IBT officials proposed cuts in secret talks with employers
Central States Fund Slashes Benefits
The Central States Fund trustees announced drastic cuts in our pensions and retiree health and welfare at an officers-only meeting on November 19.
IBT officials tried to claim that a judge ordered the fund to impose the cuts. But court documents exposed that the drastic cuts were proposed by our own union trustees–including two International Vice Presidents.
The court documents also revealed that union and employer trustees have been secretly meeting for almost a year to plan the benefit cuts.
Judge James B. Moran said “The Trustees have been working for much of 2003 to develop a package of prospective benefit reductions. The trustees appointed by the employers and the trustees appointed by the employees prepared and exchanged benefit reduction proposals.” (See Marshall v. Robbins, Case No. 1:78-cv-4075, doc. #1235. Available online at http://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/racer2/index.html .)
Moran revealed that our own union trustees proposed all the cuts that have now gone into effect and asked that the employers contribute more money to the pension fund at a special board meeting on September 3.
Not surprisingly, the employers agreed to the pension cuts but refused to contribute more money.
The proposed cuts were then jointly presented to Judge Moran who approved the package and asked to be kept informed about the progress of negotiations over increased funding.
Chicago's top union boss was paid $630,000
March 7, 2004
BY ROBERT C. HERGUTH AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters Advertisement
A truck driver or warehouseman represented by Teamsters Local 710 -- with a few years under the belt and some overtime -- might pull in $52,000 a year.
Before he retired Dec. 31, longtime Local 710 boss Frank Wsol also was, on average, making $52,000 -- a month.
Wsol's $630,000-a-year salary was the highest of any Teamsters officer in the country, even James P. Hoffa, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters chieftain. He also appeared to be the highest-paid labor leader in the Chicago area, though six-figure salaries are common for top union officials here, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of the most recent U.S. Labor Department wage data and interviews.
CHICAGO?S LABOR ELITE
At least 160 union officers in the Chicago region each made $100,000 or more annually. At least 10 officials made more than $200,000.
Often, those salaries are significantly higher than what's paid to the dues-paying workers they represent.
Before leaving his job as a dock worker at a south suburban trucking outfit, Tom Albano made $19.90 an hour, or $45,000 to $50,000 a year with overtime. The Chesterton, Ind., resident was a longtime member -- and critic -- of Local 710 who described officer salaries as "disheartening."
Wsol and other union officials, however, said members have the right to change the compensation levels and vote for new leadership if they're unhappy. He said he was paid so much because of the long-held practice of awarding "commissions . . . based on how many members you represented, how many members you organize, etc., things of that nature.
"The perks are darn good, there's no question about it," said Wsol, 78. "Then again, the responsibility is pretty darn tough, too."
*****
A common argument for paying union bosses big money is they are, effectively, CEOs.
"If you look at a local of any size, what you're talking about is a multimillion-dollar annual nonprofit organization . . . you generally have pension funds . . . many employees," said Brian Rainville, a spokesman for Teamsters Joint Council 25.
The Joint Council represents 22 Teamsters locals in the region, covering 110,000 members. It's led by John Coli, who is paid around $300,000 a year for his work at the council and a Teamsters branch that he and a brother lead.
"It is reasonable because it is set in a democratic process," Rainville said of Coli's salary.
Still, such levels have come under scrutiny, particularly from a dissident organization called Teamsters for a Democratic Union, which regularly releases names of Teamsters officials making more than $100,000 a year.
"They say the CEOs of companies make a lot more," said TDU's Ken Paff. "Our movement doesn't agree with the comparison at all. We don't want union officials to have the same reputation as CEOs or even used car salesmen."
Indeed, the subject of leaders' pay is a touchy one. Several unions declined to return telephone calls about the issue.
Even so, it seems most agree that the excesses of the past -- which involved union heavyweights such as the late Edward Hanley flaunting cars, jets and luxury homes -- are largely gone. In several unions, leaders have frozen their salaries after the economy started to tank in 2001.
Charles Anderson, secretary-treasurer of Painters AFL-CIO District Council 30 in St. Charles said an average painter earns about $56,000 a year after health insurance and other costs are paid.
Anderson, a 21-year union leader, makes about $200,000 a year. He believes the 3,600 people in his union understand his salary in light of his responsibilities, including helping oversee about $100 million in pension funds.
Union leaders who represent public employees -- such as police, fire and teachers -- appear more apt to tie their salaries to what they would earn if they had moved up doing those jobs.
"I'm probably in the ballpark of what a district chief earns," said Chicago Fire Fighters Local 2 president Jim McNally, who earns about $120,000 a year.
Sometimes officials' pay is tied to what members make.
"Our officers make what a teacher would make, but for an 8-hour day and a 12-month year," said Chicago Teachers Union president Deborah Lynch, who earns around $111,000 a year.
*****
One paycheck that's raising eyebrows belongs to Joseph Senese, who runs the Oak Brook-based National Production Workers Union.
Senese, the son of late Teamsters boss and reputed mobster Dominick Senese, was paid $345,000 in 2002, records show. With expenses and allowances, he took home $385,000.
The membership, composed in part of landscape workers, has been at 4,500 and is reportedly growing. Still, some are stunned by Senese's salary.
