Thursday, February 13, 2014

Judge Approves Agreements with the Association of Concrete Contractors of New York

Having reviewed the record herein, including, without limitation, (i) the May 26, 2009 Court Order determining that "[t]he percentage of the total carpenter workforce on a job site selected by a contractor shall not exceed 67%" with "[t]he remaining 33% of the total carpenter workforce on a jobsite ... assigned by the District Council from the Out of Work List," (Final Order and Judgment of Contempt and Remedy, filed May 27,2009 ("2009 Order"), at 3(b)(iv), (v»; (ii) the Court's May 8,2013 Decision and Order stating that "it is ordered that the Court's May 26,2009 Order (Haight, 1) is hereby modified and superseded to permit the parties forthwith to implement the full mobility job hiring and compliance procedures specified in the [collective bargaining agreement ("CBA")] between the District Council and the [Wall-Ceiling and Carpentry Industries of New York, Inc. ("WC&C")] approved on April 25, 2013"; (iii) the District Council's December 12,2013 letter which: enclosed copies of two new CBAs between the District Council and the Association of Concrete Contractors of New York, Inc. ("ACCNY") (the "ACCNY CBAs" or "Agreements"); noted that "[w]hile certain terms and conditions of the ACCNY CBAs submitted here differ slightly from those in the GCA CBA and The Cement League CBA, all provide for full mobility, electronic reporting of jobs and hours...

37 comments:

  1. "subject to"; wow - the big scary qualifier. As if this Judge will actually follow through on his previous intimation that he may entertain a contempt order for the D.C's continuing violation of half a dozen of his other similar meaningless orders.

    The D.C. & Funds have failed every phony electronic compliance component of every contract executed from day one notwithstanding their bogus second grade level reporting.

    Everyone knows the only way to 100% full Electronic Compliance must be met by a full forensic accounting of every hour worked under every contract and PLA - what are the total hours worked under each, how much has been collected and how much remains delinquent and subject to interest, penalties, expenses and legal collection costs under each contract and PLA?

    Until these simple questions are answered, the parties with standing are failing to perform their duties under the Decree and Stipulation & Order.

    As everyone in the trades know, talk is cheap. It's put up or motion for contempt of Court time down in the land of Oz, the D.C. & Benefit Funds

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ethics: The New York City District Council of Carpenters "remains influenced by the mob and is still a source of cash and illicit benefits for a select few" according to an assessment by court-appointed review officer Dennis M. Walsh as reported by William K. Rashbaum for The New York Times: "My office has deep historical knowledge and is developing current information about actual and attempted influence of organized crime over the affairs of the district council and the funds," the review officer, Dennis M. Walsh, wrote in the report. "We have developed sufficient information to reasonably suspect that there are certain district council employees who have been and are currently under the influence of La Cosa Nostra figures." In August 2009 the feds indicted former Local 608 presidents John Greaney and Michael Forde with eight others -- all of whom have since been convicted -- for their roles in a scheme involving bribes by contractors to hire illegals and other non-union workers and avoid obligations under labor agreements. Last October a federal jury convicted the final defendant, reputed Genovese associate Joseph Olivieri, the former head of the Wall-Ceiling Association which is NYC's largest trade group for carpentry contractors, on a perjury charge "in a case that showed the mob's grip on construction" as then reported by Brian Kates for the Daily News: "testimony painted Olivieri as the mob's go-to guy in city construction unions."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ethics: The New York City District Council of Carpenters "remains influenced by the mob and is still a source of cash and illicit benefits for a select few"....Last October a federal jury convicted the final defendant, reputed Genovese associate Joseph Olivieri, the former head of the Wall-Ceiling Association which is NYC's largest trade group for carpentry contractors, on a perjury charge "in a case that showed the mob's grip on construction"

    Well Ladies, the reputed (actual) Geneovese Soldier Joseph Oliveri is out of the pen. The Mob's grip on construction, particulalry the NYCDCC has not abated, rather - it continued during his incarceration and beyond his release to the present day!

