DOL obtains convictions involving wrongdoing by labor organizations

DOL obtains convictions involving wrongdoing by labor organizations (registration required) is a short August 27, 2008 National Law Journal article that reports on a little noticed story. The U.S. DOL Office of Labor-Management Standards has obtained criminal convictions against several union officials. This office is a  federal law enforcement agency whose criminal enforcement program includes investigations of embezzlement from labor organizations, extortionate picketing, deprivation of union members' rights by force or violence, and fraud in union officer elections. As the article states:

Our cases demonstrate the continued importance of our investigations to thwart those who abuse their positions," Don Todd, deputy assistant secretary for labor-management standards, said in a news release. "OLMS protects union members, and we are proud to have secured court orders of restitution of more than $90 million since 2001."

The targets included Deborah Anthony, former financial secretary of Steelworkers Local 1196 in Brackenridge, Pa., who was sentenced in July to five years’ probation and ordered to serve a year of home detention and to pay more than $34,000 in restitution for embezzling union funds. Also in July, Kim M. Van Handel, former president and acting treasurer of Steelworkers Local 1980 in Appleton, Wis., was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay more than $11,500 in restitution for embezzling union funds.

This story is unfortunate. It merely demonstrates that there are good unions and bad unions. Thankfully, there are not too many of these cases.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein