I did not have knowledge about the Polish workers. What I just heard Trump say, in reference to it, was this situation happened sometime around 1979. He said that “Back then, the laws were different.”
I will treat you with what I know.
The case stems from a demolition project being done by a contractor that Trump hired to make way for the Trump Tower in Manhattan. In 1983, union members sued a union boss, Trump and his contractor for cheating the union out of pension and welfare funds by hiring the 200 workers of the “Polish Brigade.” Trump owed the union pension fund $1 million, the plaintiffs said. It took seven years for this case to reach the courts. Appearing in court in 1990, Trump blamed the violations on the contractor and denied knowing that the Polish workers were undocumented. According to Trump, it was never established that they were undocumented. This was really a case brought by unions workers; not for immigration laws forbidding illegal workers. When union workers want their money, you say, ‘Yessir’ and ‘how much.’
Manhattan Judge Charles Stewart ruled against Trump a year later, saying that his representative “knew that the Polish workers were doing demolition work” and that his company participated in a “conspiracy” to cheat the union. Remember, it was the union boss, the contractor and Trump who were ruled in the conspiracy. I would love to examine the part the union boss (who was his name) and the contractor (what was the company and why the money problems) had in all of this. But time is not my friend and the web repeats the same story omitting the details.
Trump owed the union workers a little more than $325,000 plus interest and attorney’s fees and costs, Stewart ruled. I wonder if the union got the money or, did the workers actually get checks in the mail? That union boss still bothers me.
Trump decided to appeal the ruling and the case dragged on for another decade. If Trump had lost the appeal he would have been forced to pay $4 million. However, that did not happen with a out of court settlement. We don’t know what that settlement was because the agreement was placed under seal. How does anyone know the $1 million settlement if the case was sealed? Loose lips?
I think loose lips is a very good guess, Campaign season makes people do things they would not otherwise do.