    Funny, he was sprung around the time the new Wall, Ceiling & Carpentry 100% Full Mobility, 100% Full Electronic Compliance contracts were approved by Judge Berman.

    Ironic that since those dates, the WC & C and the District Council and Benefit Trust Funds have not submitted one forensic report or detailed independent audit of this corrupt Contractor Association or any of their corrupt signatory Contractors known for the scams of the past (employing mob associates/soldiers in do-nothing jobs, paying cash and zero benefits, employing illegal aliens).

    To date, we have Oliveri the sprung mobster back in the saddle, zero detailed financial data or comprehensive reporting of hours worked, monies owed, monies delinquent and we have a United States Attorney, an RO and a Judge who willingly sit by and allow the same exact scams of the past to be repeated.

    So why oh why do the members need a Consent Decree to protect them when those with standing charged with defending the rank & file participate in ongoing criminal activity which has never stopped or abated - even after the August 2009 indictments, trials, convictions and sentencing?

    Why are the USAO & former IRO accepting plea deal after plea deal and getting nothing substantive out of them other than using said plea deals as a cover and front to minimize the damage to the monies the Mobsters collect, embezzle and convert to their own use on a daily basis?

    Show us the God Damned Books Mr Walsh! (both sets)

    It's the only information that matters - and you damn well know it. Time to change the bylaws so the phony HR Dept. established to protect the status-quo of easy do-nothing, high paying jobs at the D.C. are not specifically reserved for ex-cops or investigators with zero construction industry experience or knowledge.

    The D.C employes some of the dumbest people on the planet, none of whom who could survive one day in the private sector - and the USAO & RO keep approving these clowns for employment. McGinnis, the I.G. & C.C.O. need their walking papers for starters - simply to warm you up for the purging you know must take place w/ other Council hacks; less your tenure & legacy as R.O. become a farce akin to Conboy's.

    Time to do your damn jobs or go back to the dreaded private sector where
    you might have to try and win a real case at law - as opposed to this conjured up quarter century excuse for alleged justice never had.

    ReplyDelete
  4. But, as Mr. Walsh points out in his report, the challenge facing the District Council is not insignificant. It has been for decades, he noted, “a fiefdom for brutes, thieves, con men and other species of racketeers who have subjugated and robbed its members and vitiated its democratic and benevolent purpose.”

    “The record also demonstrates,” he wrote, “that efforts to achieve systemic reform have been trampled by the seemingly limitless capacity of racketeers to blithely disregard the orders of this court and the risk of criminal prosecution as they pursue wealth, political power and satisfy their sybaritic yearnings.”

    In an e-mail, Mr. Walsh said his goal was “to build a strong institution that can police itself, is ethical, uses technology to surmount ancient racketeering methods, hires people on merit, reviews their performance objectively and spends money prudently and with close internal oversight and provides a fair justice system for its members.”

    source: NY TImes - Review of Carpenters Union shows Corruption Perists

    ReplyDelete
  5. January 9, 2011 NY Times Review of Carpenters Union shows Corruption Persists

    ..."It has been for decades, he noted, “a fiefdom for brutes, thieves, con men and other species of racketeers who have subjugated and robbed its members and vitiated its democratic and benevolent purpose.”

    “The record also demonstrates,” he wrote, “that efforts to achieve systemic reform have been trampled by the seemingly limitless capacity of racketeers to blithely disregard the orders of this court and the risk of criminal prosecution as they pursue wealth, political power and satisfy their sybaritic yearnings.”

    Gee Wally, three years have passed and the apt observations of the R.O. quoted above persist to this very day. The D.C. under its in-house & outside legal counsel and with the assistance of the benefit trust fund legal counsel as well as contractor association legal counsel has blithely disregarded the Court Order issued by Judge Berman ragrading 100% Full Mobility and 100% Full Electronic Compliance by steadfastly with-holding the books from the USAO, RO & the Court.

    The racketeering always resort back to improper accounting methods and fudging the numbers and/or running two sets of books - the ones the D.C & Funds show to the Court and the other set which the Mob sees. In the case of the Full Mobility racketeering scheme, the Court has seen neither sets of books; and apparently, the RI & USAO is ok with that.