"Wow," said the Illinois AFL-CIO's Margaret Blackshere, who is paid just over $100,000 a year and whose umbrella organization represents a million workers.
After Wsol's departure, some officers in Teamsters Local 710 have taken salary cuts as part of a new salary cap tied to Hoffa's salary, said the local's new chief, Patrick Flynn. The large salaries last year helped contribute to a financial crunch at Local 710.
"We ran $250,000 in the red last year," said Flynn, who represents 14,000 UPS workers and truck drivers, among other types of jobs. "We've made a commitment to our membership that that's not going to happen this year."
Select area union leaders and how much they get paid:
NAME ANNUAL SALARY TOTAL PAYMENTS GROUP
Frank Wsol** $630,231 $636,394 Teamsters
Joseph Senese $345,419 $385,931 Nat?l Production Workers
John Coli $301,454 $329,487 Teamsters
James Dawes $279,285 $287,313 Teamsters
Ronald Powell $253,885 $262,086 Food & Commercial Workers
Earl Oliver $235,861 $254,918 Carpenters
Frank Riley $235,209 $239,426 Laborers
James Connolly $232,825 $236,860 Laborers
William Dugan $228,110 $259,444 Operating Engineers
Stan Karczynski $212,224 $261,189 Sheet Metal Workers
Charles Anderson $199,865 $230,944 Painters
Gerald Harms $181,803 $190,620 Painters
Dennis Gannon $180,000* N/A Chicago Fed. of Labor
Tom Balanoff $170,558 $202,772 Service Employees
James Sullivan $147,320 $162,009 Plumbers
Mark Donahue $136,000* N/A Chicago Police
John ?Mike? Fitzgerald $134,300 $140,287 Electricians
James McNally $120,684* N/A Chicago Firefighters
Robert Hogan $112,735 $129,126 Teamsters
Henry Tamarin $111,425? $124,507 Hotel, Restaurant Employees
Patrick Duff $111,345 $138,403 Liquor & Wine Sales
Henry Bayer $111,125 $153,881 AFSCME
Deborah Lynch $111,000* N/A Chicago Teachers
William Biggerstaff $109,200 $130,192 Hotel, Restaurant Employees
John F. Duff III $108,680 $131,151 Liquor & Wine Sales
Margaret Blackshere $105,000* N/A lllinois AFL-CIO
THE NATION?S LABOR ELITE
NAME ANNUAL SALARY TOTAL PAYMENTS GROUP
Eugene Upshaw Jr. $2,730,046 $3,075,770 Professional Athletes
Don Fehr $1 million $1,000,690 Major League Baseball
Duane Woerth $423,705 $536,255 Air Line Pilots
James P. Hoffa $241,989 $287,131 Teamsters
*Salary level was obtained from the officeholder because their unions were not required to file such data with the federal government. The salaries provided by these officers were reported as current.
**Frank Wsol retired Dec. 31, 2003, although he still is involved in union health, welfare and pension activities.
NOTE:
These figures are a sampling; there may be other union officers with higher wages. Salaries include payments from local and international union groups. Unless marked with an asterisk, the salary and total payment categories came from the most recent U.S. Department of Labor filings available. As such, they may be from 2002 or 2003.
All of those sampled are union leaders, but not necessarily the top officeholder. The ?total payments? category includes salaries, reimbursements, allowances and the like. In some cases, other union leaders expenses may be tacked on to an individual?s tab through credit card accounts.
Total payments aren?t available for certain union officers because they are not required to file such data with the federal government.
SOURCES: U.S. Department of Labor, interviews
Teamsters health care fund missing $100,000
June 2, 2004
BY ROBERT C. HERGUTH Staff Reporter Advertisement
At least $100,000 is missing from a major Teamsters health care fund, and a federal investigation is focusing on whether a longtime clerical employee embezzled the money, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
"It's my understanding that there was a discrepancy found with one particular person who is currently being investigated," said Patrick Flynn, leader of Teamsters Local 710, which represents around 14,000 UPS drivers, long-haul truckers and others. "I understand it was some sort of check-writing scheme."
The money is missing from Local 710's health and welfare fund, which technically is separate from the local but covers medical expenses for members. The fund, located in the same Canaryville building as Local 710, has a balance of more than $50 million.
Thanks to a healthy account level and insurance, "there should be no impact on any participant or dependent," said Marvin Gittler, an attorney for the fund.
The organization learned of the problems through an anonymous letter, confronted the employee and notified criminal investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. attorney's office, both of which are investigating, according to documents and interviews.
No charges have been filed against the employee, and investigators are trying to determine whether any others participated in the apparent scam, officials said.
Exactly how and why the money was allegedly embezzled is unclear, but Gittler said it appears the employee "was able to manipulate the computer" to gain access to money that was "allocated to a legitimate participant but somehow ended up in [the employee's] pocket."
Steps have been taken to prevent something similar from occurring, Gittler added.
Referring to the employee, Gittler said: "If there are any assets, we'll take whatever steps are necessary" to recoup the missing cash, "assuming the facts justify it."
Flynn described the situation as "disappointing," but said "it is the first time we've ever experienced anything like this -- we've been in business for a lot of years."
