Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers has agreed to hold its next election of officers under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), after a DOL investigation concluded that improprieties in the incumbents’ campaign may have affected the outcome of the election held on Aug. 25, 2007.

Under a settlement agreement approved last week by U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall for the Northern District of Illinois, Local 150 will conduct its next regularly scheduled election of officers no later than Sept. 30, 2010 and under the supervision of Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

In September 2008 DOL filed suit alleging that Local 150 used both union funds and employer funds to promote incumbent candidates, in violation of U.S. Code. That suit sought an order declaring null and void the re-election of eight officers and instructing Local 150 to hold a new election under DOL supervision.

Local 150, based in Countryside, Ill., represents around 23,000 heavy equipment operators, some 4,100 of them in Northern Indiana.

Returned to office in the Aug. 25, 2007, election were President and Business Manager Bill Dugan; Vice-president James Sweeney; Corresponding Secretary Steven Cisco; Financial Secretary David Fagan; Treasurer Marshall Douglas; and Executive Board members Matt Ruane (District 1), Daniel Schrader (District 3), and Willis Wisely (District 8).

Dugan has since resigned the presidency, Sweeney assumed it, and James McNally was appointed to the vice-presidency by the Executive Board.

The suit was brought by DOL following an investigation of a complaint lodged on Jan. 7, 2008, by Joseph Ward, who had unsuccessfully challenged Dugan for the office of president and business manager. That investigation, the original suit stated, “found probable cause” to believe that union as well as employer funds were “used to promote” the incumbents’ re-election, in violation of 29 U.S.C. Sec. 481(g).

Under that section, “No moneys received by an labor organization by way of dues, assessment, or similar levy and no moneys of an employer should be contributed or applied to promote the candidacy of any person in any election. . . . Such moneys of a labor organization may be utilized for notices, factual statements of issues not involving candidates, and other expenses necessary for the holding of an election.”

In her approval of the settlement, Kendall noted the following: “All decisions as to the interpretation or application of (U.S. Code), the International Union of Operating Engineers Constitution, and the Local 150 Bylaws relating to the supervised election are to be determined by the Secretary and her decision shall be final, subject to review by this court.”

Posted 12/14/2009