Sewer and Tunnel Miners union Local No. 2

McGough's Trial Board Charges against Laborers Local 2 executive board members: President Terry Bohne, Secretary/treasurer Reggie Robinson, Vice President Juan Hernandez, Recording Secretary  Chuck Auriemma, Exec. Board  members Rufus Chatman, Martin Gonzalez, Yahn Mann, former business manager Richard Caravetta; and auditors Alonzo Wimberly, Chris Maxwell, and Dave Buccini.

1. Associated with organized crime associate Richard Caravetta on the Caravetta “organized crime slate” and knowingly permitted the continuing influence of organized crime in Laborers local 2.

2. Subverted the union by hiring "non-union" personnel on a time and material basis to remodel  Local 2's new office while members with similar skills were on the out of work list.

3. Deceitfully misrepresented the reasons "whistle blower" Bridget Gaskill was no longer employed as local 2's clerical secretary when they allowed Terry Bohne and Reggie Robinson to falsely and maliciously blame her for their incompetence. 

4. Allowed unfettered discussion of an illegal and unethical  conspiracy to expel member McGough from local 2 to be the main topic of discussion at the June 2001 union meeting in an effort to suppress dissent and keep the members ignorant of organized crime's continuing influence in local 2.

5. Permitted the interruption of members’ attempts to speak at union meetings without interruption when Burke asked questions about loans at the January 2002 meeting and McGough attempted to inform the members of the reasons for Caravetta's resignation from office.  

6. Allowed sergeant at arms , Leonard White, at the July 2001 meeting  to threaten members Jim McGough and John Burke with violence for attempting to speak at union meetings. Leonard White, in the presence of witnesses, told both Jim McGough and John Burke that he was going to "kick their ass if they asked anymore questions at union meetings".

EPC Democratic Practices Section

7. Did not prepare a budget

8. Allowed loans to be made without knowledge or approval of executive board or members. (see Robinson letter to LIUNA V.P. and political ally Terrence Healy of April 4, 2002) and minutes of April 2002 meeting.

9. Allowed political contributions to be made without members’ knowledge or approval. (see minutes of executive board authorizing political expenditures for democratic candidates )

10. Caused an employee to become indebted in excess of $2000 as prohibited by Sec 503 of the LMRDA. (see outside auditor's report for 2001) and LM-2 for 2001.

11. Allowed Reggie Robinson to use his union credit cards for personal business. See $400 cash advance on union credit card on Christmas eve at 8p.m. at Marshall Fields. 

12. Attacked John Burke while speaking at a union meeting. Ramon Zarate had to be physically restrained from physically attacking John Burke at the November 2001 union meeting

13. Terry Bohne as presiding officer unfairly and maliciously deprived McGough of the right to speak  at the April meeting by not accepting his good faith assertion that he was working at the calling.

14. Did not mention the upcoming constitutional convention at union meetings in 2001 and purposely scheduled the nomination meeting on a Sunday morning to minimize attendance and the possibility of a contested delegate election

15. Did not discuss or debate at the December 2001 meeting the reasons for the increase in working dues as mandated by the DC convention call.

16. Mislead the members on the economic consequences of the choice between increased monthly dues or increased working dues

Right to ratify local collective bargaining agreements

17. Treated members unequally by offering political supporters more favorable terms for obtaining jackets than their political opponents. (see April/May 2002 newsletter)  

18. Do not conduct union meetings fairly and in a constitutionally prescribed manner in that the regular order of business is not followed, reports of delegates are not given, incomplete and false financial reports are provided, and members' approval for actions of the executive board are not sought. Not all actions of the executive board are reported as mandated by LIUNA local constitution Article IV, Sec 4, Subsection H (4)

19. Do not allow for debate and discussion on motions in accordance with generally accepted parliamentary procedure.

20. Allowed Caravetta to be paid more than 2 weeks vacation in violation of the bylaws.

LMRDA Sec 501 (Officer Responsibility)

21. Kept silent about Caravetta’s organized crime ties and conspired to keep the members ignorant of organized crime's influence in laborers' local 2.

22. Offered to buy Caravetta out in return for his resigning without knowledge or approval of members.

23. Allowed legal counsel to submit inflated and fraudulent legal bills for legal services not rendered, aiding and abetting in mail fraud

U.S.C. Title 18, sec. 1341

24. Utilized local 2's legal counsel to prepare in bad faith frivolous, fraudulent trial board charges against McGough.

25. Allowed Reggie Robinson and Terry Bohne to use local 2 legal counsel as their personal defense attorney for their breaches of duty and statutory violations of the LMRDA.

