DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!
Carpenters Union Leader Gets 5 Years For Fraud
September 12, 2008—A former shop steward and executive delegate for the Carpenters Union was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.
Michael Annucci, also known as “Mickey” Annucci of Local 157 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, was convicted following an eight-day trial in February for conspiracy, wire fraud, aiding and abetting the embezzlement of funds from employee benefit plans, and receipt of bribes by a labor representative.
Annuncci served as a shop steward for the District Council, an executive delegate to the District Council representing Local 157 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, and a member of the District Council’s trial committee – which imposed discipline on carpenters who broke union rules.
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Judge Continues Oversight of District Council Cites Continued Corruption
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Union Thugs Beat Member for Disagreeing With Party Line
After an August 5 Local 608 candidates forum, the candidate was beaten by members of the audience outside a church. Outside a CHURCH!
This thuggery along with continued indictments, convictions and corruption convinced Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. not to release the union from government oversight.
The assault last week on the dissident union candidate, William Davenport, undermined the union’s assertions of a change in its internal culture. Mr. Davenport, according to several accounts, was heckled when he spoke at the union meeting, which was attended by about 500 members. Despite the presence of two retired police detectives hired to maintain order, a group of men stood up in the front rows and screamed, while members of the Unity Teams Adminstration did nothing to stop them.
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Corrupt Contractor Sues District Council For $100M
April 2, 2008--On Par Contracting has filed a $100 million dollar lawsuit against the NYC District Council of Carpenters alleging among other things that the District Council has allowed its officers to utilize a corrupt scheme whereby preferential treatment was given to certain companies in exchange for secret payoffs and knowingly permitted its officers to participate in a conspiracy to manipulate and corrupt the job referral system.
Here it is for your reading pleasure; The On Par lawsuit. Click here for PDF file.
Job Rules of Carpenters' Union Encourage Corruption, U.S. Charges
The United States attorney in Manhattan, David N. Kelley, said in a motion that in changing the job referral system, the New York City District Council of Carpenters violated a consent decree it signed in 1994.
Unity Team Obstructed An Investigation Of Corrupt Council Employees
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Judge Urged to Replace A Union Investigator
In a scathing petition
, federal prosecutors called for ousting the investigator, saying he had done far too little to clean up a union known for helping mobsters get lucrative jobs at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and for taking payoffs so that nonunion employees could be hired.
The United States attorney in Manhattan, Michael J. Garcia, filed a 25-page petition last Friday that repeatedly belittled the investigator, William Callahan, saying his ''tenure has been marked by incomplete and slow-moving investigations'' and ''virtually no new evidence of corruption.''
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July 10, 2008 The owners Tri-Built Construction Inc. a drywall contracting business have each been sentenced to five years in federal prison for conspiring to defraud the Carpenters Union benefit funds of millions of dollars by using non-union labor, paying union carpenters off-the-books and bribing shop stewards and an employee of the benefit funds to assist in the fraud.
Patrick Noel McCaul and James Dermot McGonnel were indicted in December 2006 and pleaded guilty on Nov. 20, 2007.
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Excerpts from Mr. Thomassen – Direct Testimony
The following is an exchange of testimony between Judge Haigh and President Thomassen on April 12, 2005. Here we learn for the first time —that the Unity Team “bargained away” the job referral rules and gave the contractor what they wanted—The unfettered right to “request” anyone they want from the out-of-work list!
QUESTION THE COURT: I take it by what you intend to convey by your last answer, that in the most recent negotiation with the association of contractors with whom you negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, you relaxed or gave something up. Did you give something up on the 50-50 rule? Did you grant them greater liberty than they otherwise had had in the past with respect to their ability to request individual carpenters? Is that what was going on?
ANSWER MR.THOMASSEN: 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.
To read the full transcript click here.
The Unity Teams 2001 Contract Change
The Unity Team clearly violated their oath of office and more importantly the trust of the membership they claim to represent. The NYCDC Bylaws plainly state, the "delegate body" has final approval on all contracts. Yet The Unity Team failed to seek consent and failed to disclose this disastrous contract change, to the elected delegates. The theft of decision-making power from the elected delegate body that is charged with approving all contracts is unconscionable!
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