International Vice President Rome Aloise has again obtained a postponement of his trial on devastating corruption charges. The postponement is due to the fact that the Independent Review Officer (IRO), who serves as the judge, retired and now the vacancy must be filled.

Aloise thus stays in office collecting huge salaries a little longer.  

The charges leveled by the Independent Review Board (IRB) include racketeering, requesting valuable gifts from employers during negotiations, accepting employer gifts to pass along to Hoffa’s assistant, trying to leverage jobs for his relatives from UPS and Costco management, negotiating a sham labor contract, and using union resources to punish political opponents and prevent a fair Teamster election.

Aloise is Hoffa’s main man in the west, and the IBT has spared no expense in trying to delay the inevitable. 

But the investigation continues and the charges are mounting. Willie Smith, Hoffa’s Executive Assistant, was charged on November 17 for his part in the Aloise deal to help give Southern Wine & Spirits a sweet contract deal and then obtain six tickets for Willie Smith to the Playboy Party at the Super Bowl. 

IBT Secretary Treasurer Ken Hall was charged on October 31 of obstructing the investigation.

And that is the problem in a nutshell: corrupt officials are not seen as traitors to our great union; instead the union spends millions of dues dollars covering up and obstructing the investigation.

Aloise is like a cat with nine lives, stalling the inevitable. But it looks like a lot of cats are getting caught for corrupting our union. 

The trial is postponed, but it will eventually happen, and a verdict will follow, which could be expulsion from the Teamsters Union.

Aloise has been telling anyone who would listen to him that he has the outcome all wired. But in July TDU revealed a letter from Aloise trying to head off this hearing, by admitting he is also under criminal investigation by the US Justice Department.