Thursday, October 14, 2010

NYC District Council of Carpenters Inspector General Office Established

From NYCDC Website:

To ensure that our Council operates in a manner that is ethical and fair to all members, the District Council is establishing an Inspector General Office.   This office will be made up of one Inspector General Scott Danielson, four retired New York City Detectives and two senior District Council representatives, Ramadan Ibric and Martin Szabunio.

As team member of the former Anti-Corruption Committee, Brother Danielson honed his extensive expertise conducting interviews, leading investigations, charging members with UBC Constitution and NYCDCC By law violations, referring criminal cases to law enforcement agencies and bringing forward civil litigation over his 15 year tenure with this council.  Our new experienced and talented team will continue to protect the rights of every member of this council and eradicate corruption from this Council.

The new Inspector General office, formerly the NYCDC Anti-Corruption Committee, will work out of the District Council to oversee ethics and cost effective management of all District Council and local union functions.   The Office of Inspector General will be forming an advocate’s office to process and prosecute internal Union disciplinary charges, all matters requiring investigation by the District Council and also investigate all matters referred or declined by the Review Officer.

Quotable:

"We have the greatest anti-corruption program there ever was.”--District Council EST Mike Forde August, 2003

"The union’s anti-corruption program is nearly worthless.” --Independent Investigator Walter Mack June 3, 2004

“Yes, your Honor, with the associations, it used to be that if an employee was going to be requested, he had to show that he worked for the contractor in the past six months. We took that away and said you could request a carpenter. He didn't have to work for you in the last six months.”--District Council President Pete Thomassen April 12, 2005

Thomassen testifying before judge Haight about the 2001 contract negotiations ,"We enhanced the request system for the contractors of the association, We gave them what they wanted—the unfettered right to request anyone they want from the out-of-work list.”--District Council President Pete Thomassen April 12, 2005

“The bribery of shop stewards and off-the-books compensation of Carpenter journeymen are made possible because the District Council has allowed the out-of-work list to be rendered meaningless."--Independent Investigator Walter Mack May 2, 2005

“If a member has corruption to report he should leave his name.” --District Council President Pete Thomassen May 9, 2005

“The District Council leadership and the Anti-Corruption Committee have yet to develop fully the will, competence and dedicated perseverance to discover and root out wrongdoing on Carpenter job sites.”--Independent Investigator Walter Mack June 3, 2005

“This internal corruption contributed to the long delay in the discovery of Tri-Built's wrongdoing. At the current stage of the investigation, it is impossible to know how many other contractors were able to cheat the District Council and the Benefit Funds with this crude but effective methodology, but I am certain that others exist.”--Independent Investigator Walter Mack June 3, 2005

“If the system remains as it currently is, I believe that it should be explained clearly to the membership so that they do not operate under the misapprehension that the out-of-work list operates to dispatch people on the basis of how long they have been on the list. The union membership deserves to have this information. I regret that I was not permitted to provide it."--Independent Investigator Walter Mack June 3, 2005

“Time and time again, when District Council representatives were confronted with their failures to detect, investigate or eradicate job site wrongdoing, their explanations were based on assumptions and investigative methods that are shallow, sloppy and ineffectual.”--Independent Investigator Walter Mack June 3, 2005

"The employers wanted the ability to hire whom they want and when they want without restriction.”--District Council Attorney Gary Rothman September 15, 2005

"The District Council has not made the fundamental shift it needs to make in order to become an effective anti-corruption force: to change the organizational culture to one that insists on integrity and diligently pursues wrongdoers. This is an issue of leadership, plain and simple."--Independent Investigator Walter Mack October 26, 2005

"The District Council engaged in, at least, willful ignorance of the corrupt conduct by companies like Tri-Built and On Par, which were notorious among Carpenters as "cash" companies, yet were permitted to work corruptly for years."--Independent Investigator Walter Mack October 26, 2005

"The anti-corruption committee is composed of members of the district council who do not have any formal investigative training or experience; do not have a handbook of investigative procedures or written guidelines and cannot on its own do much more than inquire into allegations of improper conduct."--Independent Investigator William Callahan December 2007

“The anti-corruption committee is also hampered by its limited resources and a lack of training which restricts its effectiveness, it has increasingly relied on my office to establish and take investigative initiatives.”--Independent Investigator William Callahan December 2007

“Massive fraud was able to continue for many years due to the union's “culture of corruption”--Independent Investigator William Callahan December 2007

