Copyright 1995 McGraw-Hill, Inc.  
Engineering News-RecordMarch 6, 1995 SECTION: EDITORIALS; Vol. 234, No. 9; Pg. 102

HEADLINE: Laborers and Justice Dept. differ on house cleaning

BODY:
The Justice Dept. has agreed to let the Laborers International Union of North America clean up its own house. Since the essence of any agreement is a meeting of the minds, it's too bad the parties still see the issues in such different terms.

Just look at what they are saying (ENR 2/27 p. 10). The pact is "very much patterned after" the accord struck with the teamsters union in 1989, says a Justice Dept. spokeswoman. "We're looking for the same results." That includes reforms of the union's electoral process to promote democracy.

Laborers President Arthur Coia says the pact with his union bears "no similarity" to the teamsters accord because "this is our show." Union officials say that they are seriously considering a number of reforms to make their electoral process more democratic, although the agreement requires no specific reforms.

The confusion here is over more than means and ends. The Justice Dept. sees a union rife with corruption and racketeering, much of it related to organized crime families. Coia and the rest of the Laborers leaders say the corruption problem is limited to a handful of the union's 628 locals and that the issue is blown out of proportion. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere between. But the gulf between the way Justice and Coia see the issue may produce differences over what is considered acceptable results.

Coia's accomplishments in only two years as president of the international union have been commendable. He has convinced the Labor Dept. that laborer should be an apprenticeable trade and has expanded the market for his members' work into hazardous waste cleanups and territories outside U.S. borders.

But Coia seems reluctant to fully embrace the issue of union democracy and corruption-fighting. To be fair, Coia's position is unenviable: He is being pushed by prosecutors to document corruption for which even they sometimes cannot find evidence. And he is being asked to seize control of locals when tradition and the union constitution require that he respect local union autonomy.

Ron Carey's example as president of the teamsters' union has been less than inspiring. He may represent the return of democracy to that formerly mobster-ridden union. But Carey seems clueless about the current realities of the labor-management balance of power. His confrontational approach to management and strikes against the trucking and package delivery industries has already cost his members dearly.

In contrast, Coia knows the challenges facing the building trades. But he cannot afford even a half-dozen mob-controlled locals because any corruption is just another weight on the competitiveness of union labor. Coia is correct in respecting the autonomy of local unions. But local members deserve to be autonomous of organized crime families, too.

Restoring democracy where it is lacking at laborers' locals needs to be a passionate concern if this union is to avoid the federal government stepping in to put on its own show. If that happens, the current laborers' leadership will have no hand in writing the script.  
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