July 12, 2007: On May 26 former Houston Local 988 President Chuck Crawley was sentenced to 6 ½ years in federal prison for embezzling union funds and stealing a union election.

Crawley was already banned from the Teamsters by the Independent Review Board (IRB), after James Hoffa dragged his feet and slowed down an internal investigation.

Ed Stier, the former anti-corruption director for the IBT, investigated Crawley and found evidence of several money-skimming scams involving union vendors and purchases. Hoffa balked and slowed the investigation. It was one reason that Ed Stier resigned, charging that Hoffa was more interested in protecting his friends than cleaning up the Teamsters Union.

The feds then charged Crawley not only with embezzlement of union funds, but stuffing the ballot box in 2002, when reformer Earl China ran against Crawley. China, a 27 year Teamster, was conveniently fired (upheld by the panel) prior to the election.

“In our business, we have never heard of a man driving 2 million safe miles and having an accident and losing his job,” said China.
Crawley voted 382 extra ballots, using the names of members who he knew were unlikely to vote.

While ballot box stuffing in a union election is not itself a federal crime, Crawley was charged with illegally gaining office and thus embezzling the salary of union president of the 4,000 member local union.

Crawley is not the first Local 988 officer to end his career in prison.  
It’s up to the members of Local 988 to build a strong and democratic local—hoping for a savior to do it has not worked.

July 12, 2007: The members of Chicago Local 743 will get a different kind of election this fall thanks to action taken by the 743 New Leadership Slate in proving ballot fraud in the last election. This time, the U.S. Department of Labor will conduct the nominations and election, instead of the incumbents.

“We voted the corrupt ‘Old Guard’ out, but they stole the election. This time when we vote them out, they will really be gone,” said Local 743 member Gina Alvarez, “We are organizing workers to fight for their rights and now it’s paying off.” Alvarez is a steward at the Central States Pension Funds office.

The Department of Labor charged in federal court that hundreds of ballots were mailed to wrong addresses, including addresses of employers, and those bogus ballots were then voted.

Further, it was charged, and finally admitted by Local 743, that their hired henchmen shredded the evidence to avoid a DOL subpoena.

Evidence Shredded

To prevent the details from coming out in open court in August, Local 743 officials threw in the towel and settled the case.
Nominations are scheduled for September with a mail ballot vote to follow.

“Local 743 officials spent thousands of dollars of our dues money to cover up their criminal actions,” said Richard Berg, a candidate on the New Leadership Slate. “They lost the last election, but took office anyway.

“Since then, they have negotiated dozens of bad contracts. They’ve made deal after deal with employers that serve their own interests and sell out the members. Local 743 members know what’s going on—this is the end for Bob Walston, Reggie Ford, and Richard Lopez’s illegal reign as union officials.”

Click here to read more from the reform movement at local 743

July 12, 2007: By Joe Sexauer, Local 743: After five months without a contract, over 1,000 janitors, clerks, and maintenance Teamsters at the University of Chicago are still fighting hard for better wages and benefits. We’re members of Teamsters Local 743.

Our local leaders haven’t organized a contract campaign, so rank-and-file members decided to organize a campaign on our own.

First, we started by organizing on-site lunch meetings, where union members can come together and talk about getting a better contract.

After our on-site lunch meetings drew over a hundred members, we decided to have a BBQ after work for people with short lunches—and it was a huge success. Many of our members are in the dark, and they want answers.

Now that members are angry, Local 743 leaders are taking notice. They say they are going to start a contract campaign of their own. We say better late than never.  
That’s progress. During our last contract, it took our local leaders twelve months after the contract expired to schedule the first contract meeting—off-site and after work, on the day the ballots went out for local union office. 

Gone in 60 Seconds

A few members who went to the lunch meetings decided to go to the local’s June meeting, and see what was up. 

The meeting lasted 60 seconds—no discussion of grievances, contracts, or anything we care about, the only motion was to cancel the meeting by Business Agent Harold Johnson. Then they voted to cancel meetings for the summer.
One worker went to discuss our expired contract, but the local leaders told her there wasn’t a place for that. “A waste of time and gas,” she said.

Some Good News

743 members are starting to take responsibility for our union on our own—with or without the help of our business agents.