    Well ladies, that fact runs counter to the arguments he made above to the press (the MY Times). Instead of filing a Motion with the Court and Judge Berman to see the Books, the USAO & RO have gone into Federal Court and made excuses as to why everything is jst peachy.

    Actions and words have consequences. Speaking the truth howver, at least in the D.C. always seems to land those exposing the graft, fraud and corruption in hot water when it should be the other way around; all denials and all excuses aside.

    By the time Geiger, Judge Jones and the Funds get around to straightening out the failed technology at the DC & Funds, every contract will have expired and millions of dollars owed to the Benefit Trust Funds will have again disappeared via cheap accounting tricks.

    And in the interim there will be more diversionary tactics and distractions employed, such as phony Organizing Campaigns, future Local Union & District Council Elections to monitor and the usual crap with the 2nd grade level IG. & CCO reporting under the guise of that ferocious looking Bull Dog - Operation Watchdog' and ever more EST Forums, Town Halls and useless Court Conferences while every party says 'all is well you Honor, trust us you Honor' and the predictions & qualified statements of fact made by the RO to the NY Times will have played out as the subjugated members continued to be robbed blind and the status-quo of the useless Consent Decree and meaningless Court Orders continue to be ignored by the mob and their associates in crime at the D.C & the Funds.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Carpenters Union Officials Indicted For Receiving Bribes And Grand Larceny




    Attorney General Spitzer and US Department of Labor Regional Inspector General John McGlynn today announced the indictment of three men accused of taking bribes from a contractor so that the contractor could use non-union workers to perform work at two Manhattan job sites. The indictment also alleges the defendants' conduct deprived the union's benefit funds of more than $1 million, which was to be paid by the contractor.

    Charged today in an 11-count indictment was Stephen Goworek, 34, of 2331 Bruner Avenue in the Bronx. Among the charges are Grand Larceny in the First and Second Degrees, four counts of Bribe Receiving by a Labor Official and five counts of Violating a Fiduciary Duty to the union. Up until his arrest, Goworek, was the Manager of the Stamps Enforcement Unit of the Benefit Funds of the District Council of New York and Vicinity, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL-CIO. As the Stamps Enforcement Manager, Goworek was responsible for ensuring that contractors remitted to the Benefit Funds the payments required by the Collective Bargaining Agreement on behalf of union members employed by contractors.

    Also charged was John Mingione, 32, of 2 Radcliffe Road, Staten Island, and a third defendant, Thomas Riccardo, 41, of 166 Oakdale Street, of Staten Island. Mingione was a shop steward for the Carpenters Union, while Riccardo was actually on the payroll at one of construction sites. Both men are alleged to have acted in concert with Goworek in the bribery and grand larceny scheme. All three defendants were arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court. Each faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree.

    "My office will continue to work with the Inspector General to ensure that the labor laws are enforced, that workers receive the wages and benefits which they are entitled to, and that the integrity of the collective bargaining process is protected," Spitzer said

    The indictment comes as a result of a nine-month investigation conducted by the Attorney General's Statewide Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) and the USDOL-IG that began in 1999. The investigation targeted remodeling projects at two Manhattan hotels-- the Warwick Hotel and the Carlton Hotel. A contractor working on those projects cooperated in the investigation, which included audio and video taping the defendants' demands for bribes, as well as the actual bribe payments. Some bribes were actually delivered to the defendants by an undercover police officer from OCTF.

    The charges in the indictment are accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

    The investigation was led by Assistant Deputy Attorney General Dennis Walsh of OCTF. The case is being handled for trial by Assistant Deputy Attorney General John C. Prather of the Criminal Division. Attorney General Spitzer recognized the contributions of William Casey, Chief Investigator for the Attorney General's Office, Mitch Lampert, Chief Investigator at OCTF and Investigators John Mitchell of OCTF and Marcus River of the USDOL-IG

    ReplyDelete
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