Las Vegas Sun

September 5, 2008

Teamsters’ next hurdle: Election

Accusations already flying over contested contract

By J. Patrick Coolican, Michael Mishak

Sat, Apr 5, 2008 (2 a.m.)

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  • Tommy Blitsch, Teamsters Local 631 President discusses why he has decided to break the local's unwritten policy not to speak with members of the media in speaking with the Sun.
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  • Blitsch talks about the turmoil that has plagued Teamsters Local 631 and how his colleagues and him have moved the local into a better direction.
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  • Blitsch contrasts other union locals' elections with that of local 631's elections.
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  • Blitsch responds to the complaints reported by the media from Teamsters Local 631 members.
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  • Blitsch talks about how local 631 pays for their elections and denies that members' jobs have ever been threatened in order to gain contributions.
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Sun Archives

Beyond the Sun

Las Vegas Teamsters Local 631 is never at peace.

After struggling for at least a decade with corruption, mismanagement and infighting, the union now faces a brutal election campaign.

More than three dozen members have lodged federal labor board complaints against the union since 2005, alleging its leaders ignore their grievances against employers or don’t properly represent them in contract talks. That’s a significant number, according to labor experts, and far more than in other Southern Nevada unions.

Kevin Hardison, a former 631 business agent who works for the garbage hauler Republic Services, claims in his complaint with the National Labor Relations Board that union leaders have “retaliated, restrained and coerced” him because he spoke out against a contract negotiated with Republic, according to documents obtained by the Sun through a federal Freedom of Information Act request.

The question of whether that contract amounted to a sweetheart deal between union leadership and Republic now threatens to tear Local 631 apart. Hardison, a candidate for union president, uses it as a plank in his political platform.

“They lied about our contract,” he told the Sun. “What we voted to ratify and what’s in place are two different things.” Hardison claims the contract voted on didn’t include a requirement that drivers have a commercial driver’s license, while the final contract included the requirement, which cost the jobs of a number of the union’s 6,500 members.

After Hardison told co-workers he was voting against the contract and why, the union filed internal charges against him — and held a hearing without him. He received notice three days later, he said.

“It’s a political witch hunt,” Hardison said. “They don’t want me to run because I’m a viable threat.” He lost an election in 2005 by a handful of votes.

The union’s leader, Secretary-Treasurer Wayne King, and its president, Tommy Blitsch, have been in office only since 2006. Other Nevada labor leaders say they’ve finally put Local 631 on the right track.

In a Sun interview, Blitsch denied the allegations by Hardison and other members.

Blitsch said the charges amounted to politics. “Everybody has a right to run for office,” Blitsch said. “We’re not trying to hold anyone back. It’s simply not true.”

The union’s members work in an array of industries, including cement, conventions, construction and garbage. Hardison’s slate includes a diverse group of insurgents taking on current leaders.

What promises to be a bitter election will be but another turn in a turbulent history, one that illustrates the challenges faced by modern unions that must contend with unfriendly labor law, hostility from conservative politicians and multinational corporations with the cash to crush them.

Unions must also balance the principal of union democracy, which encourages members to determine their contracts and leadership, and the need for stability in the face of external adversaries. It’s a balance that has long eluded Teamsters 631.

In 2000, the union was placed under emergency trusteeship because of what Teamsters President James Hoffa Jr. called “severe mismanagement.”

The local’s alleged improprieties may sound familiar to current members: failing to file grievances on behalf of members, negotiating substandard agreements with employers, failing to enforce collective bargaining agreements, and inadequately representing members. It was the first trusteeship in the local’s 63-year history.

Dane Passo, a special assistant to Hoffa, was sent to Las Vegas to oversee the local until the Independent Review Board, a federal watchdog of the Teamsters, exposed another scandal.

Investigators found that within months of moving to Las Vegas, Passo engineered a deal with William T. Hogan Jr., the leader of the Chicago Teamsters, to steer hundreds of convention jobs to nonunion workers employed by a temporary labor firm where Hogan’s brother was a top executive.

Ed Burke, a onetime Chicago Teamster and a business agent at a California local, was appointed trustee of Local 631 in June 2001, becoming the third overseer in a little more than a year. He eventually ran for office himself in 2003 and was elected secretary-treasurer on a slate that included Blitsch and King, who’s currently recovering from surgery.

