October 30, 2010: A trusteeship in Boston Local 82 was supposed to clean up corruption in the local run by a top Hoffa appointee. But the massacre of members’ rights continues.
Boston Local 82 was placed in emergency trusteeship by General President Hoffa on Sept. 27 after courageous action by Local 82 members and a lengthy investigation by the Independent Review Board exposed widespread corruption, violence and sweetheart deals in the local.
The IRB has now issued charges to be filed against Local 82 officers John Perry and Patrick Geary and four other Local 82 members including strongman Joseph “Jo Jo” Burhoe. Taylor refused to make these charges available to Local 82 members, saying it’s none of their business. TDU is making information available to all concerned Teamsters. Click here to read the IRB's proposed charges.
Hoffa named Dennis Taylor, of Local 355, to be the emergency trustee of Local 82. But so far, Taylor seems more intent on a cover up than a cleanup.
Consider these facts:
Taylor has repeatedly denounced the IRB report that exposed the dirty dealings in Local 82, saying that 50 pages of it are debatable and the other 100 pages are “garbage.” The IRB’s detailed report on the widespread violations in Local 82 is the basis of the trusteeship. If Taylor publicly say it’s garbage, how can anyone believe he will to take action to correct these violations?
Taylor has allowed Joseph “Jo Jo” Burhoe to continue to coordinate hiring on trade show jobs, including a Comic Book expo in early October. Burhoe is a convicted armed robber, FBI informant and thug who provided ousted Local 82 chief John Perry with muscle and brutally beat Local 82 member Eddie Flaherty a rank-and-file critic of Perry’s.
Burhoe is identified in the original IRB report as being barred by federal law from acting as a union agent. The IRB has recommended to Hoffa that charges be filed against Perry and Burhoe for this violation. (See Pages 6-7, 19-31 of IRB recommendations). Instead, Hoffa’s “clean up man” Taylor has continued to allow to illegally act as a union agent.
The IRB investigation also details how Perry appointed his brother to act as chief speculating shop steward and doled out trade show jobs based on cronyism, not seniority. Members report that Taylor has continued to allow Bobby Perry to perform this same job function with no improvement in the enforcement of members’ seniority rights.
Local 82 members also report that Taylor is refusing to handle grievances and has stated that spares (casuals) will not be allowed to vote on contracts or in shop steward elections. The rigging of contract votes by denying spares their right to vote is one of the violations detailed in the original IRB report.
In fact, the IRB recommends that charges be filed against Local 82 officers John Perry and Patrick Geary as well as members Thomas Flaherty, James Young and James Deamicis because they “violated the Local’s Bylaws and injured members by creating and arbitrarily enforcing unauthorized rules concerning members’ voting eligibility on proposed collective bargaining agreements in 2009.” (See Pages 42-61 of IRB recommendations). Taylor’s solution to this violation is to strip members of their voting rights altogether!
The implications are clear. Hoffa protected John Perry, a top ally and the International Union’s Trade Show Director, until the IRB forced his hand by issuing its report. Instead of taking action to clean up the local and protect the members, Hoffa has named a Baltimore-based lieutenant to continue to roll over members’ rights.
Taylor, like Perry, is in for a surprise. Boston is a tough town and no one is tougher than the brave Local 82 members who have continually stood up against corruption and intimidation. Sticking together, Local 82 members can and will clean up their local and put it to work for the members.
For more TDU coverage on Boston Local 82, see:
Hoffa Appointee’s Boston Goon Squad