2615 West Peterson Av.
 Chicago, Il 60659
773-878-1002 (Tel)
773-409-1503(Fax)
http://www.thelaborers.net/
james.mcgough@comcast.net

November 6, 2000

Office of LIUNA General President
Attn: Terence O’Sullivan, Provisional General President
905 –16^th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.

RE: Transfer of James McGough

Dear Sir and Brother:

Thank you very much for the copy of your letter of October 20, 2000 to Randy Dalton wherein you state that “the International is not in a position to void or to preclude the transfer” and wherein you state that “ the serious nature of the concerns you raise required a full and careful review of all of the relevant facts and of the prevailing law”.

In my letter to Dalton of September 20, 2000 I specifically asked that a copy of Dalton’s communication  of September 5, 2000 regarding my transfer be provided me. Apparently, you never received a copy of that letter. For that reason and for the reasons enumerated in the first paragraph, I specifically request that you, as provisional LIUNA General President, furnish me with a copy of that communication so I will know more about the serious nature of the concerns raised by Randy Dalton and whether he actually in point of fact attempted to deprive me of my constitutional and legal rights as a member in good standing of laborers local 2. I need to know about the “serious concerns” so that I can formulate policy for the slate of candidates that will challenge you in the 2001 election on how to best address these “serious concerns”.

In your letter of October 20, 2000 , you state as follows:

In accordance with the past practices and the variances in effect for the Chicago Laborers District Council and its member locals, the right to transfer between District Council affiliates further requires the consent of the home Local union and the new local union.

I would like to receive a copy of the request for variance you say is in effect for the Chicago Laborers District Council together with a copy of the variance granted. That a variance had been granted was never promulgated to the members of affiliated locals nor was notice promulgated to affiliated locals. It is my contention that un-promulgated policies of LIUNA have no force or effect and hence the policy is unconstitutional as well as undemocratic, subject to capriciousness and the whims of the receiving local, and on its face violates every tenet of due process and fairness articulated and encompassed in LIUNA’s Reform.

As a member of LIUNA I am ethically and constitutionally obligated to obey and I “must agree to abide by the constitution, laws, rules, regulations, policies and lawful orders and decisions of this organization” (LIUNA ULUC Article III, Section 1 subsection (c) New members are under the same obligations.

Will you please furnish me with an accurate, up-to date, written and/or electronic copy of the constitution, laws, rules, regulations, policies, and lawful orders and decisions of LIUNA so I and others know what they are.

I ask for an accurate, up to date written and /or electronic publication for the following fundamental reasons:

1.       The constitution book I currently have does not include all the amendments that have been made to LIUNA’s constitution since the 1996 convention and despite numerous requests to LIUNA Vice president Terrence Healy, I have not been able to get an up to date accurate written constitution for members that do no have internet access. Neither for that matter have supervisors of local 5 (Sladowski and Romano) been successful in their attempts.

2.       The constitution as published on LIUNA’s web site is out of date, misleading, and incomplete. For example, it does not reflect the amendments mentioned in the January 18, 2000 Agreement between DOJ and LIUNA.

3.       As of last week, the LIUNA web site did not have available any of the decisions issued in 2000 by the LIUNA Independent Hearing Officer or Appellate Officer. These decisions amplify, elucidate, and explain what some of the constitutional provisions actually mean.

4.       As you are aware, the vast majority of LIUNA members do not yet have access to the Internet and hence have to rely on the good faith of their locals or LIUNA to learn about in a timely fashion their rights and responsibilities as union members as well as new rules, variances, policies, amendments. Relying on the good faith of officers of a union that has acknowledged organized crime’s influence in its affairs is not prudent to say the least. Relying on the constitutional interpretations provided by a former general counsel who aided and abetted La Cosa Nostra control of LIUNA is self defeating for anyone interested in making sure LIUNA’s constitutions, policies, and procedures are fair, reasonable, democratic, and truly constitutional in the “right” meaning of the term.

5.       I want the policies in electronic format so I can magnify the small print and so that the information is accessible to me and other members whose eyesight is not as good as it used to be. In proofreading the public documents that are in minuscript that I have optically scanned in order to web publish them as part of my efforts to educate the members, my eyesight has deteriorated. If the GEB Attorney would provide the electronic copies of public documents I have been requesting for two years and which he promised he would deliver, my eyesight would not be as bad as it is. Hence I make this request under the American With Disabilities Act for information about the terms of possible employment.

6.       New members do not have access to past issues of the Laborer’s Magazine wherein LIUNA policies and procedures are promulgated. It is not fair to hold people accountable for violating laws, policies and procedures they know nothing about and in many cases are deliberately kept ignorant of less they become empowered by knowledge.

James William McGough
____________________________
Laborers for JUSTICE, Director

cc: LIUNA GEB Attorney
LIUNA Election Officer
LIUNA Inspector General
Court Monitor-Chicago District Council
US. Attorney-Chicago
FBI Chicago
Interested counsel/parties