Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) President Don Hahs is alleged by the Teamsters Independent Review Board (IRB) to have embezzled more than $58,000 from the BLET to pay for non-union expenses.
The allegations are detailed in a 43-page Sept. 13 filing by the Washington, D.C., based IRB, a three-member panel operating under rules approved by a federal court as part of a 1989 consent decree entered into by the Teamsters Union to clear the organization of corruption.
The allegations are internal and, at this point, there is no indication Hahs has been charged by federal prosecutors with criminal activity.
According to Teamsters for a Democratic Union, an internal Teamsters hearing on the allegations could result in Hahs’ expulsion from the Teamsters. Hahs has been BLET president since Jan. 1, 2001.
The IRB recommended to Teamsters President James Hoffa that the Teamsters bring internal charges against Hahs “for bringing reproach upon the Teamsters, embezzling union funds and breaching his fiduciary duties to the BLET and its members” in violation of the Teamsters constitution.
The IRB alleges Hahs used BLET funds to pay for almost $48,000 worth of tickets to Cleveland Cavaliers basketball games for which there was no union purpose, hotel room movies for which there was no union purpose, airline tickets and hotel stays not involving union business, and meals, travel and personal expenses for his wife, who was neither a BLET member nor employee.
Given the reputation of the Teamsters after the Federal Court trusteeship of certain locals in New Jersey and the disappearance of certain prominent former union officials…
Unfortunately, the Teamsters took over the BLE a few years back which is how it became the BLET. The Teamsters now have the job of keeping the BLET clean. One has to wonder if there are any ulterior motives for what is going on. BTW, the article summary is derived from an article gleefully displayed on the UTU website…
From a report on another forum, the Teamsters’ own website appears a lot more colorful than what was posted in the UTU website, His best recourse would be to 'fess up and take his lumps (and hope that they aren’t lumps of concrete around his shoes!).
Lest anyone think I’m ignoring history, UTU’s immediate past president was also jailed. IIRC, his offenses were more along the lines of kickbacks to lawyers.
I will come at it from a different angle. How do they even think they can get away with something like that? I read about this happening quite a bit in the paper and often wonder how someone can attain that position and then do something so dumb.
So anyone want to clue me in as to what they were thinking?
I understand your sentiment, but to answer your question, in my estimation less than 30 percent of the people who do that get caught. If you notice the people who get caught, you will usually find that they have been doing it for years–or decades–without having been nabed.
A sort of urban legend (but supposedly a true story) in the office where I work was that someone had created an embezzlement scheme that worked for years – but to make it work the guy had to be at the office every day, totally controlling his books, and taking no vacation. that worked UNTIL a huge snowstorm forced him to miss a day of work, someone else worked his desk and his books and – he was found out.
It is the job of auditors to create controls and double checks so this should not happen but it is of course in theory more efficient and cheaper not to have controls and double checks.
Boy do I live in Simple Land. I always figured that while it might not happen in a week or so and that it would take maybe years, someone or something always trips them up. Guess the odds are proving me wrong.
I would surmise that he was thinking he would never be caught at it. Complete arrogance. After all, he ran the BLE before it became a part of the Teamsters as an independent union with none of the oversight that the Teamsters are forced to have after they were infiltrated by alleged organized crime figures. It was this oversight (the Internal Review Board required by the Federal District Court) that caught the allegedly improper expenditures of union funds. Nice to know what our dues money pays for…
Poppa_Zit and solzrules: Your sarcastic comments are offensive to fair-minded people. If the charges are proven true, this was a dishonest man who got caught. The fact that he was a Union officer is beside the point. Shall we leap to the conclusion that all black quarterbacks are animal abusers, a la Vick? Shall we conclude that all Attorneys-General are evasive dumb-a***s? (Well, maybe in this administration.) The degree of honesty of union officers most likely mirrors that of the public at large. Most people are honest and some are not. Your opinionated views perhaps reflect an elitist mind-set. If so, I guess we can expect venomous responses.
Elitist mindset? Naw, how about “historically aware”?
Now, without venom – I can’t speak for solz, but my opinions are deeply rooted in fact. (By the way, I guess it’s okay for you to be sarcastic with that crack about the administration, which fair-minded people find offensive.)
Growing up in Chicago and spending the last 56 years here, please don’t tell me corruption in labor unions is a rare story.
Organized crime – Chicago, remember? – jumped into bed with the unions as soon as the repeal of Prohibition killed their bootlegging business in 1933.
Good question left unanswered: How did this man’s union fail to have a third party audit the books?
BTW, I’m a union member, just like you appear to be, and I’m not offended by this story at all.
Remember, Capone and his henchmen got put away by the Feds, too – because the upper echelon of the Chicago Police Department and Cook County Sheriff’s Office were all on Capone’s dole.
And the Feds are the ones who nailed several members of the Chicago Outfit just convicted in the “Family Secrets” trial.