Confronting Corruption in Labor Unions:

[pnorman]

Rank and file insurgency? Government intervention? Internal reform? Assessing a half-century of effort.

Union activists at all levels and government agencies have worked for decades to drive out the mob and rid unions of corruption. Where are we? What have been the results, the successes and failures over the last 50 years? The Association for Union Democracy will address these questions at an all-day conference in New York City on Saturday, October 14, 2006.

For the first time, rank-and-file reformers, union officers, workers rights attorneys, court-appointed trustees, labor journalists, and former law-enforcement authorities will be called together to share experiences and examine the issues. The speakers, who have all been concerned with union reform, include:

* James Jacobs: NYU law professor and author of Mobsters, Unions, and Feds, The Mafia and the American Labor Movement, which assesses federal efforts under the RICO statute to oust organized crime from unions.
* Herman Benson: Editor of Union Democracy Review and author of Rebels, Reformers, and Racketeers, How Insurgents Transformed the Labor Movement, a history of rank and file efforts.
* Edwin Stier: Court-appointed trustee for Teamsters Local 560 and sponsor of RISE, an internal union program to root out corruption in the Teamsters union.
* Edward Sadlowski: Former Steelworker District Director. Served as trustee over Chicago Laborers locals once in the hands of organized crime.
* Barbara Harvey: Attorney representing Teamsters for a Democratic Union in elections under government supervision.
* Susan Jennik: Former AUD Executive Director, attorney, assigned by Ron Carey to help reform Teamster Local 966.
* Mike Sullivan: Former reform leader in Roofers Local 30, once under a disastrous federal trusteeship.
* Robert Fitch: Author of Solidarity for Sale, How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America's Promise, which argues that the labor movement today is hopelessly riddled with corruption.
* Carl Biers: Former AUD Executive Director, currently working for the administrator appointed by the court to oust the mob and institute democratic practices in International Longshoremen's Association Local 1588.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Center for Urban Research, Graduate Center, CUNY, and by WBAI's "Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report."

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, 5th Avenue (at 34th Street), 9th Floor (Google Map)
Time: 10:30 a.m.-- 5:30 p.m.
Registration: $15 donation. Space is limited. Pre-registration is strongly urged to ensure a seat. Registration on the day of the conference begins at 10 a.m.

http://uniondemocracy.org/Education/audevents.htm

"Unionism is the only effective means of curbing arbitrary employers and Union Democracy is the only effective means of controlling arbitrary union officials"
By Herman Benson, founder of Association for Union Democracy <http://www.uniondemocracy.org>

[Omaha Steve]

1. Since the current administration is corrupt, unions are entitled too

Ok, maybe not. I don't believe my international union has any problems. I know my local doesn't. But there was a treasurer of the state AFL-CIO that got away with funds recently. A former neighbor made off with strike funds say 20 years ago. It happens.