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STATE — The union that represents construction workers is consolidating its New Jersey locals into one office that will be based in Raritan Center in Edison.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is dissolving local unions in Cranford, Edison, Madison, Milltown, Princeton and Trenton and creating a new Local 254 that will include 800 to 900 members.
The move is part of a larger merger that combines the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters and the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters to form the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters. The new organization will include approximately 30,000 members throughout the New York and New Jersey region.
“The formation of the NRCC is an exciting opportunity for our union. It will bring many benefits to our members, including more organizational efficiency, enhanced market share and an increase in the value of carpenter brand throughout both regions,” said Frank Spencer, vice president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
Not everyone is happy about the move. Members of the former locals have questioned the disposition of assets contributed to various benefit funds before the merger.
“They took our money, $900,000 out of Local 155 in Cranford,” said one unemployed carpenter.
A new website — http://newjerseycarpentersunited.com/ — is attempting to organize New Jersey carpenters and “Separate ourselves from the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and become an independent union in control of our own destiny.”
Eric Franklin, communications director for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, says such consolidations are taking place across the country. He says it will allow the union to get rid of buildings that aren’t used often enough, reduced duplicated work and help reduce union dues.
Franklin says the statewide restructuring would eliminate the jobs of five or six secretaries.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Carpenters Union Merges Locals
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Carpenters union undergoes overhaul
By Matt Glynn
The Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, a statewide organization of unionized carpenters whose pensions, insurance and health care funds were ravaged by Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, is being merged with a New Jersey-based organization.
The overhaul is also forcing the consolidation of Cheektowaga-based Carpenters Local 289 with two other locals, in Rochester and Olean, into newly formed Local 276.
The Empire Council underwent a leadership shake-up last year, amid allegations it had disproportionately burdened its upstate members with millions of dollars in investment losses stemming from Madoff’s massive fraud. An investment adviser working with the Empire Council had placed the money with Madoff.
The total losses to the Empire Council’s pension, annuity and health funds were estimated at more than $160 million.
After closed-door hearings last year, the Washington, D. C.- based United Brotherhood of Carpenters removed the Empire Council’s executive secretary and treasurer, then placed the organization under its supervision.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Two Carpenter critics vindicated -- McCarron moves to trustee Empire State Council
Submitted by mnadmin
Now that the massive loss has impelled McCarron to act, he has thrown into the pot a whole goulash of charges against the council. It seems as though he may have reread some of that five-year correspondence from Richard Dorrough and John Newell, those two Local 370 Carpenters. He accuses the council of not keeping members and contractors informed, of failing to organize. He charges the EST with hiring, suspending, and promoting staffers without approval of the executive council; of filling vacancies on the executive committee instead of running elections.
McCarron accuses the council and the EST of improperly denying upstate union members of representation on the funds' board of trustees. That charge points to the double financial victimization of those upstaters. Buried within the Madoff-related fraud, it appears, is a cynical manipulation. Earlier, the Upstate New York Carpenters Council had been merged, along with its benefit funds, into the Westchester County-based Empire State Regional Council; the combined funds continued to be dominated by trustees appointed by Empire State's EST. The trustees somehow allocated the financial pain inflicted by the Madoff disaster so that it penalized mostly the upstate members. One member of upstate Local 747 tells us that at least half of his $150,000 pension and annuity fund money has disappeared. James Brady, chairman of the Local 747 retirees' chapter, will lead a busload of Local 747 members to the trustee hearings to ask for some measure of restitution.
On the scene comes McCarron as the stern enforcer of propriety against irresponsible malefactors. But he shares part of the blame. He set up the Empire State Regional Council, along with others, as part of his plan to reorganize the Carpenters union. Locals were merged into councils where they lost their autonomy and all control over collective bargaining. The reigning executive secretary treasurer was elected by delegates from locals. But from then on, no one could hold any paid staff position unless selected by the EST. Delegates who elected the EST depended upon him/her for a job. Locals could hire clericals but they were forbidden to pay any staffers, not even their own elected officers or attorneys. Under those conditions, the EST becomes a despot subject only to the international president. In this case, McCarron must use the authority he possesses as international president to try to undo the mess inflicted by the arbitrary regional authority that he himself had created.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Empire Council Hearing Testimony
On April 26, 2010 the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America placed the Empire State Council of Carpenters under supervision. Patrick Morin was removed as EST.
