Whistleblowers Beaten, Intimidated After Revealing Union Bosses’ Looting

I’m *SHOCKED*, I tell you! *SHOCKED*!

Unionized phone company employees say they were beaten or threatened after they accused their labor bosses of looting their coffers through various scams.

One member of Communications Workers of America Local 1101 said that after he reported a time-sheet padding scheme, a thug beat him so badly his spine was injured.

Another says he found a dead rat in his locker, while a third said a union officer warned that suspected informants should be brought off company property and “taken care of.”

The threats come to light as the U.S. Labor Department is probing charges that union bosses lined their pockets at the rank-and-file’s expense.

Accusations include an unauthorized 401(k) plan union officers gave themselves funded with members’ dues, along with hefty weekly allowances, lavish expense accounts and six-figure salaries, union documents show.

The feds are also looking into allegations that double-dipping union bosses illegally received pay from Verizon and the local for the same hours, sources said.

“This was union greed and that’s worse than corporate greed,” said Kevin Condy, a reform movement leader of the 6,700-member local that represents mostly Verizon workers in Manhattan and the Bronx. “These guys acted like they felt they were entitled.”

And, some members charge, the bosses retaliated when threatened with exposure.

In August, business agent Patrick Gibbons said he received death threats and his office was vandalized after he complained that union bosses were misappropriating cash.

“They were warning me that if I continue to complain about their finances, they would have me killed,” Gibbons wrote in an open letter to union members.

Six months earlier, Verizon heavy equipment operators Salvatore DiStefano and Sebastian Taravella sued the local in Brooklyn Federal Court.

They said they were harassed after telling Verizon security officials a manager allowed workers to leave early but claim a full day’s pay – as long as they completed a quota of assigned jobs.

DiStefano told the Daily News he was “attacked by a union thug” as he started the morning shift at a Verizon garage in the Bronx in April 2009. “He pounded me with his fists, he spit on me, he choked me and threw me down to the floor,” he said.

DiStefano said he suffered two herniated discs and had knee problems that required surgery. He got workers’ compensation as a result, records show.

Taravella said a dead rat was put in his locker with “a note tied to his tail” that said “Rest in Peace, Sebbie.”

The incidents came after a local vice president purportedly told members at a meeting, “We have to deal with these spies on a personal level, like take them … off the company property and off company time and take care of them,” the suit charged.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/05/15/2011-05-15_clam_up_or_else_union_whistleblowers_we_were_beaten_and_harassed.html

Union thugs have a habit of assaulting anyone who confronts their corruption.  They harass businesses for the “crime” of backing the “wrong” political candidate.  They’re especially adept at showing their frothing hatred, racism, and bat-shit crazy behavior when they gather in mobs.  And they’re teaching these methods in college.

During the union protests against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget/collective bargaining bill, they made death threats, and ransacked offices to steal recall petitions.

AFL-CIO union boss Richard Trumka is Jimmy Hoffa 2.0,with all the necessary credentials.

All of them should be prosecuted under the RICO statutes, but Obama is in bed with the unions, so don’t expect any real investigations or mass indictments while he’s in office.

Unions will turn on their own as quickly as they do others. If union members still believe that their leaders are looking out for their best interests, look at the way they treat you. Look at the way they’ve priced you out of work and driven jobs out of the United States.  Ask yourselves if you appreciate being mugged for dues, and used as a political pawn.

It’s time to rip that ‘union label’ off your shirt.

Related articles

• Union Thugs Provide Card-Check Preview (powerlineblog.com)
• Dues Paid to Union Fat Cats Could Have Funded 265,447 Workers For A Year (chicagonow.com)