But in 2006, the IRB found that Burke had failed to discipline Frank Incandella, a business agent who had maintained contact with the scandal-tarred Passo. Burke, investigators said, took action — firing Incandella — only when the business agent became a political rival.

The agency recommended that Burke be charged with bringing reproach upon the union. Hoffa appointed a review panel and Burke ultimately cut a deal, which required him to leave the local permanently and barred him from holding union office for two years, but allowed him to retain his status as a Teamsters member.

(In the Sun interview, Blitsch said Burke left on his own, before acknowledging the IRB’s role.)

Wayne King replaced Burke as secretary-treasurer and now faces his first election as the union’s leader. More than a few Teamsters object to King’s leadership.

Last year King was negotiating with members of a different local, Teamsters 995, who worked in a training facility owned by Local 631. King demanded they accept at-will employment, allowing Local 631 to fire the 995 workers whenever it pleased and for whatever reason.

As a bargaining tool for a union, it was counterintuitive; the whole point of unions is to give workers rights in the face of management that would prefer to grant none. King sought to curtail the rights of those workers.

The negotiations grew tense, leading to a confrontation between King and Teamsters Local 995 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Magnani, according to minutes of a meeting obtained by the Sun.

When Magnani questioned why one of his workers had been fired, alleging that she had faced intimidating tactics from 631 leadership, King refused to discuss it.

A profanity-laced shouting match ensued.

Magnani: You know what? You’re an (expletive.)

King: Yes I am.

Magnani: You’re an (expletive.)

King: You don’t come in here and accuse me of doing stuff like that. Kiss my (expletive.)

Asked about the incident, Magnani declined to comment.

Blitsch said the leaders of the two unions are, in fact, close. He questioned the authenticity of the meeting minutes.

(The Sun heard an audio recording and authenticated the minutes with more than one person at the meeting.)

Blitsch said the union had emerged from its dark past and that his administration had negotiated the “best contracts this local has ever seen.”

He said the incumbents’ platform would be based largely on a round of contract wins last year. (Some workers say the contracts aren’t that good at all.)

The campaign clearly has begun.

On the union’s Web site, which features the opening chords of AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” and the image of golden Teamster horses in battle formation, King’s profile says “Wayne King’s versatile union career will make him the ideal Secretary/Treasurer dedicated to serving the entire membership.”

King’s use of the Web site to run for reelection appears to violate federal labor law, which prohibits using union money for reelection.

Blitsch declined to comment on his slate’s campaign finances or its methods of raising money, but he denied the use of union funds.

Blitsch also dismissed the notion that members were unhappy with leadership, despite the dozens who complained to the NLRB.

“We represent our members,” Blitsch said. “That’s why we haven’t lost any of those cases.” (Blitsch said he couldn’t discuss the specifics of the complaints.)

He added: “I believe we have a really good crew in here, and no matter what the adversity, we keep moving forward.”

In at least one case, the NRLB ruled against the union, finding that King, when he was a business representative, improperly altered the stated job qualifications of a member because the member engaged in “intra-union” activities.

This complaint goes to the heart of grievances of some members, including several who work with Hardison at Republic: Those who question union leadership are pushed out.

Workers roundly rejected a Republic contract offer last summer, despite encouragement from union leadership that they ratify it.

The workers complained that the raises offered were insulting — 75 cents per hour every six months for the life of the contract. But that came with a caveat: Workers had to increase their contributions to the union health and welfare fund.

John Masters, a Cleveland labor lawyer representing Hardison in a number of unfair labor complaints against 631, acknowledged that the company gave workers an extra $55 per week by eliminating a worker contribution to the health and welfare fund. Masters said it was largely wiped out, however, because the contract stipulated that the 75 cent raise include all health and pension costs.

Once it was rejected, union leaders negotiated another contract, but it was inferior to the last.

Union leadership again urged members to ratify it and warned against a strike.

Many workers found that position strange. They believed they could gain leverage with the unpleasant prospect that a strike would leave garbage rotting in summer heat.

