May 9, 2007: Justice was slow but Hoffa and his slate have finally been forced to pay over $100,000 that they failed to pay employers during the 2006 election campaign. On March 28 the Election Supervisor ordered the Hoffa campaign to pay in full, with interest (2007 ESD 407).

Hoffa had tried to convert the debt to employer contributions, but TDU attorney Barbara Harvey successfully argued that it would be illegal.

Hoffa’s attorney (and son), David Hoffa, first tried to deceive the Election Supervisor by claiming that Hoffa’s running mates had all contributed the maximum allowed. The Election Supervisor proved that most of these rich officials had actually contributed zero or close to it, after they pressured local officials to pony up plenty.

After the March 2007 General Executive Board meeting, Hoffa’s running mates were told they would have to pay up. The meeting turned into a shouting match, because some International officials had been lied to about who donated what. Then they saw the truth, as calculated by the Election Supervisor. Read more: www.tdu.org/hoffamustpay.

May 9, 2007: International Vice President Frank Gillen was charged on April 26 by the Independent Review Board (IRB) with giving false testimony under oath. He faces a hearing and could be expelled from the Teamsters Union, if the charge is sustained. Gillen is charged with lying to cover up his association with Thomas Ryan, who was banned from the Teamsters for embezzling union funds.

Gillen heads Local 500, Philadelphia Joint Council 53, the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters, and is an International Vice President for the Eastern Region, part of the Hoffa slate. These four salaries pay him $231,796 per year in salaries, plus many thousands in allowances.

Billy Hogan, the former president of Chicago Joint Council 25 and formerly Hoffa’s running mate, faces a hearing in federal court in New York on May 21. Hogan was expelled in 2002 from the Teamsters Union for colluding with a non-union employer that his family owned to sign a sweetheart deal undercutting Teamsters in Las Vegas.

Hogan now faces a charge of criminal contempt. He is charged with repeatedly violating his prohibition on involvement in the Teamsters Union.

Now Gillen, who leads state and regional Teamsters organizations as well as Local 500 in Philadelphia, faces allegations by a federal investigatory board that may cause him to lose all his leadership jobs and his union membership.

Read the full article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

May 2, 2007: It’s been a bad week for top associates of James Hoffa: Billy Hogan, Hoffa’s one-time running mate, has been charged with criminal contempt. And Frank Gillen, recently elected IBT Vice President on the Hoffa ticket, was charged by the Independent Review Board (IRB) with lying under oath about his associations with a banned Teamster official.

Frank Gillen and James Hoffa, Jr.Hogan has been charged with criminal contempt for violating his permanent ban from the Teamsters. He has been ordered to appear before U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska on May 21.

In 2002, Hogan was permanently barred from the Teamsters in 2002 for colluding with a nonunion employer to enter into a sweetheart contract that undercut trade show Teamsters in Las Vegas.

Despite his ban, Hogan has “continued to knowingly associate with various Union members and officers on at least 150 occasions” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Hogan, the former head of Chicago Joint Council 25, was nominated to run for General Secretary Treasurer during Hoffa’s first bid for General President. He was removed from the slate after an embarrassing corruption scandal led to the trusteeship of his home local.

While Hogan answers to a federal judge, Frank Gillen is facing charges from the IRB for lying about his associations with Tommy Ryan, the banned former head Local 107, who was tossed out our union for embezzlement of union funds.

In addition to serving as Eastern Region Vice President, Gillen is the president of Philadelphia Joint Council 53.

April 27, 2007: If you're having trouble finding your local officers this week, here's where they might be: Hoffa's Unity Conference, Inaugural Celebration, Golf Tournament, and Poker Tournament, all happening this week in Las Vegas.

The whole gala is paid for by your dues.

The Unity Conference starts on Sunday, April 29, and runs through Thursday, May 3. According to the IBT website, from Tuesday through Thursday meetings are only scheduled from 9:00 am to 11:00 am each day, apparently so that officers can participate in the poker and golf tournaments.

For a $1,300 fee (which is paid from dues money), officers can enter the James R. Hoffa Memorial Golf Tournament, held at the same time as the Unity Conference.

Officers who don't like to golf can enter the All In for Education Texas Hold 'Em Tournament. The entrance fee for the card game is also $1,300.

We know many local officers who go to attend some of the meetings held there. But the partying—while our union is fighting corporate extravagance—is out of place.

April 20: Justice was slow but Hoffa and his slate have finally been forced to pay over $100,000 that they failed to pay employers during the 2006 election campaign. The Election Supervisor on March 28 ordered the Hoffa campaign to pay in full, with interest (ESD 2007 407).

Hoffa had tried to convert the debt to employer contributions, but TDU attorney Barbara Harvey successfully argued that it would be illegal.

Hoffa’s attorney (and son), David Hoffa, first tried to deceive the Election Supervisor by claiming that Hoffa’s running mates had all contributed the maximum allowed. The Election Supervisor proved that most of these rich officials had actually contributed zero or close to it, after they pressured local officials to pony up plenty.

Click here for the Election Supervisor’s chart detailing how much each contributed.

