Our last annual report, for 2004, characterized

that   year   as   a   time   of transition   for   the

Association for Union Democracy (AUD). In

2004, we settled into a new office and recruited a

new executive director. The year 2005 found us

undergoing further staff transition, while at the

same time, the financial situation stabilized and

several new projects were launched. AUD contin-

ues to fight for democracy in the labor move-

ment, and we were in the forefront of a number of

successful   reform   struggles   in 2005. AUD

worked with a groups in a number of different

unions to confront problems of corruption, intim-

idation, and undemocratic practices. AUD pro-

vided steady and continuing support to these

reformers, through meetings and by   telephone

and email, advising unionists on their rights with-

in the law. Because our office is in Brooklyn, a

large part of our work involves direct personal

contact with workers in New York City.

REFORM PROJECTS

ATU   Local   1181:   Reformers   Organize,

Challenge Entrenched Leadership

Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)Local 1181 is

the 16,000 member New York City local that rep-

resents   school bus   and   para-transit   drivers

throughout the City and Long Island.   Most of

them are minorities and recent immigrants. In

April 2004, school bus drivers filed suit against

the union to enforce their seniority rights and

formed the group that would ultimately become

"Members for Change." In July 2004, one thou-

sand bus drivers won a two week strike against

four private companies that provide paratransit

service to the elderly and disabled for the

Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in New

York City. The strike was led by insurgents in the

local that was organized to demand better repre-

sentation in their union.

After meeting with AUD repeatedly in early 2005

regarding their election rights and the process, the

Members for Change ran a slate of eight (includ-

ing president/business agent and financial secre-

tary) in a June 2005 election, the first contested

election in over ten years. The group got over 20

percent of the vote, a respectable showing. Even

in defeat, the rank and file opposition had made a

difference in the atmosphere in a local that had

been closely controlled and independent voices

quelled. The importance of the change became

clear a few weeks later when the president, finan-

cial secretary, and the manager of the union's pen-

sion fund were indicted along with alleged boss

of the Genovese crime family for corruption in

the local.

Meanwhile, the indicted officials remain in

office, in full control of the local. Members for

Change, still active, mounted a campaign to oust

the indicted officials. In a series of letters, now

supported by a petition campaign among the

members, the group called upon the ATU interna-

tional to impose a trusteeship over the local, oust

the offending officers, encourage reform,   and

take steps to prepare a fair election.

So far, the international, remaining passive in the

face of scandal, has refused to intervene. At this

writing, the reform campaign aims to bring pres-

sure upon the international from local members

and the general public. For the first time, Local

1181 is experiencing the stirring of rank and file

democracy.

ATU Reformers Win in Local 241

AUD had been working with   reformer Peter

Fionda, of ATU Local 241 for some time. The

ATU International had placed its Local 241 under

trusteeship back in October 2002 immediately

after Fionda (a long time union member and

founder of Transport Workers for a Democratic

Union) and two others had been elected delegates

to the convention. These duly elected delegates

were subsequently denied their seats. Fionda

reported that an   international vice-president

appointed delegates in their place, though federal

law requires the secret ballot election of dele-

gates who, in turn, elect international officers.

AUD advised Pete regarding filing a complaint

with the Department of Labor for election law

violations, and advised him of his rights to cam-

paign without intimidation when the trusteeship

was imposed. Fionda and his associates formed a

reform slate, which ran for office in May 2005

elections. An amendment to Local 241's bylaws

created a new position of Assistant Business

Agent which Fionda and another reformer had

been urging since 2001

Fionda's slate won 15 of the 31 seats available,

including,   after   a   runoff,   the   positions   of

President and Assistant Business Agent for

Maintenance.

Reform Successful in IATSE 798

Over the course of 2005, AUD provided hours of

education and workshops and fielded questions

on union democracy and local elections for a

group in Local 798 of the International Alliance

of Theatrical and Stage Employees [IATSE], a

1,200-member east coast local of hair stylists and

makeup artists in which a reform group main-

tained itself through a trusteeship and then won a

sweeping victory.

Questions about the activities of Local 798 union

officials arose in summer 2004, when rumors of

a government investigation and financial double-

dealings by the business manager began to circu-

late. Members formed the "Concerned Members

of Local 798" and began holding regular meet-

ings and set up a website. Concerned Members

sent a letter to the membership with thirty-eight

signers, describing the problems in the union and

calling the members to action. In December,

2004 members of the caucus met with AUD. As

Concerned Members gained momentum so did

the stories of financial corruption. The press

reported that the business manager "tried to sell

more than $1 million worth of real estate bought

with members dues to his brother and brother's

girlfriend at sweetheart prices,"   and that he had

engaged in an "elaborate plot to rob" the family

of a retired Local 798 member of her entire

estate. The Manhattan Attorney' s office con-

firmed the rumors of government investigation.

Concerned Members had their work cut out for

them. Two brothers, Ed and Vincent Callaghan,

had held the office of business manager for more

than forty years between them. This would be

the first election in years where the position of

business manager was contested. In addition to

this, the local's president was apparently willing

to look the other way,   although the local had

filed suit against business manager Vincent

Callaghan. The President wrote the membership,

"...Vincent Callaghan, continues to do his job

representing us with our employers. And Vince

has been co-operating fully with the attorneys."

In postings on the Concerned Members on-line

forum she referred to the rank and file reformers

as "assholes" and said the website is run by

"ignorant dissidents" who are "uneducated and

obnoxious...who do not believe in democracy."

