Washington, D.C. (August 31, 2009) – The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) today issued the following statement in response to news reports that numerous Teamsters officials were sentenced to prison time for their roles in “rigging union elections,” including “diverting hundreds of secret ballots to family members and friends.”
BACKGROUND:
Teamsters Sentenced To Prison Time For “Rigging Union Elections”:
“Three former officials of one of the largest Teamsters locals in the country were sentenced to prison Thursday for rigging union elections in Chicago in 2004. A federal jury convicted them in April of fraud-related charges for diverting hundreds of secret ballots to family members and friends to prevent Teamsters Local 743 members from voting. Thaddeus Bania, 55, who changed addresses of members in a union database so ballots instead went to the homes of relatives and friends, was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison. Richard Lopez, 55, the local’s former secretary-treasurer who provided addresses to send ballots, was sentenced to 2 years in prison. David Rodriguez, 37, a union organizer who picked up and returned ballots, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.” (“3 Ex-Teamsters Officials Sentenced For Rigging Union Election,” The Chicago Tribune, 8/28/09)
Teamsters General President Jimmy Hoffa: “Since When Is The Secret Ballot A Basic Tenet Of Democracy?”:
“‘Since when is the secret ballot a basic tenet of democracy?’ Hoffa said. ‘Town meetings in New England are as democratic as they come, and they don’t use the secret ballot. Elections in the Soviet Union were by secret ballot, but those weren’t democratic.’” (Release, “Hoffa Commends Sponsors Of Employee Free Choice,” International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 3/10/09)
