if you take the time to read the rules, you lose. Let your voice be heard, fight back. One member, one vote!
How much should a IUOE General Executive Board meeting Cost?
From mq April 10,2008
That’s a simple enough question. I think its so simple I dare Vincent Giblin to give the 400,000 members of the IUOE a simple answer. In fact I challenge every one of these Vice Presidents and Executive Board Members, William C. Waggoner, William E. Dugan, Jim McLaughlin, Brian E. Hickey, Gary Kroeker, John M. Hamilton, Allan B. Darr, Kenneth Campbell (indicted), Patrick L. Sink, William K. Duffy, Gerald Ellis, Jerry Kalmar, Philip Schloop, Russell E. Burns, and these trustees Mark Holliday, John T. Ahern, Mike Gallagher, Rodger Kaminski, Kuba Brown to give every member of the IUOE a simple answer on how do you spend $898,303 on a Executive Board meeting? The meeting I am referring to happened in March of 2007 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa one of the most expensive hotels and golf courses in all of the Phoenix area. Hasn't anyone ever heard of conference calls, Teleconferencing? Email? I know for a fact the IUOE has a conference room, and could build a bigger one for that kind of money. Why in the sam hill should the members pay these incompetent nincompoops for this exorbitant lifestyle? Did they tear down all the Red Roof Inns in Phoenix? This is the most incredible waste of members dues resources I have ever seen, all the while these boobs are in Phoenix the scabs work around every corner in DC, the bastion of the International Union is a cesspool of scabs and non-union contractors, maybe that’s why they got out of town.
How much more corruption can the IUOE stand?
From mq April 9,2008
IUOE Local 68 office raided by Federal agents. Local 68 is the local of Tom Giblin and brother of IUOE President Vince Giblin. IUOE 2nd Vice President and President of Local 150 Dugan under investigation by the FBI, Ex Local 3 Business Manager Doser being sued by members to recoup improper payments, 8th IUOE Vice President and Business Manager of Local 825 Kenneth Campbell was indicted along with others, Emeritus Frank Hanley under investigation for suspicion of selling a VP spot, and yesterday 4-8-08 12 union officers and members of IUOE Local 17 were indicted in New York for extortion. How much more can we stand. When the hell is Vince Giblin going to do something about this stink that smells all the way to 1125 17th Street, NW Washington, D.C. The members of this great Union deserve better. We need one man one vote to get rid of the dictatorship that continues to pass the job to the next guy. We need to change the constitution to reflect real union democracy not protectionism. We need for the newly elected delegates to this 37th IUOE convention in Las Vegas to step up and vote these IUOE non leaders out of office now!!!
The IUOE Transparency fantasy
From mq Date 25 Jan 2008
First we are going to have change and transparency at the IUOE, now it looks like all we are going to get is a changed minds. Read this.
Unprecedented greed at the iuoe. From mq Date 17 Jan 2008
Click here to see what the IUOE hogs are feeding on.
New Townhouse in DC, everyone invited? Probably not! From: mq Date 17 Jan 2008
Imagine my surprise when perusing through the latest LM2 2006 from the IUOE. We have a brand new Townhouse located in Washington DC, valued at $1,610,495. I am sure that must mean that the next time a brother or sister is in DC he or she has a place to stay for free? Or will it only be for our elite leadership that already make hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries and cant afford a cheap hotel in DC. Oh well I am sure all the Operators sitting on the out of work list this spring will be happy our overpaid leadership will have a nice place to lay their head. Oh by the way if any of you members saw the news of this new purchase in any of our open and transparent publications please let me know, I could have missed it.
A Good Idea Who's' Time Has Come
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