Along with Morin’s removal, all labor trustees of the Empire funds were removed, and the Empire Council’s executive board was dissolved. The law firm representing the Empire Council was removed and replaced by a firm that works with the UBC.
UBC Vice President Frank Spencer was appointed supervisor and Benjamin Glenn assistant supervisor.
On March 30, the UBC held closed-door hearings at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Albany on allegations that the Empire Council unfairly burdened its upstate members with millions of dollars in investment losses stemming from Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. An investment adviser working with the Empire Council had placed money with Madoff.
The total losses to the Empire Council’s pension, annuity and health funds were estimated at more than $160 million.
Below is the exclusive testimony provided by Brother Richard Dorrough of Local 370 of the closed-door hearings.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Shake-up in Leaders of Union for Carpenters
By Matt Glynn
Financial fallout from the Bernard L. Madoff investment scandal has resulted in a leadership shake-up at a statewide unionized-carpenters organization that lost money in the Ponzi scheme.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters, based in Washington, D. C., has placed the statewide organization, the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, under supervision.
The UBC said its investigation continues into how losses stemming from the Madoff scandal were allocated to members of the Empire Council and what can be done for individual carpenters who have felt the financial impact.
Among several changes, it removed Patrick B. Morin as the Empire Council’s executive secretary and treasurer, and appointed the UBC’s Eastern District vice president, Frank Spencer, to supervise the council.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Union Losses Being Probed
By ERIC ANDERSON BUSINESS EDITOR
A spokesman for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America said the national union is conducting a "complete wall-to-wall review" of the troubled Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, which it took over in late April.
Scott Widmeyer, a spokesman for the national union, said he couldn't verify reports that $160 million in pension and other benefit funds may have been lost after the Empire Council invested money with Bernard Madoff, who has admitted he operated a Ponzi scheme.
"To verify that number presently would be premature," he said. "The goal is to get things to a situation ... to minimize losses to the union and its members."
Widmeyer confirmed that the national union placed the Empire Council under supervision following two days of hearings at the end of March in downtown Albany.
The national union's vice president for the Eastern District, Frank G. Spencer, has been put in charge of the Empire Council.
Among the locals affected is Carpenters Local 370 in Albany, which has 900 members in the Capital Region. It had money in several employee benefit plans that invested with Madoff.
But the Empire Council may have made the situation worse for the upstate locals by allocating a greater portion of the losses upstate.
Widmeyer said it was too soon to say whether the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which guarantees pension plans, would have a role to play in safeguarding carpenters' pensions.
"Again, the focus presently is on getting a complete handle on the losses and working to minimize losses," Widmeyer said.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
National Union Seizes State Offices
Carpenters leaders alleged wrongdoing by downstate officials
By ERIC ANDERSON BUSINESS EDITOR
ALBANY -- A statewide union representing hundreds of Capital Region carpenters has been taken over by the national union in the wake of heavy investment losses in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
The takeover came less than a month after closed-door hearings in Albany into alleged improprieties at the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America has imposed "supervision" of the Empire State Council and put Frank G. Spencer, vice president for the Eastern District, in charge.
Spencer did not return a call for comment Wednesday.
At the end of March, the national union conducted hearings into the way $160 million in losses that unionized carpenters suffered were allocated among the union locals.
The downstate management of the union may have "discriminated against" the upstate locals in allocating those losses, according to Douglas J. McCarron, UBC president, in a letter to the Empire Council's executive secretary and treasurer, Patrick B. Morin.
Upstate members saw health accounts wiped out and pension and annuity funds drained.
One member had to pay a monthly premium of $1,060 to keep his health insurance, McCarron wrote. McCarron didn't return a call Wednesday for comment.
Among the locals affected by the Madoff losses was Carpenters Local 370 in Albany, which has about 900 members in the Capital Region. It had money in several employee benefit plans that invested with Madoff.
