Justice delayed in Local 722

JAMES P. Hoffa, the current general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) has repeatedly called for an end to the U.S. government's oversight over the union. The lawsuits between Mark Serafinn and Teamsters Local 722 in LaSalle, Ill., prove that (1) the corruption and victimization of members still plague the IBT, and (2) more internal reform and government oversight is needed.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) was instrumental in exposing union corruption since its formation in 1976. In 1989, the government filed a civil RICO case against the IBT alleging that the union was undemocratic and controlled by organized crime. The suit was settled with a consent decree.

Under the decree, the Internal Review Board (IRB) was created to help rid the union of corruption and organized crime, and to hear internal charges of corruption. The decree also provided for democratic reforms such as establishing members' right to vote for delegates to the IBT International Convention every five years and for International officers.

The IRB has succeeded in purging the IBT of many members of organized crime. However, the culture of corruption remains.

Mark Serafinn was a truck driver and activist member of Local 722. He fought double-breasting at Schneider Transport in the middle 1970s. In the 1980s at Consolidated Freightways (CF) in Peru, Ill., Serafinn fought for and won the right to elect shop stewards and was elected chief steward.

The sweetheart deals Serafinn witnessed at the Joint Council (JC) 65 Illinois State Grievance panels did not sit well with him. His demands for reform in Local 722 and at JC 65 earned him the brand of troublemaker.

SERAFINN RAN for a delegate to the 1991 IBT Convention as part of his campaign to reform the IBT, Local 722, JC 65 and the freight grievance panels. Running as the Ron Carey reform slate, Serafinn won all delegate positions of Local 722 to the 1991 IBT convention.

No local officers in all of JC 65 supported Ron Carey. Mark Serafinn and his 722 slate of delegates were the only reformers at the 1991 convention from JC 65. During this election, the officers of 722 had arranged for CF to try and fire Serafinn. The Association for Union Democracy (AUD) helped Serafinn through the minefield with dozens of election protests to the government. The help from AUD and rank-and-file support stopped the local and the company in their tracks.

Ron Carey and his slate won the general election in 1991, and in 1992 Serafinn won his election for president and principal officer of Teamsters Local 722. In 1994, Ron Carey appointed Serafinn to the chairman position of the Central Region Over the Road Grievance Committee and to the Ethical Practice Committee (EPC).

The EPC was tasked with investigating allegation of corruption in the union throughout the country. The EPC was the union version of the IRB set up by Ron Carey. With few exceptions, the old-guard officers of JC 65 were hostile to Serafinn and feared what he stood for.

Serafinn went on to win his next two local elections in 1995 and 1998. In 2001, he was again running for local office and also agreed to run as a Central Area vice president for the International on the Tom Leedham reform slate. The Leedham slate of reformers lost, and Serafinn also lost his local election by five votes. The rest of Serafinn's slate for the local election won.

Serafinn was prepared to go back into the craft and work at a Teamster job, but this was not to be. Steve Mongan was the newly elected president of Local 722. The first day Mongan took office in January 2002, he met with Keith Gleason, president of JC 65.

Their cooperation led to the blacklisting of Serafinn, denying him Teamster employment. The effect of this was to eliminate Mongan's opposition in Local 722 and crush the reform movement in JC 65. Gleason telephoned other officers of JC 65, telling them that Serafinn was being disruptive and interfering with Mongan's ability to run the local.

Gleason then called Hoffa at the IBT and requested an IBT representative to assist in getting control over the local. Hoffa assented and sent in an International Representative, Bill Moore.

Bill Moore arrived at Local 722 within a week and helped write internal union charges against Serafinn that Mongan had two of his friends sign. One of these friends was Mongan's campaign manager. Mongan then called an expedited special meeting of the executive board of Local 722.

Board members said the charges against Serafinn had no merit and they did not intend to process them. Moore, Mongan and Gleason did not accept the E-board's decision and insisted that the charges be sent to JC 65 for a hearing. A panel of Serafinn's political adversaries at JC 65 heard the charges and found Serafinn guilty.

Serafinn was suspended from membership and fined close to $10,000. Mongan took it one step further by telling the business agents employed at Local 722 that if Serafinn was referred to any Teamster work within the local, they'd be fired.

IN 2006, a federal jury found Local 722 guilty of violating Serafinn's rights of free speech under the federal Landrum-Griffin Act also known as the LMRDA. Serafinn was awarded $105,000 in punitive and emotional damages, and his legal team part of their legal fees. But this victory didn't deter the old guard.

Local 722, represented by their attorneys Cavanagh & O'Hara, sued Serafinn and his attorneys personally for recording a document showing that a judgment had been entered against Local 722. Local 722 claimed the document slandered its title to the union hall.

Then, in an effort to evade the judgment, Local 722 tried to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Serafinn and his lawyers got the bankruptcy dismissed, since Serafinn was their only creditor. Local 722 next threatened to dissolve the local and file another bankruptcy, all in an effort to keep Serafinn out of the union and evade an honest jury verdict.

The IBT and IRB are aware that, for almost a decade, Mongan has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in members' money to pursue his personal vendetta against Serafinn. But neither one has even investigated this injustice. Doesn't driving one's political opponent out of the union subvert the democratic process?

At its January 10, 2010, membership meeting, the rank and file communicated a clear consensus to settle all the litigation with Mark and his lawyers. The leadership has ignored the members and is again pursuing litigation to spend more of the local's money to fight a former member.

Due to the tenacity of Mark Serafinn, his supporters and lawyers Robin Potter and John De Rose, he has continued this fight for justice. Mark's case makes it clear that a vicious culture of corruption still exists in the IBT. Members who disagree with the officers will be victimized and driven out of the union.

Officers like Steve Mongan don't run their locals in the best interests of the members. They use the resources of the local to further their own political agenda and silence any opposition. Mongan has spent more of the local's money to fight a judgment then what it would cost to settling it. He has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of the members' money that could have been spent on organizing, education and representation.

The old guard is still fighting the settlement and on February 8, 2010, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will hear all the federal appeals. Serafinn believes the jury verdict will be resoundingly upheld and hopes that Mongan and JC 65 are brought back into the case as party-defendants to answer for what they have done to him and the members. Stay tuned.

This article reflects the opinions of the author only.