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"Harry Krause" wrote in message
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NOYB wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
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NOYB wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message
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"Harry Krause" wrote in message
Unfortunately, that effort did not succeed, and conditions have gotten
worse for them since. The corporations simply fired everyone, knowing
that the NLRB during the Bush misAdministration wouldn't uphold labor
law.
snip
That's really bad news.......and people wonder why some early unions
were
forced to deal with organized crime. When you have both the employer
and
gov't against you, an an indifferent public, you accept whatever
helping
hand is offered.
"Helping hand" you say?
Lawsuit says corruption rampant in Jersey union
No-show jobs, nepotism, mob ties cited
Thursday, January 13, 2005
BY TED SHERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
Some of the highest-paying jobs at Local 734 of the Laborers'
International Union of North America -- which represents thousands of
workers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- had little to do with digging
ditches.
Now, that's a stupid lead. Very few LIUNA jobs these days have anything
to do with digging ditches.
There was the wife of one former union official, who was hired after her
husband was convicted on federal labor law violations for attempting to
create a no-show job. She received $111,799 to come in twice a week to
listen to voice mail messages from members with benefits questions,
according to court records.
She needs to be prosecuted and if convicted, sent to jail.
The Laborers' union now is seeking a federal investigation into the New
Jersey local, claiming that members were defrauded of more than $2
million in a scheme that saw the hiring of relatives and business
cronies to perform "non-essential, part-time and ruse jobs at grossly
excessive salaries."
That's the appropriate response by an International and usually what
happens.
And, despite the fact that some officials of that local were corrupt and
were removed, there are thousands of corrupt corporate execs in NJ
fleecing the public.
You might want to look more closely at the bill you get from your
dentist:
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Defense
(DoD) announced today that on July 17, 2002, Ralph J. Sharow, a Freehold,
NJ, dentist, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Newark, NJ, to 27
months in prison and 3 years probation on each count, to run
concurrently; restitution of $264,363.90; and a special assessment fee of
$200. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge William
H. Walls. This sentence is the result of a guilty plea that Sharow
entered on January 16, 2002. Sharow pled guilty to a two-count criminal
information charging him with one count of health care fraud and one
count of income tax evasion.
Who knows what we'll be reading about Naples, Florida, dentists, eh?
Touche. ;-)
But I don't bill insurance companies. I bill the patients...and those
who have insurance (less than 40% of my patients) then submit a claim to
the insurance company for reimbursement.
And though I tease you about it (and you deserve being teased), I don't
for a moment think you are anything other than a upstanding medical
practitioner. The fact that you weren't bright enough to get a degree in
English and had to settle for a medical degree shouldn't be held against
you.
I've been involved in the labor union movement for a long, long time. I
knew Jimmy Hoffa in Detroit because of politics, not because of any work,
though. I also knew Roy Williams from my days at the KC Star, and Jackie
Presser because when he was the exec running communications at the IBT, he
tried to recruit me to handle the marketing, advertising and PR for its
farm worker campaign. I wasn't interested, but I thought Jackie was. I've
only met the current IBT president, I've never worked for him.
I did consulting work for LIUNA when Angelo Fosco was its general
president. Angie was "connected," but not the Chicago kingpin as the
Justice Department made him out to be. Angie was a prince of a fellow in
terms of personal relationships (I attended his marriage to his second
wife - he was a widower), but he simply was not bright enough to be any
sort of Mafia chieftain, at least not a Chicago chieftain. Angelo's son,
though, is a felon. I also knew Angelo's father, Peter Fosco, whom I met
when he was close to 80. Peter was a genius, and at one time, it was
reputed, a partner of Al Capone.
There's no question those two unions, the IBT and LIUNA, were corrupt as
could be in those days, but they aren't now. I know the current LIUNA
president, Terry O'Sullivan, and he is tough and straight. He would not
hesitate a moment to have arrested any LIUNA official, local or
international, who is dishonest. He's done it any number of times.
You may not know this, but union officials are bonded. If they dip into
the cash register, the bonding company has to make good the loss, and the
bonding companies ALWAYS force prosecution.
In any event, none of the union officials I have ever known, and I have
known some doozies, have ever caused this country the amount of harm that
George W. Bush has, and none has ever stolen anywhere near the amount of
money that Bush or his neoconvicts have. And yes, I consider Bush's
shennanigans in Texas while he was a "businessman" theft...and I consider
what Halliburton does theft.
There was a reason why union officials had to be tough guys...and in my
mind, there still is a reason. The corporations who oppose them play much
tougher and rougher...they simply wear better suits.
I have two patients who are now each other's best friend despite 35 years of
verbally (and sometimes physically) abusing one another when they lived up
North. One owned a trucking company, and the other was the top union
official for the union representing the company's drivers. They absolutely
hated each other, their families hated each other, and the police had to be
brought in on more than one occasion to quell a near-physical confrontation.
Now, they go out to shows, to movies, and out to dinner together.
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