A consultant to the investment manager of the benefit funds, Ivy Asset management, on Tuesday was sued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who accused it of deliberately misleading clients about Madoff so it could collect millions of dollars in fees.
"These defendants violated their basic responsibility as investment advisers by putting their own financial interests ahead of their clients," Cuomo said. "They shamelessly profited off of their own clients' impending misfortune and we are holding them accountable for their actions."
An Ivy spokesman said the firm had told its clients it had questions about Madoff and had recommended they reduce their exposure.
Also on Tuesday, Spencer, who will oversee the Empire Council, called a mandatory staff meeting at the Council's office in Hawthorne.
At the meeting, Spencer said Morin, the Empire secretary and treasurer, had been removed, and that all labor trustees of the Empire funds had been relieved of their duties.
The UBC is also auditing the Empire Council's financial records and, in a switch from past practice, fund documents, minutes and financial records would all be accessible to union members, Spencer told them.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Empire Council Placed Under Supervision
It’s official, the Empire State Council of Carpenters was placed under supervision by the UBC on April 26, 2010. Patrick Morin was removed as EST. Frank Spencer has been appointed supervisor and Benjamin Glenn assistant supervisor. For more information click here.
On March 30 the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America scheduled hearings at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Albany to look into the management of union pension, annuity and health funds by the Empire State Regional Council.
Upstate union members may have been "discriminated against" in allocating losses from the Madoff investments, wrote Douglas J. McCarron, general president of the UBC, in a 10-page letter to Patrick B. Morin, executive secretary-treasurer of the Empire State Regional Council.
In one case, the loss of a $6.4 million investment with Madoff made by the Empire Welfare Fund was allocated entirely to the former participants in the Upstate Health Fund, even though it had been folded into the Empire Fund and dissolved two years earlier, McCarron wrote.
Upstate members saw their fund accounts dwindle; in one case, a member's health account was wiped out, and he had to pay a monthly premium of $1,060 to keep his health insurance, McCarron wrote.
A trustee from the former upstate funds may have been illegally barred from board meetings when Madoff issues were being discussed. Madoff had admitted operating a massive Ponzi scheme that cost investors billions of dollars and is now in prison.
And while the Empire Council had agreed to provide information about the allocation of Madoff losses, McCarron wrote, much of it hadn't yet been provided.
Union members' concerns about the health of their retirement and other funds were first described in a story March 15, 2009, in the Times Union.
At that time, several members, including Charles Lezette and Rich Dorrough, said that Empire Council officials weren't sharing much information about the Madoff losses. They told them that their annuity fund was "temporarily on hold and we can't touch it," Dorrough recalled at the time.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
EST Pat Morin CNBC Charlie Gasparino & Forbes’ Neil Weinberg Discuss Unions Exposed to Madoff
The financial carnage coming out of the Bernard Madoff investment scandal is now spreading from charities and wealthy individuals to labor union pension funds.
In recent days, several have fessed up to their members their significant exposure to Madoffs investment scheme, which will result in massive losses to their members. CNBC has learned that one union, the Carpenters local in Syracuse, NY, has lost the majority of the $100 million to $150 million it had in pension money because of its dealings with Madoff, people close to the matter said.
The unions money manager, JP Jeanneret Associates of Syracuse, didn't return a telephone call for comment.
The Syracuse carpenters local isn't alone. Pat Morin, business manager of Empire State Carpenters Union, is sifting through the wreckage in his own portfolio, which at the end of June had around $800 million in assets under management.
Morin says his fund has exposure to Madoff as well, largely the result of consolidation in union pension funds where locals like Syracuse had transferred money to his oversight.
Syracuse consolidated in June, but that doesn't mean that the Syracuse fund will now be covered by money in the larger pool. Morin says pension assets remain segregated at least for a period of time, meaning that Syracuse may have to shoulder the entire Madoff hit on its own, which one person close to the matter said was nearly all the money it had under management. Morin declined to comment on the Syracuse exposure.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Empire State Regional Council--SUPERVISION HEARINGS SUMMARY
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is looking into allegations that a union representing carpenters across the state disproportionately burdened upstate members with millions of dollars in investment losses stemming from Madoff’s fraud.
