AFT regulations require all locals to conduct audits every two years and file them with the national organization, lawyers for the AFT told U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan at the hearing. But the lawyers then insisted that the AFT had no legal obligation to review the audits or even verify that they were received. These assertions were self-serving, given that the WTU had not filed an audit with the AFT since 1995. Seven years transpired before the AFT finally got around to commissioning its own audit. It did so only after receiving complaints from D.C. teachers about excessive dues deductions. Meanwhile, from 1996 to 2002, the finances of the WTU were being systematically looted.
After listening to the blame-shifting explanation of the AFT lawyers, Judge Sullivan declared the situation to be "outrageous," noting that it "didn't make common sense." Calling the AFT's position "a sad commentary," the judge observed, "It seems everyone in a responsible position fell asleep at the switch. The only ones who were vigilant were the thieves, who took everything that wasn't nailed down."
The AFT's own audit revealed that Esther Hankerson, who served as general vice president under WTUPresident Barbara Bullock, acknowledged receiving a phone call from the union's bank way back in 1997. The bank believed that Mrs. Hankerson's signature had been forged by Miss Bullock, who was attempting to cash an $8,000 union check payable to herself. After telling the bank to cash the check, Mrs. Hankerson later confronted Miss Bullock, who admitted forging Mrs. Hankerson's signature.
Mrs. Hankerson, who was not accused in an FBI affidavit of misspending union money, became interim union president after Miss Bullock resigned last year. However, as the AFT's audit noted, Mrs. Hankerson failed to report the forgery, a negligent oversight that permitted the looting to continue unabated. Despite this fact, the AFT retained Mrs. Hankerson after it took over the WTU and installed George Springer as administrator. Only after teachers raised strong objections did Mr. Springer finally place Mrs. Hankerson on administrative leave in mid-March, although she continued to receive her full $90,000 salary - to the dismay of many teachers.
Also last week, the FBI and Miami-Dade's Public Corruption Task Force raided the headquarters of the AFT affiliate in Miami. As in Washington, investigators in Florida are probing whether the president of the financially troubled Miami affiliate, which has been dogged by corruption rumors for years, embezzled union dues.
The AFT has clearly demonstrated that it is incapable of monitoring its affiliates. For the sake of the public trust and Washington teachers, who have already seen $5 million of their dues drained while the AFT looked the other way, a court-appointed monitor is necessary. [End]
Second bank calls in loan to teachers' union - School district freezes collected dues*** A second bank is calling in a loan to the United Teachers of Dade, prompting the Miami-Dade school district to freeze hundreds of thousands of dollars in union dues collected through payroll deduction.
Those developments raise further questions about the union's financial stability during the same week the FBI raided UTD headquarters as part of a federal embezzlement probe focusing on its longtime leader, Pat Tornillo.***
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State by state the NEA and the AFT are merging into one. An example:
April 5, 2000 - Teachers' Unions To Merge In Two More States*** Members of the two teachers' unions in Montana were poised to celebrate late last week as their organizations cemented a long-planned merger.
The new union, in the works for two years, is the second state-level merger of affiliates of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. In 1998, state affiliates in Minnesota came together to form Education Minnesota. And next month, members of the Florida affiliates will hold a founding convention to launch a 100,000-member unified organization.
"When we stand before the legislature, the governor, the board of regents, and the board of public education, we'll be one, we'll speak with one voice," said Eric Feaver, who was running unopposed for president of the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers. Mr. Feaver had previously served as the head of the 10,000-member NEA affiliate. The association is combining forces with the 5,500-member federation affiliate, whose president, Jim McGarvey, had no challenger for vice president of the new organization. ***
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Teachers' Unions in Power and Politics***This book is an effort to describe the structure, operations, and influence of teacher unions, especially the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The context should make it clear whether the organization titles include their state and local affiliates. The authors believe that an NEA/AFT merger will take place in the 1990s, but whether or not this happens, the emergence of strong teacher unions is an important development in education, in the labor movement, in the economy, and in American politics. Because their role is so pervasive but also so widely overlooked, a brief comment on the subject may serve as an introduction to this book.***
My mother, in a nonunion job in the private sector, hasn't gotten a raise since 1996. The UTD can take their whining and SHOVE IT. I'd be perfectly content to see the entire system shut down and replaced with nonunion labor.
And they talk about Enron!