Acknowledging that LIUNA's internal reform process had
encountered a range of problems removing La Cosa Nostra's long-standing
control over the CLDC, the consent decree establishes an unprecedented
supervisory process aimed at returning democracy and membership control
over the 19,000-member district council.
That process will include the appointment, by a
federal judge, of a special monitor to investigate and prosecute
wrongdoing. Unlike under the trusteeship currently in place, however, the
monitorship will have various resources of the federal courts and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation at its disposal.
CLDC delegates voted 34-11 on Aug. 11 to approve the
consent decree. CLDC oversees the operations of 21 LIUNA locals in
Chicago, as well as the union's pension, training, and health-welfare
funds valued at more than $1.5 billion.
"This consent decree adds to our track record of
success, builds on our partnership, and brings our union one step closer
to restoring the complete integrity that our members deserve," Arthur A.
Coia, LIUNA president, said Aug. 12. "We will achieve our goal of making
LIUNA the strongest, cleanest, most democratic union anywhere.''
"The trusteeship has made substantial progress in
removing the influence of organized crime over the district council and
the consent decree will ensure that organized crime is prevented from
reasserting its influence in the future when an election is held to select
officers by secret ballot in a free, democratic process," Lassar said
during a briefing with reporters in Chicago. "The CDC delegates deserve
credit for choosing to join in the consent decree."
The consent decree, which still requires the approval
of a federal judge, responds to a complaint filed jointly Aug. 11 by the
Justice Department and LIUNA through its General Executive Board Attorney
Robert Luskin. Among other things, that complaint alleged CLDC had been
infiltrated by corrupt individuals and organized crime figures who have
exploited the organization for their own personal gain and the benefit of
organized crime for three decades.
According to the consent decree, not a single
contested election had been held and all of the CLDC's principal officers
had been either members or associates of the organized crime in Chicago,
which is commonly known as the "Outfit." The complaint points to 21 CLDC
officials who are either members of associates of organized crime in
Chicago and said all four of its top officers fell into one of these
categories.
Lassar said those additional measures would include
the appointment of a monitor to investigate and prosecute individuals for
breaches of the union's ethics code. Significantly, Lassar said, the
monitor would be able to seek subpoenas from the court and access FBI
intelligence to support investigations and prosecutions. He said that
LIUNA investigators and prosecutors are currently barred from such access
due to various "secrecy" requirements.
The consent decree also would establish a
trustee/supervisory officer, who would oversee various daily activities of
the district council and supervise elected officials. Lassar said the
government would petition the court to maintain Robert Bloch, a Chicago
labor attorney, as the district council's trustee. Bloch, who has served
as trustee for the last 18 months, would change his title to supervisor
after democratic elections are held. Bloch predicted such elections would
be held within six to 12 months.
Lassar applauded the "courage" of delegates to the
district council who voted to expand the reform process through the
consent decree. Bloch said the group chose to work with the government for
the betterment of the organization.
"The District Council delegates could have chosen to
ignore or oppose the government' lawsuit," Bloch said. "Instead they
democratically voted to participate in this consent decree, which was
modified after delegate input so as to protect the union's interest and
work for the betterment of the membership and their families."
Bloch said one delegate to the district council has
moved for the removal of the trusteeship through a suit filed recently in
federal court. He added, however, that the suit was filed under the
Landrum-Griffin Act and would not affect the outcome of the consent
decree.
Luskin said that trusteeships, by law, are generally
structured to function for 18 months. He conceded that LIUNA's control
over the CLDC probably would have been challenged without the intervention
he sought with the Justice Department.
"Without this tool, we could have faced a legal
challenge," Luskin said. "We think we could have prevailed...but we didn't
want to have to fight over that in court."
Asked whether he is pleased with the pace of reform
being accomplished within LIUNA, Luskin conceded it has taken much longer
than he had hoped.
"I think when we started this we hoped it might go
like the Persian Gulf War," Luskin said. "Instead, we're fighting World
War I and that means progress can be slow."
Jim McGough, director of a small group of reformers
known as Laborers For Justice, said the success of this latest experiment
in government-sponsored reform would depend on the courage and vision of
the person chosen as monitor.
"It remains to be seen who the monitor will be," said
Jim McGough, director of Laborers for Justice. "A lot depends on the
aggressiveness of the court monitor and his willingness to inform the
members of past corrupt policies and procedures."
Text of the consent decree appears in Section
E.
No. 156
Friday, August 13, 1999
ISSN
1522-5968
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Laborers
DOJ, Laborers Union File
Consent Decree
Aimed at Chicago Laborers' District
Council
CHICAGO--The campaign to dismantle organized crime's
alleged control over the Chicago Laborers' District Council will receive
some federal muscle under an unusual consent decree jointly filed in
federal court Aug. 12 by the Department of Justice and the Laborers'
International Union of North America ( United
States. v. Construction and General Laborers' District Council of Chicago,
N.D. Ill., No. 99-C-5229, consent decree 8/12/99 ).
Seen as Unprecedented
Agreement
Scott Lassar, U.S.
Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said the consent decree
extends and expands the efforts of the trusteeship. He observed that the
two-year process established under the consent decree is unusual in the
context of the Justice Department's four-year-old effort to erase
organized crime's influence over LIUNA because it marks the first time the
department has sought court supervision of a LIUNA entity. The process is
also innovative because it is being accomplished with the support of the
international union and the CLDC.
'Additional Measures'
Needed
While the district council
was placed under the control of a trustee in February 1998 through the
LIUNA internal reform process, the consent decree stated that organized
crime's "influence of the CLDC presents special problems associated with
endemic, long-term corruption that requires additional measures."
By Michael
Bologna
Copyright © 1999 by The Bureau of National Affairs,
Inc., Washington D.C.