Union trusts must provide financial data (new Labor Dept. rules to root out corruption (SEIU))

LA Times ^ | 9/30/08 | Paul Pringle

[NormsRevenge]

Labor union trusts that provide a variety of benefits for workers must disclose detailed financial information under new federal rules designed to root out corruption, officials said Monday.

In announcing the requirement, the U.S. Labor Department cited several cases in recent years of union officers stealing from trusts established for retirement funds, job training and disaster relief.

It was not immediately clear how the rules might apply to a Service Employees International Union local in Los Angeles, whose spending practices are the subject of a criminal investigation. The United Long-Term Care Workers has a related health trust and worker-training charity ...

Meanwhile, Willis Edwards, vice president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood chapter of the NAACP and a member of the organization's national board, said the FBI has questioned him about $25,000 in consulting fees the local paid him last year.

Edwards said the payments were for work on a website and the NAACP had not been involved. "I earned every penny of it," he said. "I did nothing wrong."

He appears in a brief video extolling the work of Tyrone Freeman, president of the United Long-Term Care Workers, who later was removed from the union payroll because of internal corruption allegations. Freeman has denied any wrongdoing.

Edwards said the $25,000 had nothing to do with his participation in the video, which has been posted on YouTube.

The video also features tributes to Freeman from the Rev. Eric P. Lee, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, and Charisse Bremond Weaver, president of the Brotherhood Crusade.

In 2007, the local made $11,000 in donations and non-itemized payments to the Brotherhood Crusade and about $15,700 to the SCLC Dream Foundation, according to the union's financial filings with the Labor Department.

--snip--

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment Monday.

[RSmithOpt]

Cool....a long time coming....now, let’s add some fed, state, GSE’s to the list and we’ll have a big hanging party.

[NormsRevenge]

developin’

[NonValueAdded]

$25K of Web work? Let’s see the link and judge the value of Edwards’ work for ourselves. [crickets chirp - pages pro’ly don’t even exist]. Build more jails, we’ll need ’em.