Laborers for JUSTICE http://www.thelaborers.net

Aug 23, 2000

By Fax August 24, 2000 9pm

Robert Luskin, LIUNA GEB Attorney

Steven Miller, Chicago Laborers District Council Monitor

David Buvinger, AUSA Chicago

 

Dear Bob:

 I learned tonight that you have terminated Joe Romano's tenure as trustee of laborers local 2 because you wanted someone who could work with the district council, now operating under a Consent Decree for being under the influence and control of organized crime. The District Council wants someone who will not install union democracy, will not teach the members their rights and responsibilities as union members, will not educate them about collective bargaining agreements, union constitutions, grievance procedures, and in general will not do everything an honest, ethical trustee (Romano) has done in his stewardship capacity. The officers of the district council wants their cronies installed in local 2 to insure their  re-election, an undemocratic practice you aid and abet with Romano’s termination.

 

I learned tonight that you have replaced Joe Romano with Randy Dalton , an officer of local 681 whose testimony in the Chicago District Council Trusteeship hearings revealed his complete ignorance of organized crime's influence in the district council. Randy, if I recall his testimony correctly, does not even read newspapers much less manuals on installing union democracy.

 

Bob, when GEB Attorney Dwight Bostwick requested our help in removing John Matassa and his cronies from local 2 and in installing "union democracy", we responded with vigor and enthusiasm. Dwight Bostwick promised us at a meeting he held at the Sofitel Hotel that local 2 members would be getting a trustee that would restore union democracy and who would protect the interests of local 2 members. Your appointment of David Schippers was, in terms of these objectives, a complete nightmare. David Schippers held four meetings in the course of nine months, none of which were productive but all of which increased Schippers' fees.

 

When Dwight Bostwick kept his promise and your office replaced Schippers with Joe Romano, that was the best decision you could have made. You gained our trust and confidence because Joe Romano is a union leader-not a union lawyer. Joe had local 2 members working in the field for him, brought fiscal responsibility, educated the members, and was doing a terrific job as trustee of a local that had never been run fairly and democratically. To replace Joe Romano with  Dalton who has no experience in installing union democracy (local 681 has not had a contested election in years), is pure politics and caters to the undemocratic practices of the elected leaders of the Chicago District Council (one contested office) who do not want local 2 to succeed, to have elections, or we fear, to remain in existence. Why not replace Romano with a member of local 2 who has the trust and respect of the membership via democratic elections in November? Why install as trustee an individual whose obligations are to local 681 and who will find conflicts in protecting the jurisdiction of local 2?

 

Bob, I believe that the decision to replace Joe Romano should be reconsidered and rescinded. Your decision to install Robert Bloch as trustee of the district council was a disaster because he allowed an illegal increase in working dues deductions from $.25 to 1 1/2% without obtaining the members' approval as required under the LMRDA. Joe Romano would have never attempted such "a sneaky act".

 

Bob, how many paychecks and trustees is it going to take to restore union democracy in local 2? When will the honest members of local 2 have a chance to run their local without interference from the district council and your office?

Yours truly,

 

John Angelo Burke

Active Member local 2 in good standing

847-816-6288