26. Paid out $14,000 in severance pay to Rick Cavins in March 2001  knowing severance pay was prohibited.

27. Allowed local 2 legal counsel to rule on legality of legal document he prepared and to serve as counsel despite conflicts of interest. 

28. Allowed Reggie Robinson to commit fraud upon the members of local 2 and LIUNA by allowing Robinson to pose as the author of documents he did not author and is incapable of producing.

29. Wasted local 2’s money by paying exorbitant legal fees for letter writing services.

30. Destroyed email communications from legal counsel to cover-up fraud and misdeeds and destroyed the personnel records of former business agents John Burke and Mark Tomasek 

and EPC Financial Practices Section

31. Engaged in unethical electoral campaign tactics and allowed organized crime to influence local 2’s election by getting Bobby Ruffulo to run for office to siphon off votes from opponents. Ruffolo did not campaign in good faith and entered the race at Caravetta’s urging to further organized crime's goal of retaining influence in local 2. Ruffulo is the son in law of "mob puppet" and former Matassa associate, Michael Christopher 

32. Did not require the auditors to perform their duties and facilitated “no show” jobs”. The auditors of local 2, (Wimberly, Maxwell, and Buccini) each received $200/mo and made no attempts to audit from March 2001 through March 2002 in dereliction of their duties to detect financial fraud and unauthorized loans.

33. Approved the appointment of Terry Bohne to a combined office that had not been approved by LIUNA's general president until Feb. 18, 2002 . At the Feb. 12, 2002 meeting, without providing any advance notice to the members of Caravetta's Feb. 8 resignation from office and of the Feb 8 emergency executive board meeting called to engineer Bohne's appointment to a combined office that had not yet been approved by LIUNA's General President,  the executive board and Terry Bohne made the self-serving decision not to appoint as Caravetta's replacement as business manager his electoral opponent, John Burke, but to combine the offices of president and business manager and to appoint Terry Bohne to that unapproved office, thereby assuring that members elected on the Caravetta "Organized Crime Slate" retained control of local 2, all to the detriment of honest union governance. 

LLUC Art Iv, Sec 2

34. Did not provide new members with copies of the out of work rules as required by the rules and prevented Bridget Gaskill from distributing information to new members that would have helped them exercise their right of self governance. (See LIUNA IG agent interview notes with Bridget Gaskill) 

EPC Democratic Practices section

35. Allowed Mob puppet" Caravetta to select for union meetings a Cicero  banquet hall that is a well known mob hangout-owned and/or controlled by members/associates of the Chicago Outfit, and permitted meetings to continue in this establishment when they knew or should have known of Caravetta's ties to organized crime. 

EPC 

EDP

LIUNA Policies

36. Allowed Caravetta to personally benefit from the letting of contracts in that Caravetta drank free at Al's Restaurant and Banquet Hall, 6040 West Cermak, Cicero, Illinois in return for throwing the business to Anthony LoCascio and Sebastian Maniscalco, its proprietors who are associates of mob member Vito LoCascio. (See IBT proposed charges against William T Hogan, p 62, footnote)

37. Allowed the unfair suspension of member Jim McGough knowing that averments by Terry Healy and Bruce Monaco were false as to the policy and practice of local 2 in treating mailed dues payments as timely if postmarked timely. Former clerical secretaries Joanne Caruso and Bridget Gaskill will testify that it has allways been the policy of local 2 to adhere to LIUNA's policy of treating dues mailed on a timely basis as timely dues payments. Bridget Gaskill will testify that the arbitrary decision to suspend McGough was both malicious and purposely designed so as to render him ineligible for office in the June 2003 election and to deprive him of the right to speak at union meetings.

LMRDA Sec 101 Bill of rights

38. Lied to and deceived the members as the real reasons Bridget Gaskill was fired. Bridget Gaskill was forced to resign because she refused to advance her career by providing sexual favors to Richard Caravetta , to perform the constitutional duties assigned to Reggie Robinson, and to perform all of the duties members of the executive board were not competent to perform. Bridget was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement to obtain her pay for unused vacation. This confidentiality agreement was designed to hide from local 2 members information essential to their right of union self governance and to cover up the misdeeds of executive board members. Adding insult to injury, the executive board of local 2 is now suing Bridget Gaskill for loans she is unable to pay as a result of her unemployment . Local 2 will waste more money paying legal fees to collect a debt that will not cover the legal fees charged.

