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".
At trial, the prosecutor presented hand-written notes by the union's business agent (Sean O'Donnell) that O'Donnell distributed at membership meetings presided over by Dougherty to "'thank the Shadow Gang for more good work' - code words for damaging anchor bolts, construction equipment, and other property in order to cause expensive delays for nonunion builders and contractors".
Other counts of violence: (1) two arson-related counts for damage to a site on Grays Avenue in southwest Philadelphia on July 18, 2013; (2) two arson-related counts in the October 12, 2013 attempted attack on a construction site in Malvern; and (3) a count of extortion for coercing a steel company to hire union ironworkers to erect an apartment building at 31st and Spring Garden Streets in west Philadelphia.
Prosecutors alleged that violence was so ingrained in the union's structure that "willingness to participate in arsons, vandalism, and beatings on picket lines - called 'nightwork' by members - often decided who received plum jobs or moved up in the union hierarchy".
Dougherty, the head of the union for 16 years and a member for over 50 years, was charged with racketeering conspiracy and related offenses involving two dozen acts of vandalism and arson on nonunion job sites between 2008 and 2014.
LABOR MEMBERS HOLDING SOLIDARITY RALLY FOR DOUGHERTY ON MONDAY! WHAT POLITICALLY - DUMB IDIOTS!
Several labor union members are organizing a solidarity rally for [convicted criminal] Dougherty in Philadelphia on Monday, July 20. Patrick Gillespie, the head of Philadelphia's Building and Construction Trades Council, said he'd "be at the rally despite the image it may portray. If the rally is a rally to support Joe, then never mind the consequences." Fortunately, most labor union leaders are smarter than Gillespie and declining to attend.
The most important election in Pennsylvania this November 2015 will be for 3 open seats on the PA Supreme Court, the first time in over 200 years that 3 seats have been open at the same time. One of the Dem nominees is a judge, Kevin Dougherty, who is the brother of one of Pennsylvania's most powerful labor leaders, John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, head of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. [Johnny Doc Dougherty and Judge Kevin Dougherty are no relation to convicted criminal union leader Joseph Dougherty.]
The organizer of the rally, Jim Moran, "a well-respected figure in Philadelphia's labor movement", claims that the prosecution of Dougherty and the other union members is "part of a corporate attack on unions. * What better way to attack unions than to come to one of the most strongly union towns in the country and go after one of the toughest unions in town?"
Is there anyone dumber than Jim Moran?
For union members to rally around such criminals as the 12 convicted members of the Ironworkers union aids and abets the right wing's attacks on unions.
What is it about arson, violence, extortion, vandalism and threats to 8 and 11 year old children and a woman that union leaders Jim Moran and Patrick Gillespie find worthy of a public rally?
These idiots are handing ammunition to every right wing Republican opponent of unions.
Joseph Dougherty and the other 11 union convicted criminals should be condemned and shunned by anyone who truly supports all of the good things that come from unions.
[Info above is from several articles over the months about the criminal charges and trial in the Philadelphia Inquirer editions of July 18, 2015, April 21, 2015, Jan. 21, 2015, Jan. 14, 2015, Jan. 10, 2015 and Jan. 9, 2015.]