Labor union racketeering strikes again

Union bosses are at it again, with their latest labor rackets including false entries, embezzlement, and conspiracy, according to the Center for Union Facts and the Enterprise Freedom Action Committee.

Every paycheck, a portion of union members’ hard-earned money is automatically deducted to cover union dues. They don’t have a say in how the money is spent, they are just left to trust their union leaders to use the dues money to represent them and their interests.

The Office of Labor-Management Standards reports annual criminal enforcement actions, and they continue to be littered with numerous cases of labor union leaders violating the trust of the members they claim to represent through illegal activity. It is a persistent problem that unions refuse to address.

Below are the some of the latest examples.

Embezzling union funds

Union leaders and former union employees pleaded guilty to embezzlement and conspiracy to embezzle union funds throughout 2022. In Michigan, a former financial secretary of United Auto Workers Local 412 pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling $2,224,455 in union funds and one count of money laundering. In Washington, D.C., an associate of a former employee of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Union was charged with one count of conspiracy to embezzle over $205,000 from the union. Another association of a former AFGE employee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle nearly $45,000 from the union. Also in D.C., a former property services division operations manager for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) pleaded guilty to embezzling $503,600 from the union.

Wire fraud

In Massachusetts, a former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1900 pleaded guilty to 26 counts of wire fraud, one count of false statements, and three counts of filing false tax returns. A former president of the the National Treasury Employees Union in California was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud and a former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2805 in California was charged with five counts of wire fraud.

Cash bribes

In New York, a former vice president of Carpenters Local 157 was ordered to pay $148,213 in restitution as well as $149,735 in forfeiture. He along with another former president of Carpenters Local 926 in New York were indicted as co-conspirators on multiple charges for a scheme to sell union “books” or membership cards in exchange for cash bribes. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy, conversion of union assets, honest services wire fraud, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, false statements, and distribution of oxycodone. His co-conspirator was found guilty of conspiracy, conversion of union assets, and honest services wire fraud.