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EXCLUSIVE

Teamsters union hounds delinquent members for back dues

By Carl Campanile

November 21, 2021 | 7:00pm

A Teamsters union is picking a fight with an unlikely enemy — its own members.

In an extraordinary move, Teamsters Local 707 has sent delinquency collection notices to off-track-betting workers and other members it says are in arrears for union dues totaling hundreds or even thousands of dollars a pop. 

The targeted members were on maternity leave, medical or disability leave or furlough during the coronavirus pandemic. While union dues are automatically deducted from worker paychecks, that is not the case when members are off the payroll. 

If the members don’t cough up what is owed, Teamsters 707 warned that it will instruct the Nassau County OTB and other employers to double the union dues taken from the workers’ salaries until they’re paid up.

“Are [union officials] acting like a debt collector? I think it’s worse. It’s more like extortion,” said OTB cashier Rosie Schwab, an employee since 1998 who was told by the Teamsters that she owed $1,452.50.

Teamsters Local 707 Secretary Treasurer John Zirpoli wrote in a letter to the OTB workers, “A review of our records indicates you are delinquent in your dues payments to Teamsters Local 707. 

“It is the members responsibility to continue to pay union dues when out on either compensation, disability, FMLA, LOA or furlough because you are still considered an active member member who will be returning to work without loss of seniority at some point in time, according to Article XVIII Section 6A of the International Constitution,” he said. 

A letter to one worker said, “As of this date, the amount of union dues/fees owed to bring your account up to date is $1,545.50. 

“This amount will pay you through the month of November, 2021. Please remit a check or money order payable to Local Union 707 to cover the back union dues/fees owed. If your dues/fees are not paid your employer will be instructed to deduct double dues/fees until your account becomes current.”

Schwab raged, “I don’t think anyone making the amount of money we make should have to pay this debt to the union. 

“Absolutely not. It’s unthinkable,” she said.

Schwab spent time on workers’ compensation after getting injured in a fall.

Susan Oddo, an OTB branch manager in Valley Stream, LI, who has worked for OTB since 1997, pays about $80 a month in union dues. She got a letter that says she owes more than $800 to Teams Local 707.

“I’ve never heard of this before. The Teamsters leadership is trying to strong-arm members. Kevin McCaffrey is trying to strong arm us,” Oddo said, referring to the union president, who is also a Suffolk County legislator.

“It’s horrible what they’re trying to do to us. I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s right. It’s ridiculous.”

The aggressive debt comes a tough time for Teamsters 707. Its membership has plummeted 21 percent from 2,249 members in 2015 to 1,759 members last year, according to records filed with the US Labor Department.

Teamsters Local 707 represents freight drivers, ambulance drivers and Off Track Betting employees in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley. 

Local 707 is part of Teamsters Joint Council 16, which represents 120,000 workers in downstate New York and in Puerto Rico, including in the city Sanitation Department, NYCHA and public schools. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has 1.4 million members nationwide.

One labor expert said the move smacks of desperation — and could be illegal.