Public Employee Press

"Zero tolerance" for corruption

The expulsion of former Local 1505 President Michael Hood from the union earlier this year signals DC 37's "zero tolerance" policy on corruption, said Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

"We are committed to ensuring that our members' dues are protected and we will not accept any financial improprieties," Roberts said.

Roberts cited the Hood case after a town hall-style meeting last month where new AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders underscored the watchdog role of DC 37's parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

At the meeting, Saunders described his responsibility for safeguarding union funds and led a free-wheeling discussion with activists about the challenges facing the labor movement (see 'Fighting back in troubled times')

Last year, DC 37 Ethical Practices Officer J. Bruce Maffeo conducted an investigation that found Hood had misappropriated union funds. In January, Roberts, DC 37 Associate Director Oliver Gray and Hood's successor, Dilcy Benn, referred the case to the AFSCME Judicial Panel.

In May, Judicial Panel Chair John Seferian found Hood guilty of receiving a check for an AFSCME convention he did not attend, taking double payments for telephone charges and a monthly stipend, and lacking documentation for at least $1,000 in computer equipment.

AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee upheld Seferian's ruling expelling Hood from the union and directing him to make restitution.