June 10, 2011: In another blow to Hoffa’s cover-up of corruption in Local 82, the Independent Review Board has rejected the findings of an IBT panel for being too soft on schemers who rigged contract votes and embezzled union funds.

Hoffa was forced to put together an IBT panel after the Independent Review Board charged International Trade Show Director John Perry and his cronies with a series of violations against Teamster members: including rigging votes, embezzling union funds, and funneling work to friends and family.

Now, in a report dated June 7, the IRB has rejected several of the panel’s findings as inadequate. Click here to read the IRB report.

Vote-Rigging & Concessions

John Perry has agreed to a lifetime ban from our union for his crimes against Local 82 members. But the IRB ruled that Hoffa’s hearing panel failed to adequately deal with violations committed by other Teamsters who helped Perry push through concessions by rigging a contract vote.

Perry hired an off-duty cop and used Teamster “Sergeant at Arms” to block members who opposed concessions from voting on the contract at Greyhound Exposition Services, a major trade show employer.

The IRB reports that 62 percent of the members who were permitted to vote on the concessions were ineligible to vote on the contract. The concessions which were approved through this rigged vote spread to other contracts, stripping members of important seniority rights across the local.

Hoffa’s panel did not hold any of the local officers or members responsible for their role in the rigged-vote-concessions scheme. The IRB has rejected the panel’s decision and remanded it back to Hoffa for further action.

Embezzlement by Bobby Perry

The IRB also rejected the IBT panel’s findings for failing to deal adequately with John Perry’s brother, Bobby Perry, who was caught embezzling thousands of dollars in fraudulent dues reimbursements by double-dipping (getting reimbursement twice for the same expense).

Bobby Perry claimed he thought he was entitled to the reimbursements, even though he received more pay in dues reimbursements than he paid in dues! The IRB, on the other hand, found an “intent to embezzle” noting that “on at least ten separate occasions Perry received two reimbursement checks on the same day totaling more than the reimbursement he was owed.”

The Hoffa panel’s idea of justice was to instruct Bobby Perry to repay the stolen money, with no other penalty. (Imagine if this was the penalty for bank robbery!) The IRB rejected this slap on the wrist and sent the issue back to Hoffa for a real penalty.

Local 82 Members vs. Hoffa

For years, Local 82 members courageously took on Perry who rigged contract votes, colluded with nonunion employers, and put a violent convicted criminal in charge of doling out Teamster trade shows jobs to friends and relatives and other supporters of the Perry regime. (See Boston Teamsters Bounce Hoffa Crook).

Hoffa repeatedly turned a blind eye to the charges against his top appointee in New England.

When the IRB forced his hand, Hoffa still couldn’t summon the will to do Local 82 members justice. He convened a panel that continued to give embezzlers and contract vote givers a pass.

Local 82 is currently under International Union trusteeship. Local 82 members deserve the right to democratically run the affairs of their own local, not to live under a Hoffa dictatorship or have their local merged out of existence, as some in the Hoffa administration would like to see happen.

Local 82 members have taken action and cleaned up their local. The future of Local 82 belongs to its membership.