Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey whose union's pension plan awaits takeover by the PBGC
Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey,
represents Nassau OTB (a public benefit corporation) employees, as he is also President of Teamsters Local 707, a largely insolvent union with an insolvent pension plan, backed by the PBGC
We hope Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) comes to Nassau OTB to speak with federal taxpayers who wonder what will happen when the PBGC lacks the resources to payout the liabilities incurred by the failed multiemployer pension plans. See you at Nassau OTB Bob Corker.
"It will be a tough one to win. How do you tell public officials they can't speak on this subject?" Mr. Schwartz asked. "In reality it wasn't the company they had to worry about. It was the overall attitude of the community toward unions."
Long Island Business News
Suffolk,
Nassau
OTB probe ethics conflict
by David Winzelberg
Published: November 24th, 2013
At least one employee of Nassau County Off-Track Betting is questioning whether the head of his employee union, a member-elect of the Suffolk County Legislature, should have a say in Suffolk OTB business.
Teamsters Local
707 President
Kevin McCaffery, whose union represents about 200 Nassau OTB
workers,
was elected earlier this month to serve as a Suffolk
legislator
representing the 14th District. In a letter last week, Nassau
OTB
cashier Jackson Leeds alerted the Suffolk County Ethics Board
to
McCaffery’s possible conflict of interest.
“As a Suffolk County legislator, his duties are to the people
of
Suffolk County,” Leeds wrote. “He cannot simultaneously
represent the
interests of employees of Nassau OTB, a Nassau County public
benefit
corporation.”
McCaffery told LIBN he doesn’t think the two counties’ OTBs
are in
competition with each other and he doesn’t see his role as
union leader
for Nassau OTB workers as a conflict with issues surrounding
Suffolk
OTB.
“If anything, I have the background of dealing with Nassau
OTB, which
gives me more insight on the subject than any other legislator
out
there,” McCaffery said.
When asked if the legislator-elect’s union job appeared to be
a
conflict of interest, Nassau OTB chief Joseph Cairo said, “If
you
really want to stretch it. But I don’t see anything that’s
apparent to
me.”
Cairo added that he’ll instruct the Nassau agency’s counsel to
review
the situation.
Leeds, a 10-year veteran of Nassau OTB, complained that both
union
officials and county OTB management have been too focused on
the 1,000
video lottery terminals planned for each county’s OTB and
they’re not
paying enough attention to current operations.
“They never worked behind a window,” Leeds told LIBN. “They’re
out of
touch with the bettors of Nassau County.”
Internet wagering and dwindling handles – the overall money
being
wagered – have prompted a consolidation in Nassau OTB’s
operations in
recent years; there were 15 betting offices in Nassau in 2003,
and now
there are eight. Suffolk OTB, which has seven branch offices,
filed for
bankruptcy last year.
These days, according to some analysts, OTB offices exist
largely for
political patronage – another reason, according to Leeds, that
the
Nassau union chief shouldn’t mix one business with the other.
“Union leaders should not be politicians,” he said. “OTBs are
run by
politicians. Being political and doing public good aren’t
always
incompatible, but they often are.”
This isn’t the first time a Long Island legislator’s OTB ties
have
become an issue.
In May 2000, Gregory Peterson, then-president of the Nassau
OTB, sued
to prevent Nassau County Leg. Roger Corbin from voting on
appointments
to the Nassau OTB’s board of directors. Because Corbin was
employed as
a branch manager for New York City OTB and a member of
Teamsters Local
858, which then represented all employees of Nassau OTB,
Peterson
alleged Corbin’s legislative role posed a conflict of
interest.
A New York Supreme Court judge issued an injunction preventing
Corbin
from voting on OTB appointments, but Corbin appealed and the
lower
court’s decision was reversed. The Nassau County Board of
Ethics also
chimed in, determining by a 3-2 vote that voting on OTB
appointments
didn’t create a conflict because Corbin didn’t influence
policy or
engage in labor negotiations.
With McCaffery, some observers say it’s best to proceed with
caution.
Anthony Figliola, vice president of Uniondale-based government
relations firm Empire
Government
Strategies, said the legislator-elect may want to recuse
himself
from any votes concerning Suffolk OTB until the Suffolk County
Ethics
Board offers an opinion.
“OTB is a political football,” Figliola said. “It’s better to
stay out
of it, especially if you want to get things done in the
Legislature.”
David
Winzelberg
Reporter
631.913.4247
917.796.1801
Feb 21 2014
Corker Statement on UAW Appeal
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., today
released the following statement regarding the UAW filing an appeal with
the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on last week’s election at
Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant.
