Union Embezzlement: From Auto Workers to Disney, Union Corruption Knows No Bounds

by Brian Johnson

This is why we have the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS), the only arm of the federal government to work on behalf of the rank-and-file union members to monitor union finances and catch fraud and abuse…too bad the left wants to cut their funding.

OnTheWaterfront1

As Union Corruption Update reports:

At least Christine Pawlowski’s thefts will go into the record books as less than what they were. On September 28, Pawlowski, formerly financial secretary for Local 812 of the United Auto Workers, pleaded guilty in Huron County, Michigan (Bay City) District Court to embezzling between $1,000 and $20,000 during January 2007-December 2008. Prosecutors had charged that Pawlowski, now 42, a resident of Minden City, skimmed more than $20,000 from the Harbor Beach, Mich. union, which has 35 members. Sentencing is scheduled for November 9. The guilty plea follows a joint investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Harbor Beach police.

While it might not be shocking to some that members of the UAW are embezzling money (the car industry is suffering after all), the below allegation is associated with a company that has a more happy image.

Teresa Luna, bookkeeper/office manager of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 504, was sentenced for taking almost $70,000 from her union. The good news is, she will have to pay it all back. As UCU reports:

Luna, now 35, a resident of Anaheim, during November 2004-June 2005 allegedly printed out more than three dozen checks from an IATSE checking account and made them out payable to herself. To make the theft convincing, she forged the signatures of two other union officers. She was fired in 2005 shortly after discovery that funds were missing, and eventually was charged and pleaded guilty in September 2008. Luna faced up to five years in prison, but U.S. District Judge David O. Carter gave her a lighter sentence in a less restrictive lockup so she could see her children more often. The sentencing follows an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

If we are going to have the SEC monitor companies and hold them accountable to shareholders/stockholders, we must ensure the OLMS is there and well funded to hold the unions accountable (and their officials) to rank-and-file dues paying members. Investors feel comfortable and safe buying stocks in companies because they know the SEC is monitoring their activities. Rank-and-file union members pay dues to unions and expect them to provide services – not use the money to go on ski trips and lavish vacations; or worse, simply pocket it.


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Posted Nov 11th 2009 at 1:23 pm in Big Labor, Congress | 46 Comments