REPORT
FROM THE HEREIU
PUBLIC
REVIEW BOARD
In 1995, HEREIU entered
into a Consent Decree with the United States Department of justice to resolve
the government's civil RICO lawsuit. That Consent Decree created both an
Ethical Practices Code covering all HERE officers, employees and
representatives and a Public Review Board charged with enforcing that Code. We
began our service as the three members of the HEREIU Public Review Board
in March 1998, following the three-year term of Kurt Muellenberg,
one of our members, as the court-appointed Monitor of HEREIU. When HEREIU
agreed with the
Since our last report to
HERE members in the Spring 2001 issue of CIE, Board investigations have
led us to authorize the filing of formal disciplinary charges against eight
HERE officers or members, one consultant to a HERE local union and one attorney
for a HERE local's representatives on the board of its pension and welfare
fund. We resolved five of the resulting disciplinary proceedings through
settlements with the charged persons, entered orders following evidentiary
hearings in three others, and utilized a new provision of our Rules to issue
summary rulings in the remaining two proceedings after the charged persons
failed to answer or otherwise contest the charges against them. In all but one
of those cases, we barred the charged person from holding any position of
responsibility with HEREIU, any HERE local or any of their related entities for
varying periods of time. Our staff has prepared a list of all persons whom we
or Mr. Muellenberg as the court-appointed Monitor
have barred from such association during our respective tenures. A copy of that
list is available from our office, or from HEREIU's
general counsel. The HEREIU Ethical Practices Code prohibits HERE officers and
members from knowingly associating with those persons and others it defines as
"barred persons," as well as members of any criminal group.
Our experience from these
disciplinary proceedings reinforces the importance of HEREIU and HERE local
officers, employees and rank and-file members cooperating in Board
investigations and with Board representatives. Our Rules provide that a
person's failure to cooperate with a Board investigation is an independent
ground for discipline to the full extent permitted by those Rules- i.e.., being
barred for life from membership in or association with the union. This
obligation extends not only to persons charged with or suspected of
disciplinary violations, but also to those who have information relevant to an
investigation. In one of the disciplinary proceedings described above, we
authorized the filing of disciplinary charges against an outside attorney based
on his failure to respond to our investigator's requests for information. In
another, we found that the evidence presented at the hearing was not sufficient
to discipline the charged person-this time a HERE member-for the initial
charges brought against him, but that his failure to provide additional
documents and information we requested amounted to a failure to cooperate, and
justified our decision to bar him from further association with the union.
Both we and our staff
continue to devote substantial time to considering complaints and allegations
we receive from the entire HERE community-HEREIU or HERE local officers,
executive board members and staff, but also rank-and-file HERE members. In
determining which of those complaints and allegations warrant Board
investigations, and which of those investigations warrant formal disciplinary
charges, we attempt to draw a line between purely
administrative decisions, which we consider the province of this union's
officers and staff, and whether a decision or action violates the Ethical
Practices Code or is otherwise unethical. Of course, that is not always an easy
line to draw. Sometimes corrupt or unethical conduct takes the form of or is
concealed behind a facade of "administration." However, our ongoing
efforts to draw this fine serves to remind both us and you in the HERE
community of the central division between our role and yours: this Board exists
to enforce the HEREIU Ethical Practices Code and otherwise investigate and
punish corrupt or unethical conduct by HEREIU or HERE local officers, members
and representatives. However, it
is up to those HERE officers, members and representatives, whether elected or
appointed, retained or volunteer, to utilize their time and talents to make
this a strong, democratic and effective union which will be better able to
resist corruption and unethical conduct in the future.
Just as honest, sound and ethical administration by duly
elected leaders is essential to keeping this union strong, so is the need for
their political opponents to work with those leaders when the circumstances
call for such cooperation. There is nothing inherently debilitating about
ongoing political rivalry and competition. What can be debilitating is a
political opponent's refusal to work with his or her rival once an election is
over, and it is time for all members to turn to the tough decisions required to
run a labor union. While we cannot require HERE members to behave as we believe
a "loyal opposition" should, neither do we intend to contribute to
such infighting. This Board will not allow anyone to use its operations and
procedures as tools of political expedience or advantage. Should we find that
any HEREIU or HERE local officers, former officers or members are attempting to
do so, we will take the steps necessary to separate ourselves from any
political aspects of the complaint, dispute or charge at issue, and consider
whether the misuse of our procedures itself warrants discipline.
Finally, we have made it
clear in all our dealings with HEREIU and HERE Local officers that we will not tolerate any form of retribution against members
who forward complaints or allegations to us, and are prepared to severely
discipline any officer or official who engages in it.
You can contact the Public Review Board with any concerns, allegations or
complaints at its office at 13001 Street NW, Suite 300 West, Washington, D.C.
20005, or by calling the Board toll-free at (800) 862-5117.
Gov. James R. Thompson
Archbishop James E Keleher
Kurt W. Muellenberg