Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-24

Senate RdcketS Committee
OF hearings reported on By
/. There has been a signifl.
cant lack Of democratic prOce.
dures In the unions studied.
a. Constitutions have beer
perverted or ignored.
b. One man relationships
have thrived.
c. Through fear, intimidation
and violence, the rank-and- file
member has been shorn of q
voice in his own union affairs
notably in financial matters.
d. Use of the secret ballot
has been denied in many cases
2. The international unions
surveyed by this committee have
f1agrantly abused their power
to place local unions under
trusteeship or supervisOrship.
a. Some trusteeShips have
been baselessly imposed.
b. Some have lasted for as
hong as 80 years.
c. Rank-and-file efforts to
throw of such shackles have
been ignored. rejected, and
sometimes met with violence
and intimidation.
d. Locals under trusteeship
have been plundered by the very
cflcials entrusted with the
management of their affairs.
c. Locals under trusteeship
have been used as pawns in
political battles within interna-
tional unions. often in order
to boost the ambitions of par
ticular candidates for high Of
fee.
3. Certain arrangements have
extensively engaged i'm collision
with unions.
a. They have paid high union
ofncials to obtain favored treat
ment by way Of sweetheart"
contracts.
b. They have paid of to OBJ
tain inferior contracts which
impose suh-standard working
conditions on thousands of
workers.
c. They have connived with
approved" unions at under.
the-table agreements to per-
NIT organizing of their workers
to the exclusion of other unions.
d. Certain companies have
granted business concessions
and loans to union leaders with
whom they want to curry favor.
e. Trade associations have
conspired with unions to
achieve industry monopolies
I. So-called whip COM
panies" have been set up to
keep rival companies in line,
and have been blinked at BY
unions even when they have
themselves broken union rules.
4. There has been widespread
misuse Of union funds in the
unions studied:
a. Finarcial safeguards have
been woef'll,y lacking. ADULTS
nave been little more than a
formal ritual of adding I'D fig
ures, while falling to probe their
veracity or the vital detail be-
hind them.
D. F1nat+riaj reports to rank
and-file members have often
been false, Fslsetehy, and even
In these forms largely unayail-
able for perusal by the menu
bership.. There have been no
regular means provided where
by the rank and file could have
access to these reports, and
members with the temerity TO
suggest detailed accountings
for their own money have been
shouted down and sometimes
beaten.
c. Union officials have en-
gagged il the habit CT dealing
In cash rather than by cheek.
They have failed to submit
vouchers for many expendi-
lures. and when vouchers have
been turned in they have fire.
uuently been false or only
vaguely explanatory.
d. Union officers charged
with responsibility for dis
bursemerts have often signed
checks in blank for their SUI
Deriors. with no knowledge of
Or request for information as
10 the purpose for which the
funds were drawn.
e. With these incredibly loose
practices. the misuse of union
funds. including outright thefts
hnd borrowings" for ncrscnal
profit, has totaled upwards of
$40 million in union-dues
money-an average Of S. out
Of the pocket of every men,
Der of the unions covered in
this report.
I. Even in the case of publi-
cized gifts to union officials.
the recipients have not declared
them for income-tax purposes,
while the donors Frequently
employers have written them
of as deductible business ex-
penses.
e. Destruction of financial
records and Cancelled checks has
been rife. often coincidentally
with the ar7roach of committee
investigators.
h. Union officials have re-
eeived fiat expense allowances
often in excess of demonstrated
needs. Even in the absence of
evidence that these moneys
were used for legitimate union
purposes, they were not record
ed as income in the filing of
tax returns.
/. Loans Of union funds have
gone to favored officers when
no such opportunities have been
available to rank-and-file men,
bers. Union loans have also
been mode Unfortunately to
corporations. to personal friends
Of union officials. and to in
dlviduals Of low repute unable
m ohfaio crodit f,o,,, l,o,,t,, o,,sl