APRIL 30, - MAY 6, 1998
A subcommittee of the U.S.. House of Representatives will hold
a hearing on Monday to examine what the obstacles are to achieving
democracy in America's unions. In order to better gauge how the
heavy-handedness of some union leaders works against the rank-and-file,
the goings on of Connecticut Local 230 of the Laborers' International
Union will be in the spotlight . .
The Subcommittee on Employer -Employee Relations of the Committee
on Education and the Workforce will be looking at whether reform
legislation is needed to make unions more accountable to their
membership, as though there is any question to whether reforms
are needed.
Scheduled to testify before die committee will be Glastonbury
resident Stephen Manos, who is locked in a brutal and personal
fight with union bigwig, Charles LeConche, for the important
position of business manager. With the election slated for June,
the contest has indeed gotten hot and heavy. Last year, Manos
filed an attempted assault complaint against LeConche for an incident
Manos says occurred July 30 at the Capricco Ristorante on Franklin
Avenue in Hartford. The case has since been dropped by police.
.
For his part, LeConche recently filed a lawsuit in U.S. District
Court,, alleging that a partial tape recording Manos surreptitiously
made of the local's executive board-without permission of the
committee-was done to harm LaConche. Manos provided the tape,
which he says includes of the alleged beating to law enforcement
officials, including the FBI.
Members of the subcommittee will no doubt get an earful from
Manos, who describes Local 230 as anything less than democratic.
Among other things, Manos who is the if vice president of the
local, alleges that the final written form of meeting minutes
are doctored and those who fall out of favor with the local's
leadership are "intimidated" and threatened with future
"economic deprivation."
"I have witnessed firsthand how union resources are misused
in order to thwart democracy and suppress dissident views."
Manos says.