EPC 

and violations of Art IV, duties of officers

39. Allowed Reggie Robinson to become delinquent in the payment of per capita taxes which caused the local to be deemed suspended by the International.

40. Failed to notify suspended members of the delinquency of their dues prior to their suspension and failed to notify of suspensions when made as required by the local 2 Wendell Hawkins' decision .

41.  Failed to provide newsletters to members from March 2001 until March 2002 because it cost too much but increased their salaries by 5% in July 2001 and voted themselves a 10% year end bonus for purportedly conducting the affairs of local 2 properly, a claim rendered false by the recent supervision agreement .

42. Allowed relatives of Cicero Organized Crime Boss Michael Spano, i.e. Pam Spano, to use the facilities of local 2 to solicit business for Ullico.

43. Failed to report Richard Caravetta’s ties to organized crime to proper authorities after conducting a meeting whose purpose was to obtain Caravetta’s resignation because of his ties to organized crime associate Betty Loren-Maltese. Failed to report Caravetta’s saying “he was laying low for four days until this Cicero organized crime story dies down” when Betty Loren-Maltese was arrested in June 2001 and charged with Cicero Crime Boss Michael Spano with looting $10,000,000 from the mob controlled town of Cicero.

44. Failed to obtain detailed fee bills from counsel as required by local 2’s bylaws and policy resolution of May 11, 1999.

45. Failed to conduct union meetings in an atmosphere of fairness where members don’t have to apologize for asking questions. Kevin Kelly 

46. Allowing personal attacks to be made upon members’ integrity in their absence (June 2001 meeting) and at the May 2001 allowing Kevin Burke to make the personal work history status of McGough the subject of discussion. 

47. Allowed Reggie Robinson to hire his reputed mistress as Bridget Gaskill’s replacement 

48. Allowed Terry Bohne to hire his reputed  mistress as office help and to work, unsupervised at home.

49. Increasing salaries unconstitutionally without the required approval of members at two consecutive meetings. The year end bonus of 10% constitutes a salary increase and it was not voted on at two consecutive meetings as required by LLUC, Article X, Sec 6.

50. Increased salaries more than once in one fiscal year

51. Increased salaries without amending the bylaws that prohibited a salary increase before March 2002.(See local 2 bylaws)

52. Fraudulently increased salaries by $40 in June 2001 when a $ 1/hr  increase in collective bargaining wages for members was interpreted fraudulently to mean an increase in constitutionally mandated  salaries as well.

53. Tolerated Reggie Robinson’s incompetence as a secretary treasurer when they knew that Bridget Gaskill had to write out for Reggie instructions on  how to pronounce financial amounts with 6 or more digits for each union meeting..

54. Reggie Robinson is charged with incompetence for failure to balance the local’s check book, for failure to perform the duties of secretary/treasurer, for not knowing the difference between treating as an expense a check when it clears the bank as opposed to when the check is cut, an admission of financial ignorance Robinson publicly acknowledged at the April 2002 meeting. Robinson is also charged with deliberate failure to notify the International that McGough's suspension was waived and that his admission date into local 2 should remain as August 2000.

and violations of duties of office of secretary-treasurer LLUC Art IV, sec 4, subsection D (4), (7) (9) (11) 

55. For conducting the affairs of local 2 in such a fashion as to necessitate the imposition of a supervision to avoid a complaint for trusteeship.

56. Ramon Zarate is charged with obtaining signatures of members under false pretenses on a blank sign up sheet that was later altered to indicate the members approval of bogus trial board charges against member James McGough, the filing of bogus trial board charges in an attempt to unfairly deprive McGough of his LMRDA rights to speak freely at union meetings.  .

57. Terry Bohne is charged with willfully refusing to learn at the Feb 2002 union meeting the reasons for Caravetta’s resignation and depriving the members of the knowledge essential to their right of self-governance. When McGough asked if he wanted to know why Caravetta was forced to resign and what the charges against Caravetta were, Terry Bohne said "no" and Terry Healy, son in-law of mobster Angelo Fosco,  misled the members into believing that that information is secret, despite its availability in the LIUNA docket to any member requesting , a policy LIUNA V.P Healy is aware of and which is clearly spelled out in the Ethics and Disciplinary Procedure. The GEB Attorney announces these actions belatedly and summarily in the Laborers magazine.  

