Eastern Railroad Discussion > Byron Boyd and Charles Little sentenced to jail (24 mon

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2671792

7/9/04

Defendants describe corruption in railroad union

By HARVEY RICE

Disgraced former leaders of the nation's largest railroad operating union described a system controlled by corrupt lawyers during a sentencing hearing Friday in a Houston federal court.

Two ex-presidents of the United Transportation Union were sentenced to two years in prison for accepting bribes from lawyers in exchange for access to workers injured on the job.

Two other union officials were sentenced to three years' probation after all four pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy. Other counts in the September 2003 indictment were dropped in exchange for their cooperation in an ongoing investigation.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake also ordered former international presidents Charles Leonard Little, 69, of Leander, and Byron Alfred Boyd Jr., 57, of Seattle to pay a $10,000 fine and a $100,000 forfeiture.

Boyd, who resigned his post after his indictment, described a union system controlled by lawyers who paid as much as $30,000 to be on a list giving them access to injured union members.

"The system has gone on for generations, and the system goes on as we stand here today," Boyd said.

Lake sentenced Ralph John Dennis, 51, of Boone, Iowa, former union director of insurance, and John Russell Rookard, 57, of Olalla, Wash., Boyd's assistant, to three years' probation and a $45,000 forfeiture. He fined Dennis $2,000.

Lake said there appears to be a problem with the system that criminal prosecution could not cure.

Lake asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Gallagher whether his office had sought help from legislators in changing the law.

Gallagher, saying lawmakers had been consulted, said the corruption went back to the 1908 passage of the Federal Employers Liability Act, allowing unlimited damages for injured railroad workers because their jobs are so hazardous.

He told Lake that so many lawyers wanted to represent those workers that they were willing to bribe union officials.

Gallagher was referring to lawyers designated by the UTU president as legal counsel with honorary union membership. Although any lawyer can represent an injured union member, those on the designated counsel list had the union's imprimatur and easier access.

The probe began in 1999 after El Paso lawyer Victor Biegnowski was accused of insurance fraud.

Biegnowski, a UTU designated counsel, offered information to prosecutors about the bribery.

Lawyers involved in the scheme were given immunity for their cooperation in prosecuting the four union members.

"Had it been reversed, it might have been 35 lawyers before us today," Gallagher told Lake.

But Little's attorney, David Gerger, contended that "the people who benefited financially the most have never been prosecuted and never will be prosecuted."

Gerger said some lawyers involved in the scam are still designated counsels with the union. Gallagher responded that the government is pursuing noncriminal action against them, including disbarment.

Of the 56 designated counsels at the time the union officials were indicted in September 2003, six were in Texas and five in the Houston area.

UTU spokesman Frank Wilner said the union has made reforms and is working with prosecutors.

"We are concerned about corruption and doing everything we can to root it out so that such an embarrassing and tragic situation never recurs," Wilner said.

"Union spokesman Frank Wilner said Friday that neither Boyd nor Little remains associated with the group, which believes its officers should "follow the law explicitly."

"We are very much concerned about corruption and are doing everything we can to clean this union out," Wilner said."


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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/07/10/business/news/19_57_467_9_04.txt

7/9/04

Union officials sentenced for conspiracy


By: PAM EASTON - Associated Press

HOUSTON -- Two former presidents of a Cleveland, Ohio-based union were sentenced to two years in prison Friday on conspiracy charges for extorting money and valuables from attorneys doing business with the group.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake sentenced former United Transportation Union presidents Byron Boyd Jr., 57, of Seattle, and Charles Little, 68, of Leander, Texas.

He also sentenced former union director of insurance Ralph Dennis, 52, of Boone, Iowa, and former special assistant to Boyd, John Rookard, 58, of Olalla, Wash., to three years probation.

All four men, who accepted plea agreements with the government, faced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 each.

The union, which was created in 1969, has about 125,000 members nationwide in the railroad, bus, mass transit and airline industries. The case was handled in Texas because five of the lawyers who paid money as part of the scheme were from the Houston area and cooperated with prosecutors.

Union spokesman Frank Wilner said Friday that neither Boyd nor Little remains associated with the group, which believes its officers should "follow the law explicitly."

"We are very much concerned about corruption and are doing everything we can to clean this union out," Wilner said.

The FBI and the Labor Department began investigating the union in 1999 and indicted the four men in September.

Boyd resigned as union president the day he entered his guilty plea in March. He had served as the union's president since 2001 when he took over the helm from Little.

Little admitted that while president from 1995 to 2001 he and other union officials took cash and valuables from attorneys doing business with the union. Little said he used the money to fund his campaigns and for his personal use.

The union's executive board suspended Boyd without pay and appointed Assistant President Paul Thompson to oversee the labor group in the weeks leading up to Boyd's plea.

U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby has said the scheme is not uncommon in unions and that the federal government will continue to crack down on such practices.

Don't you just love how the UTU mouthpieces have tried to spin this around, and make it sound like corrupt lawyers forced the UTU officers to accept bribes.

In the quotes I've seen from the involved parties, it sure looks like Byron and the UTU are going to blame the FELA system, and offer it up as their sacrificial lamb.

Their tone has been very ominous ... and if I were in the UTU, I'd be on the horn right now telling the leadership in Cleveland that giving up FELA is not an option, and they will be held accountable if they attempt to give it away ...

Good Riddance!

not to mention, but isn't it strange how the UTU was SO eager to bring in Remote Control technology and also to force through their latest contract accepting employee subsidation of their health care plans? If these scumbags were so willing to take money from greedy lawyers and stick it in their own pocket, what's to stop them from accepting kick backs from the Class 1's to accept these two precedent setting and highly controversial changes? Their accepting to pay into health care really screwed every other rail labor union as it gave the carriers amunition to make their case for a "pattern settlement" which all of the other organizations deeply opposed, no wonder the UTU was kicked out of the AFL-CIO!

What ever happened to the unions representing the workers?? I don't work for the railroad, but have many friends who do. A 5 man crew on some trains was excessive, but now it seems to be a few doing the work of many. No doubt the unions in the past have saved thousands of lives and improved the financial status of its members. I'm sure workers are "tied" to the unions by some financial considerations, I don't know (retirement, insurance, etc.) what. Not to be inflammatory, just concerned for my friends. By the way guys, it's not just the RR unions. According to a former truck driver union member I know, he has nothing to show for his retirement contributions.
TV

I'm working on a manuscript right now for a RRHS that includes narration from an engineer that worked on various railroads from the 1880's to 1937. Mr. X tells in his own words what the working conditions were like and how they sacrificed to get representation and better working conditions. (He was also one of the first to get railroad retirement.) The accident rate was high and even a 16 hour work day would have been appreciated. These guys gave with their blood!

I know that as far as unions are concerned, railroad unions don't have a monopoly on corruption. But it's a shame what some have done with what others have worked so hard to get. I suppose where there is a lot of money, someone is going to try to get their hands on it.

So I get the impression that the lawyers involved in this case are getting off easy?

And my next question is: Does this happen with other railroad unions too?

Info galore...happy reading. http://www.reformit2004.org/

emd_run8 Wrote:
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> What ever happened to the unions representing the
> workers??

The UTU represents the carriers interests while masquarading as a "union"