“The workers at Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant spoke very clearly last week, so we are disappointed the UAW is ignoring their decision and has filed this objection. Unfortunately, I have to assume that today's action may slow down Volkswagen’s final discussions on the new SUV line,” said Corker. “This complaint affirms the point many of us have been making: that the UAW is only interested in its own survival and not the interests of the great employees at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen facility nor the company for which they work.”
As mayor of Chattanooga from 2001-2005, Corker worked with officials and community leaders to develop the 1,200 acre Enterprise South Industrial Park, which is now home to Volkswagen's North American manufacturing headquarters. Much of the negotiation that led to Volkswagen choosing Chattanooga occurred around the dining room table of Corker’s Chattanooga home.
“The workers at Chattanooga's Volkswagen plant spoke very clearly last week, so we are disappointed the UAW is ignoring their decision and has filed this objection. Unfortunately, I have to assume that today's action may slow down Volkswagen’s final discussions on the new SUV line,” said Corker. “This complaint affirms the point many of us have been making: that the UAW is only interested in its own survival and not the interests of the great employees at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen facility nor the company for which they work.”
As mayor of Chattanooga from 2001-2005, Corker worked with officials and community leaders to develop the 1,200 acre Enterprise South Industrial Park, which is now home to Volkswagen's North American manufacturing headquarters. Much of the negotiation that led to Volkswagen choosing Chattanooga occurred around the dining room table of Corker’s Chattanooga home.
###
Business
UAW Asks NLRB to Review Vote at VW
Union Asks Board to Consider New Vote, Saying Lawmakers Interfered
Updated Feb. 21, 2014 4:13 p.m. ET
Labor lawyers said there is little precedent for the
NLRB to consider objections to organizing elections based on
third-party interference. Above,the company's factory in Chattanooga,
Tenn.
Bloomberg
The United Auto Workers union has asked a federal labor agency to consider holding another vote at a Tennessee
Volkswagen AG
VLKAY -2.98%
plant, contending interference by Republican lawmakers and others
prompted workers there last week to reject union representation.
The
UAW filed its request on Friday with the National Labor Relations
Board, a quasi-judicial federal labor agency that supervises union
elections and referees private-sector workplace disputes. The
request—known officially as an objection to the election—could lead to a
new election.
The NLRB will review the UAW's objections, a spokesman said.
Workers at the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., rejected UAW representation
712-626 in a stinging setback for the union and for organized labor as
its seeks to increase its membership, especially in Southern states.
In
its request, the UAW cites what it calls "a coordinated and
widely-publicized coercive campaign" by politicians and outside
organizations to deprive Volkswagen workers of their federally protected
right to join a union "free of coercion, intimidation, threats and
interference."
Labor lawyers said there
is little precedent for the NLRB to consider objections to organizing
elections based on third-party interference. Typically allegations of
meddling are aimed at the company, said
Art Schwartz,
president of Labor and Economics Associates, Ann Arbor, Mich.,
consultants.
"It will be a tough one to
win. How do you tell public officials they can't speak on this subject?"
Mr. Schwartz asked. "In reality it wasn't the company they had to worry
about. It was the overall attitude of the community toward unions."
The document names U.S. Sen.
Bob Corker
(R., Tenn.), Gov.
Bill Haslam
and about a half-dozen other senior state officials, accusing
them and their staff of coordinating "publicly announced and widely
disseminated threats." Most of the statements, the UAW said, "centered
on a threatened loss of state financial incentives" for Volkswagen of
America expansion in Chattanooga if the union was elected. "And these
threats were clearly designed to influence" workers, it added.
It
cited remarks by Mr. Corker saying he had been assured by Volkswagen
that if workers voted against the union, Chattanooga would win a new
sport-utility vehicle line. Company officials later said there was no
connection between the two.
UAW and
other union officials have called the 53% to 47% vote "narrow," and said
it would have been swung with 44 more votes in favor of the union.
"It
is extraordinary interference in the private decision of workers to
have a U.S. senator, a governor and leaders of the state legislature
threaten the company with the denial of economic incentives and workers
with a loss of product," UAW President
Bob King
said in a statement on Friday. "We're committed to standing with
the Volkswagen workers to ensure that their right to have a fair vote
without coercion and interference is protected," he said.
David Smith,
a spokesman for Gov. Haslam, didn't comment directly on the
appeal, saying only that "the governor is focused on working with
Volkswagen on future growth in Tennessee."
Sen.
Corker said in a written statement that the plant workers "spoke very
clearly last week, so we are disappointed the UAW is ignoring their
decision." Mr. Corker said the filing could slow Volkswagen's final
discussions on where to locate the SUV line.