58. Failure to assess working dues fairly in that some members pay less working dues than others because their percentage of working dues are lower. An examination of the collective bargaining agreements local 2 is a party to will reveal that not all members are assessed working dues equally. The percentage or tax rate is lower for members who work for Cook County political bodies on a patronage basis than it is for members in the private sector. 

EPC democratic Practices section

59. Depositing dues assessments in local 2’s treasury that were illegally taken from non member employee paychecks without written authorization in violation of the LMRDA.  

60. Allowing the District Council to distribute double zero (“00”) funds on a non pro-rata basis. Local 2 allows smaller locals to receive the same amount of illegally obtained funds to the detriment of local 2’s treasury.

61. Allowing the District Council to increase the working dues percentage to 1.75% from an illegally and non authorized working dues increase of 1.5% that was instituted by the trustee of the Chicago Laborers District Council in 1998  without the approval of local unions affected, in violation of the LMRDA .   

LMRDA sec 505, subsection 302 (c) taking money from an employee who has not made a written assignment for working dues deduction

62. .Allowed McGough’s web site to disturb the day to day activities of local 2 according to Ramon Zarate's malicious trial board charges

63. Conspired to deprive McGough of his LMRDA right to speak freely and criticize union officials by filing harassing trial board charges .(See Robinson's trial board charges against McGough that were administratively dismissed by the GEB attorney )

LMRDA (29 U.S.C. 411) Sec 101 BILL of RIGHTS 

64. In bad faith, deceptively mailed trial board charges late so as to unfairly deprive McGough of time necessary to respond to frivolous charges that were administratively dismissed by the GEB Attorney as against LIUNA policies.

65. Failed to obtain for members perusal and their own edification free copies of the decisions of the Independent Hearing Officer and Appellate Officer despite requests to do so.

Art IV, sec. 4 subsection H (9) 

66. Failed to inform members of the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement and to seek their ratification of terms proposed.

67. Failed to conduct the affairs of LIUNA in accordance with LIUNA policies, rules, and regulations

68. Failed to stop the use of union funds for the self aggrandizement of Reggie Robinson, Terry Bohne, and Richard Caravetta and wasted union money printing their names on the back of union financed T-shirts and on union signs.

LMRDA sec 501, (29 U.S. C. 501)

69. Failed to notice that the August 2001  per Capita tax was not paid until Jan 2002

LLUC Art IV, sec 4, sub H (9)

70. Permitted Terry  Bohne and Reggie Robinson to lie to the members when they both told members at the Feb 2002 meeting that Bridget Gaskill resigned voluntarily for failure to mail per capita tax checks when in fact no check had been cut for mailing.  

71. Allowed Reggie Robinson to distribute Profit and Loss statements to members that Reggie Robinson admitted at the April 2002 meeting were inaccurate, unreliable, and not trustworthy-all reflecting on Reggie Robinson’s incompetence as secretary-treasurer. 

72. Allowing Reggie Robinson to run for secretary treasurer on their slate when they knew or should have known that Reggie Robinson was incompetent and did not possess the skills or financial intelligence to perform competently as secretary treasurer. Trustee Dalton fired Reggie Robinson for incompetence  in October 2000 for depositing checks in the safe and not the bank.

LLUC Art Iv sec 4, sub H (9)

73. Failed to provide to members requesting information essential to the exercise of their right of self governance. Failed to provide at the October 2001 meeting  or subsequent meetings a report from convention delegates on constitutional amendments enacted and to provide a report of the convention despite McGough's request to do so.

LLUC Art VII, sec 4, (6)

74. Failed to retain legal counsel that had no conflicts of interest in representing local 2. Counsel to local 2, Hogan , Marren, and McCahill is counsel to the Chicago Laborers District Council whose interests are different than and in conflict with local 2's. Hogan , Marren, and McCahill is also counsel to laborers local 152 whose jurisdiction encroaches on local 2's. Hogan, Marren, and McCahill did not provide local 2 with information on its representational conflicts so as to obtain the informed consent of local 2 after complete and full disclosure. 

Art IV, sec 4, sub H (9)

LMRDA sec 501

75. Failed to inform and obtain membership approval for convention trips, and other expenditures, actions requiring the approval of the membership.

76. Applied  LIUNA rules, regulations, and policies in a discriminatory, arbitrary fashion so as  punish political opponents economically, politically, and socially. (McGough suspension and denial of rights to speak at union meetings)

77. Failed to protect the democratic rights of LIUNA members to participate fully, without fear, abuse, or intimidation in all union affairs.