What might be more galling are recently released Labor Department documents showing King gave himself a $10,432 raise last year, an increase of 14 percent. Blitsch’s raise was nearly $9,000, or 13 percent.

Members’ conclusion: Union leaders are in cahoots with management. They offer no evidence, and Blitsch said the leadership has been nothing but loyal to members and has shown commitment to great contracts.

Blitsch acknowledged that union leaders didn’t adequately explain the strength of the contract to workers. He blamed the rapidly rising cost of health care for eating into raises and denied politicizing the union.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, a Cornell University labor expert, said locals the size of 631, with their small, diverse bargaining units, are disadvantaged against large corporations, such as Republic Services.

Local 631 has enjoyed limited growth even as its industries and the region have grown rapidly. The union has added 1,500 workers in 10 years, which lags well behind the Culinary Union, the Carpenters Union and the Service Employees International Union. Clark County’s population has grown twice as quickly during that period.

Bronfenbrenner said one question in a local like 631 is the effect of fierce union democracy: “Debate is good, war of ideas and all that. But it sounds like what you’re seeing is they’re stuck and not getting anywhere.”

Gary Mauger, the head of a different Las Vegas Teamsters local, said multiple slates running for election at 631 every three years has yielded leaders without a mandate.

Mauger has faced an election challenge just once in his 13 years as head of Local 14. The keys to maintaining power — and thus stability, he said: Returning all phone calls, processing grievances to a conclusion and visiting workers at the companies the union represents.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

  1. By sandovalangel
    4/5/08 at 3:38 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    I am extremely excited to actually read in the Sun about our crooked Union and their dirty tactics. You hit the nail on the head on this one. I have seen many men lose their jobs due to lack of representation and refusal of taking grievances to arbitration. Our business agents telling us how if they were management they would also fire us and how our mistreatment is self inflicted. I have actually told my B.A. that he is useless and I will handle my own problems and continue to let him get overpaid to side with our company and sell us out. One thing you forgot to mention was how our business agents have to take a potential grievance to their legal council and are constantly advised to just let it go and not try to get that man's job back, what we want to know is who is this legal council and why dont we ever sit at this meeting? hmmmmmm.Nevertheless thank you for letting the public know our battle with 631 it is sort of a vindication for me.
    Angel

  2. By b_informed
    4/5/08 at 6:18 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    What this article failed to mention was that union leaders raises are voted on by the members. So don't blame union leaders for having raises blame the members. I am sure that if you are a teamster you also get raises every year. I have seen many people get their jobs back for the past several years. Many did not deserve them. Many for cardinal sins. It sounds like to me that Kevin Hardison is very pissed off that he lost the 2005 election. He needs to understand that the only way the union can be strong is to be united. That is the only way we can get the contracts we deserve. Employers hate us and the union and do not want to give any of us anything. We must fight together and stand together and strike together so none of us end up like most of the non-union country. Don't shop wal-mart.

  3. By suziluvsjesus
    4/5/08 at 9:07 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    STAND TOGETHER???!!!!! The Teamsters have been mis and underrepresenting it's members-especially 631 of which my husband has been a member for 10 years- I have personal knowledge of some of the thuggish tactics, complete disloyalty, and utter mismanagement that have been the result under the leadership of this "really good crew ." What a bunch of baloney!!!!! My Husband has spent more time -at least 3 times as much on unemployment than on the job in the last 2 or so years!! And several of our friends as well. And what is especially galling about this is that we constantly see local construction and road work being done by gypo's-private, non union company's, while my husband and our friends struggle to keep their heads above water!!! Looking out for their members-RIGHT!!!!! Thanks for the story, but trust me, that's just the tip of the iceburg!!!

  4. By 2BTrue
    4/6/08 at 6:21 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    What everyone doesn't know is that Republic Service workers had a picket line up in front of their own union hall over their sub standard contract. Everyone should also know that in the convention industry the current union administration has allowed MC2 to move its operations to Kingman to avoid the union contract and is now allowing Freeman Decorating to do the same thing. Freeman will be moving part of their warehouse operations to Bullhead City. This will cost union jobs. The union reps say there was nothing they could do, but this is not true. We got paperwork from a former employee of that Local and the documents show that Teamster Local 104 in Phoenix was willing to give us jurisdiction over that area of AZ to prevent the loss of union jobs back in 2006 and 2007. The other poster is right this is just the tip of the iceberg. As far as the local being in bed with the employer. Can they explain why Maxine Simon Trustee for the local and head steward went around to the ready mix members asking them to sign a card thanking the company for giving them a contract? Now that is a sorry story.