The UBC has scheduled hearings in Albany on actions taken by the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, which is based in Westchester County. Below is commentary and testimony by UBC brother Richard Dorrough.
ROBBED AND FLEECED UBC MEMBERS CONDUCTED THEMSELVES IN A STELLAR MANNER
I attended the first day of hearings on March 30, but due to an emergency missed the second. My testimony was read into the record by brother John Newell. The turn out was much larger than they expected. They had to open a second room to accommodate members and the first day was still wall to wall standing room only.
The member presence was mostly a mix of downstate and central New York members with a rather small but committed turnout of Albany members.
Local 370 members were there none the less. At all times the membership conducted themselves in a manner befitting UBC members. There were no outbursts or disruptions despite the volatile nature of the hearings.
Upon entering the hotel members were directed to a basement floor meeting room in the Crowne Plaza.
Members were required to show ID and checked against the list. Security was present and members were forced to be scanned before entering the room.
Perhaps the Empire Council and the UBC did understand the severity of stealing member’s futures and robbing their accounts. I arrived at 8am and already the room was full. I signed for testimony and was number 38.
The hearing was called to order by Chairman Draper at 8:30 am. The first two called to testify were Frank Spencer and Jack Simmons.
It was clear from the start that Morin’s future is cooked. Both Spencer and Simmons accused Morin and Simmons quite aggressively, threw Morin under the bus.
It was rather amusing to hear the man who put us in these funds and has lined his pockets with member’s monies berate Morin.
If anyone besides Morin is to be held accountable it should be Simmons and Fuchs. What a poor choice by the UBC as a character assassin against Morin.
Go back and check the 5500s, 990, LM2s and LM30s to see how much Simmons has raked out of the members. The records show that much of this devastation Simmons orchestrated before he bailed. Check to see if he and Hicks emptied their accounts when they left. Morin was offered the chance to testify early but choose to wait.
Many officers, ex officers and delegates testified. A rather testy exchanged occurred later in the day between Dave Davies and Patrick Morin. It appeared Morin does not like members having meeting minutes for evidence.
All the testimony, with the exception of two members who made vain attempts to make "I Love Morin" speeches, were negative against Morin and the Empire Council.
Many disturbing allegations were made. The atmosphere of harassment and intimidation alleged in the Empire Council clearly exists based on the testimony given.
Morin choose to testify in the second session and it was clear from the start that the "Pit Bull" Chairman Draper was nobody's fool and was not going to accept lies.
He and Morin shared many heated exchanges.
Morin set the stage in his opening statement when he accused the UBC International of bias in its decision to hold these hearings and question his actions.
Morin stated "Other pension funds reduced their accrual rates such as the Adirondack Pension Fund and the International did nothing. Where were you then??" The tone had been set and Chairman Draper responded with vigor.
Mr. Draper was primed and ready as he questioned Morin. He was not accepting the answers and excuses Morin gave and told him so.
He told Morin to the effect he "was not born yesterday."
At one point he basically called Morin a liar. "You can lie here to me today Pat but you will not lie to the next people you are going to appear before.
You are under oath here today. Thy will read what you testified to today and we will see if you change you testimony to them."
Draper grilled Morin over and over on many issues and parts of his testimony.
Morin was backed into a corner and the exchange became quite terse many times. Draper was nobodies fool and had the tenacity of a pit bull. Morin was finally allowed to slink away.
Before the break Chairman Draper called out to the seated and standing members for Empire Council President David Haines.
Haines was standing against the side wall and identified himself to the chairman.
Chairman Draper asked Haines if he was scheduled to testify. He responded he was not. Chairman Draper asked him to testify since he was mentioned many times in what seemed to be situations that implicated Morin.
Mr. Haines REFUSED to testify.
Chairman Draper made him aware that he felt his testimony was very important and that while he could not make him testify he was asked to reconsider and testify.
Haines never testified. It was obvious he was not going to bury Morin.