EPC Democratic Practices section

78. Deprived member McGough to his full share in Union self-government and attempted to extort late payment fee from McGough for unfair and malicious suspension.

79. Deprived members of local 2 of the right to participate in the democratic decisions of the Union by allowing suspended members to vote at union meetings. (see newsletter of April/May where policy of allowing suspended members to attend union meetings is published)

LLUC Art IV sec 4, sub H (9)

LLUC Art VIII sec 7 (rights of suspended members)

80. Deprived local 2 members of the right to participate in free, fair, and honest elections. An examination of Francisco Perez's phone records for Jan thru April 2001 will show he called Latino members who voted on Mar 10, 2001, utilizing union assets obtained in the course of union business as business agent.

81. Failed to conduct local unions meetings in an atmosphere of fairness. (see minutes of June 2001 meeting where members discussed openly tactics to eliminate McGough as a member of local 2) 

82. Failed to apply fairly and uniformly all union rules and laws. McGough was singled out for retaliation because of his web site and criticism of LIUNA officials and his allegations about organized crime influence in local 2 and the Laborers Union.

83. Corruption, discrimination and anti-democratic procedures were permitted.

84. Failed to reasonably inform the membership as to how union funds are invested or used.

85. Defamed John Burke when they knowingly distributed as campaign literature altered documents they knew to be false and libelous 

86. Failed to obtain competitive bids on major expenses and did not inform local 2 members whenever they sought the approval of LIUNA's Inspector General for expenditures. 

87. Permitted union funds to be invested in a manner which resulted in the personal profit or advantage of Terry Bohne and Reggie Robinson, both of whom received loans from local 2 at below market interest rates when the money could have received a higher return if invested elsewhere.

88. Permitted contracts for rendering service that resulted in the personal profit or advantage of union officers. Caravetta benefited by the hiring of his non-union Cicero cronies and increased his stature with organized crime bosses in Cicero by so doing.

89. Permitted officers Bohne and Robinson to accept personal profit or special advantage from the action of officer Richard Caravetta in receiving loans at below market interest rates.

90. Permitted the local union to make loans to officers for the purpose of financing the private business of Reggie Robinson and Terry Bohne

91. Allowed Organized Crime to influence the selection of delegates to the constitutional convention when they allowed Caravetta to slate Johnny Retundo as a delegate instead of other elected members. (See confidential District Council Court Monitor report and hearings on Anthony Solano)

92. Permitted Richard Caravetta, acting as an agent of the International Union with influence in the placement of insurance contracts ,  to have compromising personal ties with Union Life Insurance Company insurance broker Pam Spano.

93. Permitted the publication of the April/May 2002 union newsletter that announced decisions that had not yet been approved by the members.

94. Fraudulently operated the out of work list so as to reward friends and punish political opponents. Eddie Anderson was kept off the out of work list for 90 days in January 2002 as punishment for being "whistle-blower" Bridget Gaskill's boyfriend 

EPC democratic practices section

95. Retaliated against member Anderson because of his association with whistle-blower Bridget Gaskill. Eddie's employer was instructed by someone at the union not to rehire or call Eddie back to work, a subject now under investigation by the LIUNA Inspector General's office

96. Failed to provide the outside auditor’s report to members requesting. Rather than give the members what they are entitled to receive and see, local 2 member and LIUNA V.P Terrence Healy advised local 2 at the April 2002 meeting to obtain LIUNA's approval for providing members with a copy of the auditor's report, less a precedent for openness  and transparency be established. The refusal to provide the auditor's report was an effort to cover-up and keep hidden financial irregularities and mismanagement in local 2.

97. Failed to provide accurate, reliable financial reports to members despite promises to do so. At the April 20002 meeting, Robinson admitted that all reports previously furnished were inaccurate and that new reports would have to be issued, which he has failed to do.

and LLUC Art IV, sec 4, sub D (4)

98. Failed to install financial controls to assure members that union funds were not stolen, misused, or badly invested (see supervision agreement) (See outside auditor's cover letter on 2001 audit for local 2)

99. Failed to inform the members of the voluntary supervision agreement they entered into on May 1, 2002, 13 days  prior to the May 14, 2002 union meeting at which the members' ratification will be sought.

LIUNA policy

and LMRDA right to know and right of self governance

100.   Maliciously and deliberately failed to correct McGough’s admission date into local 2 so as to unfairly and fraudulently  deprive him of eligibility for union office in June 2003.

EDP

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