"This
complaint affirms the point many of us have been making: that the UAW
is only interested in its own survival and not the interests of the
great employees at Chattanooga's Volkswagen facility nor the company for
which they work," Mr. Corker said.
Volkswagen declined to comment on the filing. The vote occurred between Feb. 12 and Feb. 14.
Union
officials are convinced that Mr. Corker's statement about the SUV line
influenced the outcome, a person briefed on the union's thinking said.
The UAW was running a phone-bank campaign during the election, and in
the days just before the vote heard from VW employees who once were in
favor of a union swaying more neutral or to "no," this person said.
Another
person who has been advising workers opposed to the UAW said about
1,000 of the 1,300 votes were cast last Wednesday before Mr. Corker went
public with the statement that the plant would get an SUV even if the
UAW loses the election.
—Neal Boudette, Christina Rogers and Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.
Write to Melanie Trottman at melanie.trottman@wsj.com
U.A.W. Asks Labor Board to Examine Vote at Tennessee Plant ...
www.nytimes.com/.../uaw-asks-labor-board-to-exami...
2 days ago - By STEVEN GREENHOUSE FEB. 21, 2014 ... 16, 2014 · Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., worked on the assembly of ...
The New York Times
In a statement, the U.A.W. said the anti-union campaign included “widely disseminated threats by elected officials that state-financed incentives would be withheld if workers exercised their protected right to form a union.”
The
union cited a statement that Mr. Corker made on the first day of
voting: “I’ve had conversations today and based on those am assured that
should the workers vote against the U.A.W., Volkswagen will announce in
the coming weeks will that it will manufacture its new midsize S.U.V.
here in Chattanooga.”
In
its complaint, the union called Mr. Corker’s conduct “shameful.” It
added, that the clear message of Mr. Corker and other lawmakers “was
that voting for the union would result in stagnation for the Chattanooga
plant, with no new product, no job security, and withholding of state
support for its expansion.”
The labor board’s regional officials will now investigate the union’s objections.
Mr.
Corker responded to the union’s complaint with a statement, saying,
“The workers at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant spoke very clearly last
week, so we are disappointed the U.A.W. is ignoring their decision and
has filed this objection.”
“Unfortunately,”
Mr. Corker added, “I have to assume that today’s action may slow down
Volkswagen’s final discussions on the new S.U.V. line. This complaint
affirms the point many of us have been making: that the U.A.W. is only
interested in its own survival and not the interests of the great
employees at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen facility nor the company for which
they work.”
The
union argues that the politicians deprived the VW workers of their
federal right to an election “free of coercion, intimidation, threats
and interference.”
Washington Office
425 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C., 20510
Main: 202-224-3344
Fax: 202-228-0566
Administration
Todd Womack, Chief of Staff
Hallie Williams, Scheduler
Erica Frye, Assistant to the Chief of Staff
Constituent ServicesDavid Dudik, Operations Director
Ashton Davis, Constituent Services Representative
Jenny Hamrick, Constituent Services Representative
Douglas Sellers, Staff Assistant
Owen Mercer, Staff Assistant
Santo Giordano, Systems Administrator
LegislationRob Strayer, Legislative Director and General Counsel
John Lipsey, Chief Counsel
Michael Bright, Senior Financial Advisor (Finance, Banking, Housing)
Hunter Bethea, Legislative Assistant (Budget, Social Security, Education, Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Transportation)
James Tatgenhorst, Legislative Correspondent (Health Care, Medicaid, Medicare)
Mark White, Legislative Aide
Evan Sharber, Legislative Correspondent (Grant Support)
Sarah Ramig, Legislative Counsel
John Haley, Legislative Correspondent
Press
Jamie Corley, Press Secretary
Micah Johnson, Press Secretary
Tennessee Regional Offices
Chattanooga
10 West M.L. King Blvd., 6th Floor
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Main: 423-756-2757
Fax: 423-756-5313
Betsy Ranalli, State Director
Kelly Puckett, Constituent Services Representative/Office Administrator