“The membership was kept in the dark, Thomassen sold-out the carpenters in the 2001 contract negotiations. He fails to realize then and now what every carpenter in this union realizes—by changing the contract and allowing the contractor to request the entire workforce he has transformed the out-of-work list from being a major source of job opportunities for carpenters into a graveyard, where carpenters languish on a meaningless out-of-work list .”--John Musumeci on Local157.blogspot June 12, 2008

“Union officers played vital roles in facilitating, enabling, or abetting the employer's frauds, by failing to supervise the job sites.”--Hon. Charles S. Haight Jr. Federal District Judge Manhattan August 8, 2008

“If The Unity Team can't be trusted to tell the truth about the 2001 contract, how in the world can they be trusted the our Benefit funds".--Independent Candidate for Vice President John Musumeci November 3, 2008

7 comments:

  1. How could SCOTT DANIEELSON eradicate corruption when he never saw MICHAL BRENNAN go from ONPAR job to ONPAR as a steward. This is another joke. Wake up Dennis Walsh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Steward Ad-Hoc Committee is in deliberations regarding the unexpected appointments within the newly established IG Office. We will have an official statement regarding our stance on this matter within a few days. We ask the membership to not allow this recent development to defray attention from the 3 - day evaluation process which starts October 15, 2010. We here at the committee continue to encourage the LEGITIMATE candidates to push forward and not allow themselves to be distracted from their goal to make inroads to positive change and reform within the NYCDCC.

    ReplyDelete
  3. THERE ARE NO LEGITIMATE CANDIDATES WHEN THE OLD GUARD IS APPOINTING THEM

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is impossible to move foward with Lawrence D'Errico, Scott Danielson and paul caperso running the show. This spencer Inspector general smoke sreen in a joke again, Because we know this 3-day is fixed with all lawrence's cronies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If this scumbag Scott Peterson was in charge of the out of work list for YEARS how the fuck was he not held accountable for Joe Firth PLACING HIMSELF at the WTC hole along with his brothers-cousins or whoever else he finagled onto the fucking list? How is the Out of work list so corrupt that That bastard is even ALLOWED TO SAT IN THE DISTRICT COUNCIL?
    Wake up Walsh is right.And 2 put 4 cops on the job doesn't mean SHIT.Half of them are crooked bastards.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It behooves us at the Steward Ad-Hoc Committee that the District Council has found it befitting that Scott Danielson, under whose watch the Out of Work List (OWL) Rules were so rampantly violated, be appointed as Inspector General. Mr. Danielson, in our collective opinion, is at the very least GUILTY of GROSS NEGLIGENCE of his fiduciary duties to the Rank and File MEMBERS who LANGUISHED on the OWL. THOUSANDS of our members over several years SUFFERED economic hardships due to Mr. Danielson's indifference to their plight. Whether or not, as circulated rumors have it, that "Danielson was working in conjunction with government officials investigating violations of the OWL during his tenure", his primary function and responsibility as Director of the OWL was to ensure fairness for members on that list, and not to any internal or external investigators. To place the membership’s rights second to any other cause is and was, a flagrant abuse of his discretion over these members’ ability to earn a living as Union Carpenters. In this respect Mr. DANIELSON HAS FAILED THE MEMBERSHIP MISERABLY. To reward him by appointing him Inspector General is a grave insult to the OWL Martyrs left in Mr. Danielson's wake. We adamantly urge the Review Officer, Mr. Walsh, to re-evaluate the decision to appoint Mr. Danielson to such an important and influential position, one with the potential to greatly impact the course of the New York City District Council of Carpenters’ future.


    Mr. Walsh, this appointment, if it stands, threatens to greatly diminish the newly found faith the Rank and File have in your office. We urge you to consider this factor before dismissing the pleas of the membership and/or before making a decision in this urgent matter.

    ReplyDelete
  7. On thursdayDecember 22 My shop steward, Sean Darcy, at 2 world Trade center went to the owner of JPC to personally get my layoff check. Back in august I had a few words with him about laborers doing carpenters work. When that went nowhere I went over his head to the Business agent. Sean told me and I have the conversation recorded, that he did this in retribution for going to the B.A. The review officer I spoke with said I shouldn't have done that. So this man who is a stewrad and is supposed to look out for the mens best interest has shown and admitted a clear case of deriliction of duty and abuse of his powers as a steward. The review officer in his statement to me implied there is no accountability or check and balance system in our local. Stewrards and business agents are free to do as they will and implement there own punishments as they see fit! back to the Greeney and Forde days I see.

    ReplyDelete

I would ask that if you would like to leave a comment that you think of Local 157 Blogspot as your online meeting hall and that you wouldn’t say anything on this site that you wouldn’t, say at a union meeting. Constructive criticism is welcome, as we all benefit from such advice. Obnoxious comments are not welcome.