The day was an interesting experience and, one although we could hope would never be necessary, was a day not to be missed by any UBC member.
It was a fine example of UBC justice at work. It was the example all disenchanted members needed to see.
It was proof that if you stand up and fight back you can bring these arrogant and pompous little men to justice.
For whatever motive the UBC was present and called these hearings they were in fact there.
These self proclaim untouchables were put on the carpet and if common sense prevails will be gone and prosecuted by the proper authorities.
We can only hope the UBC International will send a clear message to the membership and the signatory contractors that enough is enough.
Let us hope they do not replace these corrupt elements with more of the same.
Testimony of Richard Dorrough
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Carpenters await report on losses
By Matt Glynn
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters is awaiting a report and recommendations following hearings into how a statewide Carpenters organization allocated losses from Bernard Madoff’s fraud.
A committee appointed by the Washington, D. C.-based UBC held two days of closed-door hearings in Albany this week. It was responding to allegations that the Empire State Regional Council disproportionately burdened upstate unionized carpenters with losses stemming from investment losses tied to Madoff. The estimated $160 million in losses impacted the members’ pension, annuity and health funds.
The UBC said more than 45 members and union leaders presented testimony but did not release details of the testimony.
The Empire State Regional Council’s territory covers New York State, excluding New York City. Its affiliated unions include Local 289, based in Cheektowaga. A report prepared by the hearing committee will be presented to the UBC’s General Executive Board for consideration and possible action, the UBC said. Monte Byers, chief of staff for the UBC, said he did not know when the report might be presented.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Statewide Carpenters Union Eyed In Probe
Hearing on allocation of losses tied to Madoff
By Matt Glynn
Bernard L. Madoff is in prison, but unionized carpenters in New York State are still coping with the financial fallout from his fraudulent scheme.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America is looking into allegations that a union representing carpenters across the state disproportionately burdened upstate members with millions of dollars in investment losses stemming from Madoff’s fraud.
The UBC has scheduled a hearing today and Wednesday in Albany on actions taken by the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, which is based in Westchester County.
Douglas J. McCarron, general president of the Washington, D. C.-based UBC, laid out the allegations in a letter this month to Patrick B. Morin, the council’s executive secretary-treasurer. Copies of the letter were sent to members of affiliated local unions, including Cheektowaga-based Carpenters Local 289.
The 10-page letter offers a look into the financial ripple effect of Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme on some of its victims. In the case of the Empire State Regional Council, the impact hit individuals in the form of diminished pension, annuity and health funds for unionized workers at affiliated locals. The council says it has 15,000 members in a territory that excludes New York City.
Morin did not return a call to comment.
McCarron wrote to Morin that the UBC had received “numerous complaints” from local unions affiliated with the council over how the Madoffrelated losses had been allocated.
The total losses to the council’s pension, annuity and health funds were estimated at more than $160 million. The largest share of those losses, $97 million, was to the pension fund, McCarron wrote.
Madoff was arrested in late 2008 and later admitted to the Ponzi scheme. He is serving a 150-year prison sentence in North Carolina.
Buffalo-area victims of the scheme included Laborers Local 210, Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 3, and developer Howard Zemsky. Carpenters union workers had been identified in previous media reports as victims, but McCarron’s letter provides a more detailed account of the impact.
The letter refers to Syracusebased investment adviser J. P. Jeanneret Associates, a firm that placed money with Madoff on behalf of many unions in the state. Questions were raised at a meeting of the Empire funds’ board of trustees over whether Jeanneret was diversified enough in its investment products, the letter says.
“This appears to suggest that Jeanneret investments may not have been adequately diversified and raises questions regarding whether the Empire funds should have taken action to further diversify their assets to reduce the likelihood of large losses,” McCarron wrote.
McCarron also wrote that the UBC received information about possible financial irregularities within the Empire State Regional Council’s pension, annuity and health funds “and that these financial irregularities threaten the welfare of members within the council.”
The letter says it appears the Madoff losses were “disproportionately” allocated to former participants of the Upstate New York Carpenters annuity, pension and health funds, which were merged with the Empire State Regional Council’s funds before the Madoff fraud was uncovered.
