U.S. government refiles case against ILA

U.S. government refiles case against ILA The U.S. Justice Department has filed an amended civil racketeering complaint against the International Longshoremen’s Association.
   The action comes two months after a U.S. District Court judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., dismissed an initial complaint, saying the government had failed “to provide a short and plain statement of its entitlement to relief.”
   In the new 149-page complaint, filed earlier this week by the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, the government once again claims mob influence on the union and seeking dismissal of many of the union’s top leaders — though not Richard Hughes, who was elected this summer as the union’s new president.
   “Notwithstanding its economic importance to the nation, the waterfront has been the setting for corruption, violence and abuse of waterfront labor and businesses by New York-based La Cosa Nostra (LCN) families,” the complaint charges. “This corruption, violence and abuse has been facilitated by La Cosa Nostra’s influence and control over ILA locals, the ILA and its executive officers, and funds which provide pension and welfare benefits to ILA members operating on the waterfront.”
   Among other things, the new complaint seeks to remove from membership or from holding any office or working for the union several top officials:
   ' John Bowers, long-term ILA president who recently became president emeritus.
   ' Robert Gleason, secretary-treasurer.
   ' Harold Daggett, executive vice president.
   ' Arthur Coffey, a former vice president. Coffey was acquitted in 2005 after being charged with extortion conspiracy and mail and wire fraud conspiracy.
   Though the union just held elections last year, the complaint also asks the union be ordered to hold new elections for the ILA executive council, and that until then, a court-appointed officer discharge the executive council’s duties, other than negotiating a new contract.
   It also asks that a court-appointed officers be appointed to oversee ILA operations, and various benefit plans “until such time as these entities are free from corruption, domination control and LCN infiltration.”
   When U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser dismissed the initial complaint in November, the union had issued a statement saying it was “based on outdated stereotypes of the ILA, was an insult to ILA members, and never should have been brought.”
   The union had expressed hope that an amended complaint would not be filed, and that “the government will realize on reflection that the public interest is not served by further litigation.”
   The ILA notes that in recent years it has taken a number of steps “to enhance and protect members’ rights and to insure the union was run ethically and honestly” including the adoption of a code of ethics and the hiring of a retired judge as an “ethical practices counsel to independently administer the code and to investigate complaints of wrongdoing by ILA officers or members.” ' Chris Dupin