At the UofC, our meetings are drawing fifty people at a time—on campus, during our lunch breaks.

The Department of Labor is conducting an election for officers of Local 743 this fall because the incumbents stole the last election and shredded the records. Change is coming to Local 743.

July 12, 2007: By John Dominikovich Local 726, Chicago: It’s time for change in Chicago Local 726, to make this union strong and proud. I see that change happening this fall in the union election.

I’ve worked for the Cook County Highway Department for 25 years and I’ve been a Local 726 member for 20 years. I’ve seen our driver jobs reduced by 50 percent. Jobs have been farmed out with little fight from our local officials.

Local 726 has given up our paid overtime, twelve sick days per year, four personal days a year and six holidays. We get straight time pay while the supervisors and office personnel get double time on holidays. We have over 20 bosses for the 72 drivers on our board. There is talk of losing more drivers.

We have a contract ratification meeting set for July and we’ve been told there are changes, but we have not been given the new language. We’ve been told just to vote Yes on it. Our health benefit costs are going up and the plan design is supposed to change, but again, we’ve been given no specifics in writing.

All this goes on as we see our local officers and agents getting raises and turning a deaf ear to our wants and needs.

It’s time for a change. And our members are going to make it happen.

July 3, 2007: The International Union and New York Local 237 claim to be investigating HMO "consultant" payments received by International VP Carroll Haynes. This action came in response to a report in the June Convoy Dispatch, following research by TDU.

Haynes, who has routinely made over $300,000 from his multiple salaries and pensions, has been pulling down an extra $54,500 as a "consultant" to Health Insurance Plans (HIP) of New York. HIP provides benefits to Teamster Local 237 members.

Teamster for a Democratic Union (TDU) once previously caught Haynes taking more money than legally allowed from the union treasury; after charges were filed, Hoffa allowed him to merely repay $8,000, claiming it was a "clerical error."

Now Local 237 and the International Union have hired an attorney to investigate Haynes' "consulting."

The New York newspaper The Chief followed up on the Convoy report on Haynes. Read the article below.

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The executive board of Teamsters Local 237 voted last week to launch an investigation into whether then-President Carl Haynes improperly received $54,500 last year as a board member of the union's health plan.

Many municipal unions contract with the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York (HIP) for health care and prescription coverage, and officers of Local 237, the United Federation of Teachers and District Council 37 have long served on its board of directors.

Local 237 officials have hired a lawyer, Bruce Maffeo, who has handled such investigations in the past, to lead the inquiry. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will foot half of the bill.

Former Local 237 Secretary-Treasurer and current President Gregory Floyd said he was not aware of the stipend until a phone call on June 15 brought it to his attention. "We have hired Mr. Maffeo to conduct a fair and impartial inquiry into the matter," said Mr. Floyd. "At this point we don't know if anything has been done improperly."

Mr. Haynes did not return messages left at the IBT's Washington, D.C. office and on his cell phone. He is still a vice president of the International and is on the executive boards of the city's AFL-CIO Central Labor Council and the Municipal Labor Committee.

The former Local 237 president, who retired in April, reported the income to the Federal government on March 30. By law, union officials must report any income that comes from an entity that does business with their union. The law is intended to flag any conflicts of interest or undue influence that could compromise a union's ability to properly serve its members.

Mr. Haynes reported that he received quarterly retainer payments and meeting fees, two for $14,000 and two for $12,500. He received a fifth meeting fee of $1,500. The stipend is in addition to the more-than quarter-million dollars Mr. Haynes earned last year as a Teamster official.

Mr. Maffeo will attempt to discover whether Mr. Haynes's receipt of the HIP board stipend violated any internal Teamster bylaws or the union's constitution. Mr. Haynes served on the board of directors of HIP and on the HIP Foundation board of directors. The stipend came from the foundation board.

HIP did not respond to repeated requests for its policy of payments to board members.

Mr. Floyd, who also serves on the HIP New York board, said he did not receive a stipend and would not accept one.

Oliver Gray, the associate director of DC 37 who serves on HIP's board, said he does not receive a stipend.

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also said that she did not receive a stipend for the time that she served. The current UFT representative, Ronald Jones, is retired and could not be reached to determine whether he was receiving a stipend. Ms. Weingarten noted that the UFT does not have a policy that would prohibit a stipend.

