It is always sad for me to read about such things, but "white collar" crime is certainly not exclusive to unions. It occurs in all sections of business and certainly all institutions within our society.
It is unfortunate that those that have some sort of anti-union bias always use an event like this to bash unions in general. Again, a person can find these kinds of crimes in all sections of our society.
The Teamsters Central States Retirement Funds problems where not caused by organized crime, the fund was in better shape than, then it is today. The problems faced today by this fund were created by financial managers (Wall Street firms) and there investments strategies.
And as far as pension funds are concerned, one of the best run funds in this country is the Teamster's Western Conference Retirement Fund, which is a model multi-employer retirement fund. This fund is often cited as one of the best run funds in the nation.
What I find positive with this event, is that our Union had the processes in place to find the crime. We have a clean Union and I'm proud to be a part of the Teamsters as an active member.
perhaps you were reading too much into the comments...all I got from it was the expression of no surprise that someone in power was abusing it...not the implication that everyone in power abuses it.
Kinda like lawyer jokes...lots of people laugh at them because they have personally seen(played our in the news) or experienced the kinds of abuses that make those jokes so popular. That doesnt mean there are no honest lawyers...its just there is no reason to talk about the 98% you dont read about in the papers...
rji2 wrote:Alright, you win, I'm convinced, Poppa. Every union officer must be allied with Capone and his criminal progeny. By extension, I guess every union member must be just as crooked. I must have been mistaken about those union reps who pay their bills, do their jobs, and go to bed at night with a clear conscience. They were but a fleeting image in my mind's eye. Sarcasm must be a communicable disease. I seem to have caught it, somehow. More to the point, however, what was offensive to me was the presumption expressed in the two posts that suggest that because Hahs was caught in an act of dishonesty, it HAD to be characteristic of any union officer. Just as though that's part of the job description. Yes, there are dishonest union officers, just as there are dishonest doctors, lawyers, teachers, ministers, and in every occupation and profession. It's unfair and .............. dishonest! ............... to tar everyone in a class with the same dirty brush.
No one suggested any presumption of "all" as you have accused. Any presumption originates in your mind. But I will say a large number of union leaders have jumped in bed with organized crime figures.
Why? Simple. The huge pension funds, and the "investment" thereof. Do a search on "union corruption" and see what pops up, OK?
I'm a dues-paying member of both SAG and AFTRA -- mostly out of nostalgia and habit. Neither union has ever done a durn thing for me. I once needed the union to intervene on a pay scale issue and they did nothing but tell me to "see if I can't work things out" with the employer. Wow! Such decisive action!
Organized crime doesn't even bother with those two unions because they don't carry humongous pension funds like the automakers, steelworkers and teamsters.
I don't see on a similar grand scale any doctors, lawyers, teachers or ministers being indicted for theft -- I don't trust them, either -- nor are they regularly associated with organized crime, either. Find me one that has been under a RICO investigation. Try searching "unions" and "RICO", too.
TomDiehl wrote: Poppa_Zit wrote: A corrupt union official converting funds for his own use and embezzling?Shocking! (FWIW, this type activity is one of many falling under the umbrella of "The Chicago Way".)An even bigger irony, he's being accused by the people in Washington DC.
Poppa_Zit wrote: A corrupt union official converting funds for his own use and embezzling?Shocking! (FWIW, this type activity is one of many falling under the umbrella of "The Chicago Way".)
A corrupt union official converting funds for his own use and embezzling?
Shocking!
(FWIW, this type activity is one of many falling under the umbrella of "The Chicago Way".)
An even bigger irony, he's being accused by the people in Washington DC.
Remember, Capone and his henchmen got put away by the Feds, too -- because the upper echelon of the Chicago Police Department and Cook County Sheriff's Office were all on Capone's dole.
And the Feds are the ones who nailed several members of the Chicago Outfit just convicted in the "Family Secrets" trial.
rji2 wrote:Poppa_Zit and solzrules: Your sarcastic comments are offensive to fair-minded people. If the charges are proven true, this was a dishonest man who got caught. The fact that he was a Union officer is beside the point. Shall we leap to the conclusion that all black quarterbacks are animal abusers, a la Vick? Shall we conclude that all Attorneys-General are evasive dumb-a***s? (Well, maybe in this administration.) The degree of honesty of union officers most likely mirrors that of the public at large. Most people are honest and some are not. Your opinionated views perhaps reflect an elitist mind-set. If so, I guess we can expect venomous responses.
Elitist mindset? Naw, how about "historically aware"?
Now, without venom -- I can't speak for solz, but my opinions are deeply rooted in fact. (By the way, I guess it's okay for you to be sarcastic with that crack about the administration, which fair-minded people find offensive.)
Growing up in Chicago and spending the last 56 years here, please don't tell me corruption in labor unions is a rare story.
Organized crime -- Chicago, remember? -- jumped into bed with the unions as soon as the repeal of Prohibition killed their bootlegging business in 1933.
Good question left unanswered: How did this man's union fail to have a third party audit the books?
BTW, I'm a union member, just like you appear to be, and I'm not offended by this story at all.
Anyway, some history to chaw on:
"The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), formerly known by the name International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, is one of the largest labor unions in the United States. The name and logo of the union reflect the origin of the union as a craft union when founded in 1903. A teamster was originally a person who drove a team of oxen, a horse-drawn, a mule-drawn wagon or a mule train.
The union grew beyond those narrow craft boundaries with the development of automotive transport, organizing "over-the-road" highway drivers, studio transportation drivers, warehouse workers and dairy employees in the 1930s. The jurisdiction of the union was expanded further after World War II by raiding other union jurisdictions and organizing manufacturing, service and public sector workers, particularly after its expulsion from the AFL-CIO in 1957.