In the Local's January 2005 meeting, she called

the reformers terrorists, referring to them as "our

own   little   Taliban."   In   addition,   Vincent

Callaghan used the front page of the newsletter to

blatantly campaign for his own re-election.

The January 10th general membership and nomi-

nation meeting in New York City drew members

from as far away as Delaware, Philadelphia,

Baltimore, and North Carolina, just to have their

voices heard. Concerned Members organized a

pre-meeting, which almost fifty members attend-

ed. At the local's meeting reformers donned spe-

cially made t-shirts which read "truth and democ-

racy   for   the   rank   and   file   --

www.798members.com," and distributed press

reprints and literature. They nominated reformer

Joe Cuervo for business manager. Rank and file

members stayed on for almost an hour to discuss

the future of their union after the president

abruptly ended the meeting and stormed out.

But in January 2005, shortly before the election,

the IATSE international office announced a

trusteeship   over the   local.   The   Concerned

Members did not go away. In October 2005, the

trusteeship was terminated.   Local membership

promptly voted to require that the business man-

ager be appointed by the incoming executive

committee. In the ensuing election, Concerned

Members slate swept the Executive Board, taking

all positions. They were installed December 12,

2005. Vincent Callaghan was indicted and ulti-

mately pleaded guilty.

Operating Engineers Local 18: At last, suc-

cesses in a tough construction local

In Local 18, International Union of Operating

Engineers (IUOE), AUD has been working with

a group of insurgents called "Members Voice."

Operating engineers are the workers who run the

huge bulldozers, cranes, backhoes, and pile driv-

ers out on the roads. Local 18, with 14,000 mem-

bers, has work sites in 85 of Ohio's 88 counties

and four more in northern Kentucky. The local

has a history of undemocratic practices. In 1984,

Stephen W. Gard, a law professor who had repre-

sented insurgents in Local 18, testified before the

Senate Labor Committee that there had been a

ten-year record of illegal elections, blacklisting,

intimidation, and beatings of those who dared to

oppose the regime. An insurgent group waged a

reform battle, but after ten years of defeat, and

the death or retirement of its leaders, it vanished

from the scene. AUD told their story in its publi-

cation Union Democracy Review. But until the

appearance of this new reform group, we heard

little from Local 18 for 15 years.

Patricia Kohl, who headed the Members Voice

slate, ran a campaign critical of the local's "one-

party system of government."   The Members

Voice platform insisted that "every union should

be thoroughly democratic in its own internal

life." It called for an end to "blacklisting, black-

balling, and retaliation," for the election of busi-

ness agents instead of their appointment, for

opening the pages of the union's publication to

members' opinions, and for full accountability

from all union funds. In its campaign, the group

distributed lengthy excerpts from AUD's book

Democratic Rights for Union Members and suggested that local members visit AUD's website.

On the reformers' web site (www.locall 8mem

bersvoice.org) and in their handbills, they

offered a program of democracy and fair play in

job referrals.   They said that the union should

comply with the provisions of the LMRDA and

"must exceed them....Most of us have been sub-

jected to or, at least been afraid of being black-

listed, blackballed, or other retaliation."   Kohl

said that she was fired after working for 5 1/2

years as a union staffer: "I could have kept my

$78,325 a year job ... by just keeping my mouth

shut. I just couldn't do it."

Another insurgent, Paul Gonter, ran for local

financial secretary. He proposed opening the

pages of the union's publication, the Buckeye

Engineer, to comments by the members and

"responsible constructive criticism of officers

and policy "

In the 2005 elections, the insurgents surpassed

their predecessors. The reform slate elected five

of the eight candidates it ran for district advisory

board. Patricia Kohl was elected to the executive

board of Local 18 as one of the two delegates

from her Division 6. Even more impressive was

her campaign for president of the local, finishing

second in a three-way race with 1,244 votes, or

27.7 percent of the total, running well ahead of

the third candidate, a man, who got 827 votes.

Kohl was one of only eight women among some

300 candidates running in races in all six of Local

18's divisions. Paul Gonter, the slate's candidate

for local financial secretary got 1,404 votes, or 33

percent of the total. John Ginley, an independent

candidate for the top job of business manager, got

over 35 percent of the votes.

Nevertheless, in the larger interests of her union's

democracy, Kohl and her associates are challeng-

ing the conduct of the elections, though it could

jeopardize their own victory. Kohl and six other

local members filed an election protest with the

International. They argued that an electronic sys-

tern of counting ballots made it impossible to ver-

ify the tally; that an unreasonable meeting atten-

dance rule was unfairly applied to disqualify at

least two aspiring candidates; and that other pro-

cedural defects violated the law's requirement for

adequate assurances of a fair election.   They

protested the refusal of the local to break down

the election tally for local officers by district.

They charged that the incumbent used union

money is the campaign.

Operating Engineers Local 66: Reformers

Lose But Continue to Fight

Reformers in Operating Engineers Local 66

fought to get elected to local office this year. This

was a formidable undertaking since the 7,000

member local is spread over 33 counties in

Pennsylvania and three more in Ohio. Reformers

put over 18,000 miles on a single vehicle and

spoke to 1,400 members face to face.

Joe Beasley (candidate for Chief Executive

Officer-Business Manager) identified the key

issue in Local 66 as effective job representation.

Another candidate concurred and said, "...you

don't dare to try to enforce the contract even if

you are in the right." The gripe is with the busi-

ness agents, "it has got to the point where agents

come in [to investigate a member's grievance]

and the first thing the agent does is talk to the

boss." While representation is the number one

issue for members there are financial concerns

too. In 2002 the union leadership proposed a

building fund to either build or buy a much need-

ed new space to house the union. The member-