A Philadelphia labor union leader, Joseph Dougherty, former chief of Ironworkers Local 401, was convicted by a federal court jury in January of racketeering conspiracy and related counts of vandalism and extortion. On Monday he will be sentenced by a federal judge. He could get 15 to 25 years in prison.
11 other members of Ironworkers Local 401 were convicted.
At trial, prosecutors presented evidence of many years' of violent, illegal acts by union members - (1) baseball bat beatings of nonunion workers outside a Toys R Us store in King of Prussia, PA; (2) the 2012 arson of a Quaker meetinghouse (a church) in Chestnut Hill, PA because the Quakers were using non-union labor for their construction project; (3) all-out brawls between the ironworkers and members of the Philadelphia carpenters union meetinghouse; and (4) the stalking of a woman and her two children and threats of violence against her.
When Sarina Rose, a VP at Post Bros. apartments, resisted ironworker threats while building an apartment building in Philadelphia with non-union workers, union members stood outside the construction site berating employees, blocking trucks and vandalizing property. After work, ironworkers snapped photos of her children, ages 8 and 11, at their school bus stop in Abington, PA. They stalked and trailed Ms. Rose at weekend sporting events. One union leader loudly cursed at her in front of a packed restaurant and mimicked shooting her. [As a mother, she was probably more frightened by the stalking and photographing of her 8 and 11 year old children at their bus stop, rather than the threats of violence against herself.]
Members rose though the union ranks by participating in goon squads (court description, not mine) that struck back at nonunion contractors that refused to hire union members. They openly called themselves "T.H.U.G.S." - "the Helpful Union Guys".
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