March 14, 2007: Hoffa running mate Carroll Haynes will step down as president of Local 237 on March 31. But although Haynes is losing one multiple salary, he won’t need any collections from working Teamsters just yet.

Haynes is staying on as IBT Vice President and Public Employee Division Director, positions that bagged him $111,432 in total compensation last year. Because he is 73, Haynes is also collecting multiple pensions while he works and sweetening the pot by collecting Social Security to boot.

This is on top of a more than million dollar lump sum payment that Haynes likely cashed out from the Teamster “Family Plan”—a special IBT officers’ only pension.

On top of his multiple union salaries and pensions, Haynes has collected a no-show salary as a manager for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) at approximately $65,000 a year. If Haynes’ resignation from Local 237 means he will give up his NYCHA salary too (and that is not clear), his annual income could fall to under $300,000 a year.

Still, that’s not too bad for part-time work. Haynes informed The Chief newspaper that he’ll be working in Washington “one or two days a month” and also “working from home.”

“I’m not stopping cold-turkey,” Haynes said.

We should hope not.

Haynes told The Chief , “It's nice to go out on top, not by being forced out.” There’s a reason this is on Haynes’s mind. A reform slate led by Eunice Rodriguez almost toppled Haynes in the 2004 local election, which he won by just 470 votes out of 10,000 cast.

The local executive board will officially vote to appoint Gregory Floyd as the new Local 237 president at the end of the month.

February 27, 2007: In January Eastern Freight Director Dan Virtue was removed from his position by Teamster President Hoffa. Virtue immediately filed a protest with the Election Supervisor, charging retaliation because he ran as an independent candidate for Eastern Vice President.

Ironically, Virtue’s last work for the Freight Division was to help prevent Yellow from misusing a Premium Service Change of Operations.

The Hoffa administration is apparently claiming that they just want to save money by not paying his $45,000 IBT salary. We’re all for saving union funds, but this administration pays hundreds of multiple salaries and pensions, holds meetings at expensive resorts, and has let International reps run up astronomical restaurant bills.

Virtue made a point at the IBT Convention last June of stating that he was not affiliated with Teamsters for a Democratic Union. It seems that offers no protection from the Hoffa’s administration’s narrow-minded need to have only loyal followers on the union staff.

Does that policy help build a stronger Teamsters Union, or a cadre of flunkies?

February 27, 2007: James Hoffa’s reelection campaign was the subject of a hearing before Election Appeals Master Kenneth Conboy on Feb. 21, after failing to pay $110,000 to consultants hired by the campaign last fall. They claim they are broke, though millionaires on their slate contributed as little as $5, $60, and even zero.

The Hoffa Slate twisted the arms of International reps, IBT organizers and staff, and local union officials to collectively kick in over $3 million—often in chunks of $2,000, the maximum allowed under the rules. But most slate members contributed little themselves. Now they want permission to write off the campaign debt.

Barbara Harvey, attorney for Teamsters for a Democratic Union, has argued before the Election Supervisor and Appeals Master that it is illegal for Hoffa to accept contributions from employers and non-Teamster consultants like Richard Leebove and that the Hoffa campaign must pay its debt.

Leebove was banned from the 1998 IBT campaign for an illegal $167,000 employer contribution, and suspended from the 2001 campaign for hinting to IBT vendors they better donate to Hoffa to keep the business flowing.

Millionaires Can’t Afford a Dime?
Hoffa’s attorney, David Hoffa (son of James Hoffa), claims they just cannot afford to pay up, they are all tapped out. However, a review of the campaign documents shows that many of the millionaires on Hoffa’s slate hardly contributed a thing to their campaign, while demanding thousands from their staff!

John Coli, who bagged $362,000 from members’ dues in 2005, contributed $0 to the campaign. So did Carroll Haynes, another millionaire. Fred Gegare (total compensation $262,000) was able to muster just $5 for the campaign. John Murphy topped that with a total of $20, and Tom Keegel donated a grand total of $60.

Some slate members, like Jim Santangelo ($283,000 total compensation in 2005) reached $1,020 in contributions. James Hoffa contributed just $3,500, and 20(!) members of his slate contributed less than that. The maximum allowed from candidates was $10,000, and all these folks can afford that without denting their accounts.

So, millionaires who contributed $5 want to take employer contributions for their campaign, after extorting $2,000 donations from local officials across the country. Is that do-what-I-say-and-not-what-I-do or what?

All these figures come from official Campaign Contribution and Expense Reports, signed under penalty of perjury, by the candidates themselves.

The complete list of the 29 Hoffa slate candidates and their total donations to their campaign is available online at www.tdu.org or contact Teamsters for a Democratic Union for a copy.

February 27, 2007: Tom Bennett, the new president of Local 200, was caught by the Election Supervisor illegally using the union membership list in his campaign for local union office against reform leaders Tim Buban and Darryl Connell. In addition, the Election Supervisor ruled that Bennett lied to investigators in an attempt to cover it up. Bennett was fined $500 and on Jan. 26 the Election Supervisor referred the matter to the Independent Review Board (IRB) for further investigation and action.

Bennett obtained the membership list via the Hoffa Campaign last fall. That election has been protested to the U.S. Department of Labor, in part because of Bennett’s actions.