  5. By thankyou
    4/6/08 at 12:53 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    I am glad to see that someone actually cares about what is happening in our union. It took a lot of courage for someone to step up to the plate and let people know what is going on knowing that our administration will make life hell for anyone who speaks out against them. There is a list of names of individuals that can not be dispatched to work because the administration uses their power to punish those who want to do what is right for the members. It was obvious to me that the person who said that the members voted on the raises and it was there fault was obviously one of our administration. They always blame the members for everything. There was a vote on where our raise would go a few years back. No one was notified of the vote. Out of the thousands of members that are eligible to vote only twenty or so voted for a raise to go to a health and welfare retirement fund. The strange this is, there is no fund. Where is that money going? The administration again blamed the members for not voting. How could they when only a "special few" were told about the vote. And you guessed it. It was only those who wanted the money to go into this non-exsitant fund who were notified that there would be a vote. No one was notified that there would be a vote to give Wayne King and Tommy Blitch a raise. Tommy Blitch also stated that no one won a NLRB charge. Another lie! There was a case where someone at the training center won a case because he recieved a threatening phone call from Wayne King because he voted "no" on a substandard contract. Luckily the phone call was recorded. The NLRB did everything they could to help Wayne King win the charge but a recording of someone threatening you is evidence that is hard to beat. This makes me believe that there is a bond between the local and the NLRB which should be investigated.

  6. By gotyea
    4/8/08 at 3:54 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    you good teamsters should kmow ,while w. king is laying up in the hospitlebead he is still getting payed,his full pay. do any of you get that????

  7. By outtatown
    4/9/08 at 11:06 a.m.
    Suggest removal

    And forget what Gary Mauger is saying; he just fires people who are eligible to run against him. A little democracy would do that union good.

  8. By truckenit
    4/9/08 at 10:38 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    I dont know what's worse this article or the fact that one of my union brothers actually told the Sun this. This will certainly bring the IBT back into our local. After over 20 years of membership in this local I have come to the conclusion that the members will never be happy. Nobody ever reports on the positive thing our union has done. Wayne King needs to retire. His time has come and gone. The last person we need to run the local is Kevin Hardison. This guy ran in the last election with two members who where eventually barred and kick out of our union for having illegal connections with Passo and Hogan (who are mentioned in this article).I have seen Kevin on the show floor actively campaigning while the company's are paying him. I hear he acts like a fool in general membership meetings. Why would the Sun listen to this guy and promote him? I enjoy and like the contract we received last year in conventions. It is the best in over 15 years. I want answers to how much our local leaders make. I dont ever remember our members voting on our reps wages. I thought it was a certain percentage of what our highest paid member gets? Is it much higher than other union reps in Las Vegas? I am calling the local tomorrow to get some answers. If they make an outragious amount of money I want answers.

  9. By Opinion1
    4/25/08 at 5:37 p.m.
    Suggest removal

    No one can please all of the people all of the time. Win an arbitration for an casual who was drunk and got in a fight? Get a thief resinstated? Get a contract with a 10% increase for three years consecutively? Medical coverage for part timers with no employee contribtion, and no co-pays and deductibles? GET REAL.

    There may be many better than King, Blitsch, MacNamee, Schartung, etc., but no one other than the second coming of J.C. is going to get big raises, defend every discharge or no dispatch, take every case all the way, etc.

    We should start by seeking integrity and smarts, not just the loudest, most anti-management poser in the room. Then we they cut a deal, we can't Monday-morning quarterback 'em and see a conspiracy over every tough call.

    And "giving it to effing management" is not a winning strategy. There's a lotta space between being a 'sell out' and Karl Marx. We can kill the goose like the UAW and the USWA did by trying to defend the indefensible and demanding excessive wages for an unskilled extra board member

    Who in hell would want to run a Union if it meant doing everything every member said, like a puppet on a string?

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