At the same time, the Teamsters developed a close relationship with organized crime at the International union level and in a number of locals. That history of organized crime involvement in union affairs led the federal government to spend years prosecuting Jimmy Hoffa and his successors and to sue the union in 1988 to impose federal supervision over much of the union's day-to-day operations and its internal election procedures. That intervention, coupled with organizing at the rank-and-file level by dissidents within the union, led to the election of Ron Carey as General President in 1991. He was succeeded in 1998, after being expelled from the union in the wake of a scandal over misuse of union funds for his 1996 reelection campaign, by James P. Hoffa, the son of Jimmy Hoffa."
ndbprr wrote:I assume the Teamsters found out when they tried to skim some also?
FOFLMAO...
LC
dknelson wrote: A sort of urban legend (but supposedly a true story) in the office where I work was that someone had created an embezzlement scheme that worked for years -- but to make it work the guy had to be at the office every day, totally controlling his books, and taking no vacation. that worked UNTIL a huge snowstorm forced him to miss a day of work, someone else worked his desk and his books and -- he was found out.It is the job of auditors to create controls and double checks so this should not happen but it is of course in theory more efficient and cheaper not to have controls and double checks. Dave Nelson
A sort of urban legend (but supposedly a true story) in the office where I work was that someone had created an embezzlement scheme that worked for years -- but to make it work the guy had to be at the office every day, totally controlling his books, and taking no vacation. that worked UNTIL a huge snowstorm forced him to miss a day of work, someone else worked his desk and his books and -- he was found out.
It is the job of auditors to create controls and double checks so this should not happen but it is of course in theory more efficient and cheaper not to have controls and double checks.
Dave Nelson
That is why a lot of places require their accountants to take vacations.
S.S.D.D.
Mookie wrote: I will come at it from a different angle. How do they even think they can get away with something like that? I read about this happening quite a bit in the paper and often wonder how someone can attain that position and then do something so dumb. So anyone want to clue me in as to what they were thinking?
I will come at it from a different angle. How do they even think they can get away with something like that? I read about this happening quite a bit in the paper and often wonder how someone can attain that position and then do something so dumb.
So anyone want to clue me in as to what they were thinking?
I would surmise that he was thinking he would never be caught at it. Complete arrogance. After all, he ran the BLE before it became a part of the Teamsters as an independent union with none of the oversight that the Teamsters are forced to have after they were infiltrated by alleged organized crime figures. It was this oversight (the Internal Review Board required by the Federal District Court) that caught the allegedly improper expenditures of union funds. Nice to know what our dues money pays for...
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Mook,
I understand your sentiment, but to answer your question, in my estimation less than 30 percent of the people who do that get caught. If you notice the people who get caught, you will usually find that they have been doing it for years--or decades--without having been nabed.
Gabe
Another case of the unions fighting for the working man, right?
CShaveRR wrote: From a report on another forum, the Teamsters' own website appears a lot more colorful than what was posted in the UTU website, His best recourse would be to 'fess up and take his lumps (and hope that they aren't lumps of concrete around his shoes!).Lest anyone think I'm ignoring history, UTU's immediate past president was also jailed. IIRC, his offenses were more along the lines of kickbacks to lawyers.
From a report on another forum, the Teamsters' own website appears a lot more colorful than what was posted in the UTU website, His best recourse would be to 'fess up and take his lumps (and hope that they aren't lumps of concrete around his shoes!).
Lest anyone think I'm ignoring history, UTU's immediate past president was also jailed. IIRC, his offenses were more along the lines of kickbacks to lawyers.
Here's the link to the complete 55 page report of the Internal Review Board.
http://tdu.org/files/hahsirb.pdf
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
garyla wrote: It's the TEAMSTERS alleging corruption at the Locomotive Engineers union!
It's the TEAMSTERS alleging corruption at the Locomotive Engineers union!
Entertaining, isn't it...
Given the reputation of the Teamsters after the Federal Court trusteeship of certain locals in New Jersey and the disappearance of certain prominent former union officials...
Unfortunately, the Teamsters took over the BLE a few years back which is how it became the BLET. The Teamsters now have the job of keeping the BLET clean. One has to wonder if there are any ulterior motives for what is going on. BTW, the article summary is derived from an article gleefully displayed on the UTU website...
BLET Prez Alleged as Embezzler
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) President Don Hahs is alleged by the Teamsters Independent Review Board (IRB) to have embezzled more than $58,000 from the BLET to pay for non-union expenses.
The allegations are detailed in a 43-page Sept. 13 filing by the Washington, D.C., based IRB, a three-member panel operating under rules approved by a federal court as part of a 1989 consent decree entered into by the Teamsters Union to clear the organization of corruption.
The allegations are internal and, at this point, there is no indication Hahs has been charged by federal prosecutors with criminal activity.
According to Teamsters for a Democratic Union, an internal Teamsters hearing on the allegations could result in Hahs' expulsion from the Teamsters. Hahs has been BLET president since Jan. 1, 2001.
The IRB recommended to Teamsters President James Hoffa that the Teamsters bring internal charges against Hahs "for bringing reproach upon the Teamsters, embezzling union funds and breaching his fiduciary duties to the BLET and its members" in violation of the Teamsters constitution.
The IRB alleges Hahs used BLET funds to pay for almost $48,000 worth of tickets to Cleveland Cavaliers basketball games for which there was no union purpose, hotel room movies for which there was no union purpose, airline tickets and hotel stays not involving union business, and meals, travel and personal expenses for his wife, who was neither a BLET member nor employee.
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