Claire McVay, Outreach Coordinator and Field Representative
Jackson
91 Stonebridge Blvd., Suite 103
Jackson, TN 38305
Main: 731-664-2294
Fax: 731-664-4670
Jennifer Weems, Senior Field Director
Dana Magneson, State Constituent Services Coordinator
Knoxville
800 Market Street, Suite 121
Knoxville, TN 37902
Main: 865-637-4180
Fax: 865-637-9886
Jane Jolley, Field Director
Rhonda Smithson, Lead Constituent Services Representative
Shelby Payne, Constituent Services Representative
Memphis
100 Peabody Place, Suite 1125
Memphis, TN 38103
Main: 901-683-1910
Fax: 901-575-3528
Nick Kistenmacher, Senior Field Director
Jeri Wheeler, Constituent Services Representative
Nashville
3322 West End Ave., Suite 610
Nashville, TN 37203
Main: 615-279-8125
Fax: 615-279-9488
Carlie Cruse, Field Director - Middle Tennessee
Katie Davis, Field Director - South Central and Upper Cumberland Tennessee
Stephanie Parsons, Constituent Services Representative
Caroline Diaz-Barriga, Constituent Services Representative
Tri-Cities
1105 East Jackson Boulevard
Jonesborough, TN 37659
Main: 423-753-2263
Fax: 423-753-3679
Jill Salyers, Field Director
Kim Cordell, Constituent Services Representative
Kevin McCaffrey
425 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C., 20510
Main: 202-224-3344
Fax: 202-228-0566
Administration
Todd Womack, Chief of Staff
Hallie Williams, Scheduler
Erica Frye, Assistant to the Chief of Staff
Constituent ServicesDavid Dudik, Operations Director
Ashton Davis, Constituent Services Representative
Jenny Hamrick, Constituent Services Representative
Douglas Sellers, Staff Assistant
Owen Mercer, Staff Assistant
Santo Giordano, Systems Administrator
LegislationRob Strayer, Legislative Director and General Counsel
John Lipsey, Chief Counsel
Michael Bright, Senior Financial Advisor (Finance, Banking, Housing)
Hunter Bethea, Legislative Assistant (Budget, Social Security, Education, Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Transportation)
James Tatgenhorst, Legislative Correspondent (Health Care, Medicaid, Medicare)
Mark White, Legislative Aide
Evan Sharber, Legislative Correspondent (Grant Support)
Sarah Ramig, Legislative Counsel
John Haley, Legislative Correspondent
Press
Jamie Corley, Press Secretary
Micah Johnson, Press Secretary
Tennessee Regional Offices
Chattanooga
10 West M.L. King Blvd., 6th Floor
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Main: 423-756-2757
Fax: 423-756-5313
Betsy Ranalli, State Director
Kelly Puckett, Constituent Services Representative/Office Administrator
Claire McVay, Outreach Coordinator and Field Representative
Jackson
91 Stonebridge Blvd., Suite 103
Jackson, TN 38305
Main: 731-664-2294
Fax: 731-664-4670
Jennifer Weems, Senior Field Director
Dana Magneson, State Constituent Services Coordinator
Knoxville
800 Market Street, Suite 121
Knoxville, TN 37902
Main: 865-637-4180
Fax: 865-637-9886
Jane Jolley, Field Director
Rhonda Smithson, Lead Constituent Services Representative
Shelby Payne, Constituent Services Representative
Memphis
100 Peabody Place, Suite 1125
Memphis, TN 38103
Main: 901-683-1910
Fax: 901-575-3528
Nick Kistenmacher, Senior Field Director
Jeri Wheeler, Constituent Services Representative
Nashville
3322 West End Ave., Suite 610
Nashville, TN 37203
Main: 615-279-8125
Fax: 615-279-9488
Carlie Cruse, Field Director - Middle Tennessee
Katie Davis, Field Director - South Central and Upper Cumberland Tennessee
Stephanie Parsons, Constituent Services Representative
Caroline Diaz-Barriga, Constituent Services Representative
Tri-Cities
1105 East Jackson Boulevard
Jonesborough, TN 37659
Main: 423-753-2263
Fax: 423-753-3679
Jill Salyers, Field Director
Kim Cordell, Constituent Services Representative
Executive Board
January 21, 2010 Local 707 Executive board is sworn in for another 3 year term by General IBT President James P. Hoffa
Kevin McCaffrey
John Zirpoli
Larry Cinque
Tom Hogan
Daniel Pacheco ~ Charles Pane ~ Mike Mc Elroy
|
Local 707 Highway Motor Freight
is located at
14 Front Street ~ 3rd Floor
Hempstead, NY 11550
Local 707 Upstate Union Office
is located at 948 Homestead Avenue Route 208 Maybrook, NY 12543 |
Telephone Numbers
Hempstead LI Office
Main Number: (516)486-7100
Local Union: (516)560-8509
Local Union Fax: (516)486-7164
Upstate Union Office
Main Number: (845)427-2000
Upstate Union Fax: (845)427-5507
Health, Welfare & Pension
Funds Office
Main Number: 1-800-366-3707
Funds Fax: (516)486-7375
|
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