Mr. Floyd said that, on advice from counsel, he had not spoken with Mr. Haynes since he made the discovery. "We are going to wait and see if it's permissible to accept stipends," he said. "At this point we're not sure, because HIP provides health benefits to the city and does our prescriptions."

June 8, 2007: University of Chicago Teamsters are organizing a grassroots contract campaign to win better wages and benefits.

The Local 743 contract with the University expired on Feb. 28, 2007, but the local has extended the contract covering over 1,000 Teamsters.

Our local officials are sitting on the sidelines—they haven’t done anything to win us a stronger contract.

Taking Matters into Our Own Hands

Bypassing the union bureaucracy, Teamsters at the UofC have taken matters into our own hands.

We’ve organized meetings throughout the campus to educate ourselves on the contract.

Over fifty members attended one of the meetings—that’s several times the size of a typical local meeting.

“My one voice doesn’t matter too much, but all of us members have a strong, collective voice together,” said Sydney Simmons, a steward for service and maintenance workers at the University of Chicago.

“Many of the business agents are in the university’s pocket and it’s no good for the membership,” said active union member Glenda Pence. “The current BA doesn’t even return my call.”

Members are meeting with each other to talk about what tactics would be most effective with their co-workers, and what the university would respond to.

“Voting No on the contract is one way to show your dissatisfaction with what we get,” said Adrian Esquivel. “It will send a message to the union and the university that the members want more.”

Local Elections

Sometimes discussion at these meetings also turns towards the corruption in our local, and our upcoming election.

In 2004, after the New Leadership Slate won the local election, the current officers allegedly stole several hundred ballots in a do-over election that Hoffa called. While the Department of Labor lawsuit is still in court, many are looking to the fall to finally clean up this local.

When we get fair, supervised elections this fall, the members will finally have an opportunity to vote in better people, instead of the corrupt officers currently in power.

If we can already involve more people in their contract than the officials can, imagine what we can do leading the local union.

Joe Sexauer is a Local 743 member at the University of Chicago

June 8, 2007: Provident Hospital is laying off members of Local 743 in Chicago, but Secretary-Treasurer Richard Lopez is missing in action.

“I paid union dues and get nothing for it,” said Diane Davis, one of the Teamsters laid off by Provident.

Lopez, the business agent for Provident, has refused to return calls of laid-off workers.

“Where are my union dues going?” wondered Yvette Gardner, a laid-off unit clerk.

The 743 New Leadership Slate helped organize Teamsters and local residents to protest the cuts. They joined nurses, doctors, patients and others to fight the cuts. Rev. Jesse Jackson showed up on the picket line. But Local 743 union officials were nowhere to be found.

June 8, 2007: In 2006, International Vice President Carroll Haynes was paid $54,500 as a “consultant” by the Health Insurance Plans (HIP) of Greater New York. HIP provides health benefits to the members of Local 237, where Haynes was the principal officer in 2006.

Should a Teamster officer and benefit fund trustee be taking $54,500 from an HMO that that makes millions through its contract with our union’s largest local?

In the old days, vendors made payoffs to officials under the table. Today, they pay “consultant fees.” Does that make it right?

HIP’s “fees” to Haynes were properly reported on an LM-30 form—a report that union officials must file to document conflicts of interest.

The Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF) discovered Haynes' consultant fees while doing research on the 2006 salaries and perks of Teamster officials.

May 29, 2007: By Cindy George from the Houston Chronicle--A federal judge today ordered that Chuck Crawley spend six and a half years in federal prison for his schemes to control Houston's largest Teamsters union and enrich himself.

The former Local 988 president was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon.

Crawley, 57, was convicted in December of arranging a $20,000 kickback from a vendor and rigging the local's 2002 election.

A jury found him guilty of mail fraud, falsifying union records and two counts of embezzlement.

He was arrested last June and has been in custody since being convicted.

Prosecutors estimated today that Crawley collected $1 million in kickbacks, salary and pension payments over six years as a result of rigging the 2002 local election, for which he was convicted, and for his three years as president after the 1999 vote, about which revelations of a ballot theft emerged in last year's trial.

Crawley's predecessor, Richard Hammond, spent four years in federal prison after a 1998 conviction for embezzling union funds.