McCarron said it appears the Empire Annuity Fund’s board of trustees approved allocating 75 percent of the fund’s Madoff-related losses to former participants in the Upstate fund —even though the Empire fund had assumed control of the former Upstate fund assets 2z years before the fraud was exposed.
The letter also says it appears that an investment of about $6.4 million in a Madoffrelated investment in December 2008 by the Empire Welfare Fund was allocated entirely to former Upstate Health Fund members, despite the Upstate fund having been dissolved and merged in early 2007.
“In addition to resulting in an inequitable allocation of losses, attributing such investment to the Upstate area appears to be fraudulent,” McCarron wrote.
Upstate members took a hit on an individual level, as their health reimbursement accounts and annuity accounts were sharply cut, the letter said. It recounts the story of one Upstate member who had to pay a monthly health insurance premium of $1,060 to avoid the termination of his health insurance.
Thomas Burke, president of Carpenters Local 289 in Cheektowaga, said he expects some of his local’s 1,400 members will probably testify at the hearing, but he couldn’t predict what the outcome of the process might be.
“We’re all going to have to wait and see what happens at the hearings,” Burke said.
Burke said however much an individual union member lost as a result of the Madoff fraud, the loss is significant.
“Any time you take a hit on a fraudulent scheme, it’s not coming back,” he said.
Local 747 in Syracuse said on its Web site it will provide buses for members who want to travel to Albany to testify at today’s hearing.
McCarron in his letter said the hearings will determine if supervision by the UBC over the Empire State Regional Council should be imposed.
Monte Byers, chief of staff for the UBC, said the hearings will not be open to the public. “This is a chance for the members to express their legitimate concerns,” he said.
Byers said he expects the UBC will release a statement following the hearings.
The UBC’s General Executive Board will make a final determination about the next step after the UBC’s Hearing Committee submits a report and recommendations, Byers said.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Probe Set On Carpenter Union Losses
Brotherhood of carpenters investigation will examine Madoff scheme ramifications
By ERIC ANDERSON
ALBANY -- The $160 million that unionized carpenters in New York state lost to Bernard Madoff, and the way those losses were -- or weren't -- shared among the union's members, are the focus of hearings to be held at the end of the month in Albany.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America has scheduled hearings March 30 and 31 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Albany to look into the management of union pension, annuity and health funds by the Empire State Regional Council.
Upstate union members may have been "discriminated against" in allocating losses from the Madoff investments, wrote Douglas J. McCarron, general president of the UBC, in a 10-page letter to Patrick B. Morin, executive secretary-treasurer of the Empire State Regional Council.
Copies of the letter were sent to various union officials and all union members affiliated with the Empire Council. (see below)
In one case, the loss of a $6.4 million investment with Madoff made by the Empire Welfare Fund was allocated entirely to the former participants in the Upstate Health Fund, even though it had been folded into the Empire Fund and dissolved two years earlier, McCarron wrote.
Upstate members saw their fund accounts dwindle; in one case, a member's health account was wiped out, and he had to pay a monthly premium of $1,060 to keep his health insurance, McCarron wrote.
A trustee from the former upstate funds may have been illegally barred from board meetings when Madoff issues were being discussed. Madoff had admitted operating a massive Ponzi scheme that cost investors billions of dollars and is now in prison.
And while the Empire Council had agreed to provide information about the allocation of Madoff losses, McCarron wrote, much of it hadn't yet been provided.
Morin didn't return a call for comment.
Monte Byers, chief of staff for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, confirmed that the hearings are scheduled but declined to comment specifically about the allegations.
Union members' concerns about the health of their retirement and other funds were first described in a story Feb. 15, 2009, in the Times Union.
At that time, several members, including Charles Lezette and Rich Dorrough, said that Empire Council officials weren't sharing much information about the Madoff losses. They told them that their annuity fund was "temporarily on hold and we can't touch it," Dorrough recalled at the time.
Carpenters Local 370 in Albany has about 900 members in the Capital Region. Officials there declined to comment Friday afternoon and referred questions to Morin.
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