The local's budget comes from the dues of its estimated 4,000 Houston-area members. UPS workers make up the majority of the membership, mostly drivers and truckers who haul everything from packages and computers to groceries and pharmaceuticals.

May 29, 2007: By Cindy George for the Houston Chronicle--For all the damaging acts blamed on Chuck Crawley, the worst was taking a man's livelihood, says Francis Pradier, who is paying off $50,000 in debt he ran up living on credit cards for a year after losing his job.

For Harry Bowers III and David McCormick, it's the more than $12,000 in legal bills they amassed defending themselves in court after telling the FBI about Crawley's corrupt activities as head of Teamsters Local 988 in Houston.

They, and others, may get some satisfaction today at Houston's federal courthouse when Crawley, 57, learns his sentence.

He was convicted in December for arranging a $20,000 kickback from a vendor and rigging the local's 2002 election. The combined penalty for mail fraud, two counts of embezzlement and falsifying union records is up to 31 years in prison and more than $250,000 in fines.

The path leading to this point can be traced back more than 30 years, to Crawley's failed effort to help an aspiring Teamsters president in Indianapolis. Along the way, former union brothers accused him of filing retaliatory lawsuits, stealing at least two elections in Houston and punishing rivals to win those Local 988 presidencies.

He started out trying to be a kingmaker, not a king. In the early 1970s, Crawley accused John M. "Jack" Murphy of drawing a gun on him before the Indianapolis election. Murphy was a top aide to the union president, and Crawley supported challenger Richard Spurgeon.

The incumbent won. Murphy, acquitted on the gun charge, sued Crawley and Spurgeon for malicious prosecution and was awarded $10,000. His lawyer says Murphy sued to restore his reputation and never collected a dime.

Some later schemes succeeded after Crawley began hauling freight in Texas and set his sights on running 988, Houston's largest Teamsters local.

'King Kong Chuck'

He styled himself as a reformer to win a disputed election for president in 1997, two years after the international union ousted Richard Hammond from the post. Hammond spent four years in federal prison after a 1998 conviction for embezzling union funds.

In 1999, the international union hired former federal prosecutor Ed Stier to investigate corruption. His report in 2003 accused Crawley of rigging union raffles, inflating prices for party supplies and giving raises to union officers and employees on the condition that they return a portion for Crawley's personal use.

Critics also decried a $1.7 million union hall built with nonunion labor.

"He was a ruthless, vindictive guy who, if he found out anybody was criticizing him, would retaliate severely," Stier said in a recent interview.

It was shameful, he added, because unions offer security to everyday working people in the form of contracts, health benefits, pensions and representation. Local 988 represents drivers hauling packages, cars, computers, pharmaceuticals, groceries and small freight.

The reign of "King Kong Chuck" ended in 2003 after probes by Stier's anti-corruption group and the FBI. Crawley was barred permanently from the Teamsters after the federal Independent Review Board, which monitors union corruption, held hearings in 2004. He was arrested last June.

Used panel power

Testimony and evidence about the 2002 election-rigging scheme for which Crawley was convicted pointed to 362 phony ballots marked for him.

Crawley eliminated opponents by making sure they weren't Teamsters by election time, two of his challengers said. And by heading the union side of a grievance panel that decided whether a member in trouble should keep his job, he had the means to do it.

Tim Gonzales was a 15-year UPS driver in 1998 when he announced a run against Crawley. UPS employees make up about two-thirds of the local's roughly 4,000 members.

Shortly before the vote, Gonzales was fired after a customer said she never received her package. As a shop steward, he had represented drivers in such cases who only had to pay for the missing package.

"It's something standard in the industry that no one would get terminated for, but (the firing) was upheld at the grievance panel," said Gonzales, 45, of Houston, who had been making about $60,000 a year. He is still seeking work in trucking.

"I can always bounce back," Gonzales said, "but I'm just glad to see Mr. Crawley get what's coming to him."

Grievance denied

An accident before the 2002 election wrecked trucker Earl China's hopes for the Local 988 presidency.

He had driven for more than 16 years without incident, but his grievance also was denied, ending his 27-year Teamsters membership.

"In our business, we have never heard of a man driving 2 million safe miles and having an accident and losing his job," said China, 59, of Spring. "It was devastating."