Contact: Jim McGough 847-202-3838

On Tuesday night, May 11, 1999, the members of local 2 demanded copies of their constitution, refused to pay the bills of new counsel until they received an itemized statement of services rendered. They wanted to know why the local did not hire a labor lawyer instead of the criminal lawyer it retained to fight the complaint for trusteeship.

Local 2 Business Manager, John Matassa, interpreted the members vote of 40 to 10 to not pay bills to mean any bills, including bills to send out notices of the new nomination meeting scheduled for sat at noon on May 22, 1999-this Saturday. At this meeting we will also resume the suspended meeting of May 11, 1999 and try to have the votes to accept the supervisorship that was rejected by Matassa's board. Matassa will have every political appointee who works for county, city, and state government that is a member of local 2 at that meeting.

A protest on behalf of the members of local 2 with the IHO to order a new nomination meeting because the first was conducted under the threat of coercion-both economic and physical . DOJ in its draft RICO complaint said that organized crime perpetuates its control over the Laborers Union via the appointment process. John Matassa, found by Mr. Vaira on may 12, 1999 to be a made member of organized crime, slated Cicero resident Richard Caravetta to be his replacement as business manager of local 2 when the international refused to allow local 2 to combine the offices of president with business manager. Matassa and Caravetta were both unopposed for office because of the fear members have of challenging them . Jim McGough was in phone contact with reformers during the nomination meeting but was not able to get them to nominate opponents because of fear and the one person willing to do it had his dues shit canned by Matassa so as not to be in good standing to be eligible to challenge Matassa. That person is John Burke.

See: Local 2 files and background

LIUNA Independent hearing Officer
Attn: Peter Vaira, Esq
215-751-2700

LIUNA GEB Attorney Office
Attn: Robert Luskin , Esq
202-625-1200

Attn: Dwight Bostwick, Esq.

Gentlemen:

Last night, union democracy was restored in local 2 when members of Laborers for JUSTICE voted 39 to 10 not to pay the local's bills until the members received an itemized accounting and explanation of each bill. The motion to reject the reading of the minutes of the executive board wherein it voted 5-2 to reject the offer of supervision was denied by chairman Matassa when he said there were no minutes to reject because there was no meeting. We had the votes to accept supervision but inexperienced floor managers who were out maneuvered failed to bring a motion to the floor under new business to accept the offer. The members rejected Matassa's rescheduling of the nomination meeting to a Thursday, (a work day) and voted to suspend the meeting until Saturday May 22, noon at a bigger hall. The motion to allow me to be present as counselor to the members was not voted on, so I remained outside despite the lack of barriers for easy access.

Attorneys for local 2 were not present, having been forewarned they would be asked to leave the meeting if they didn't have a union card. Local 2 member, LIUNA Vice President Terrence Healy, Angelo Fosco's son in law, was conspicuously absent from the meeting.

The new offices of local 2 are quite small and do not provide sufficient room for 50-60 members at union meetings. Because the meeting was not held in good order with too many members trying to speak at once, members felt a larger hall would be in better and hence voted to suspend the meeting until May 22, 1999. The hall we tried to secure for last night's meeting, a VFW hall down the street, was booked and not available.

My protest on behalf of John Burke that the nomination meeting originally scheduled for last night by Matassa is moot by the members rescheduling it to May 22. 1999. Assuming local 2 gives 7 days notice, we will not complain if the "special" meeting is held in the same location on the same day prior to the resumption of the suspended meeting.

We do, however, formally request the Independent Hearing Officer to issue an order that local 2 take immediate steps to ascertain the correct addresses of the 200 members whose mail comes back as undeliverable. Our records indicate that three mailings to local 2 members have occurred within the last month, two by the local and one by the GEB Attorney's office, each producing evidence that 200 members (16%) do not know what is going on in local 2. While it is the duty of members to inform the local of new addresses, the local has an obligation we contend to take reasonable steps on its own when it realizes 16% of the members are being deprived of their right of self governance .

On behalf of John Burke et al, we renew our protest that the initial nomination meeting held on April 28, 1999 was tainted by the fear of economic/physical retaliation for exercising one's democratic rights to "participate fully, without fear, abuse, intimidation in all Union affairs and renew our request for the IHO to issue an order immediately that nominations be accepted for all offices and not just the three delegates to the district council. Laborers for JUSTICE can assure both the IHO and GEB Attorney that its members will electorally contest every office in local 2. With a little help and a little luck, Laborers for JUSTICE will obviate the need for trusteeship hearings, thereby protecting the coffers of both local 2 and the International from being depleted by unnecessary litigation and hearings.

I will incur unnecessary expense and fax a copy of this election complaint to the IHO this morning. We would like an attorney from the IHO's office to conduct the next meetings or the U.S. Department of Labor. We object to having two relatives and a crony of a candidate serving as election judges.

Sincerely yours,

James W. McGough, Director
Laborers for JUSTICE

P.S. Agents of the LIUNA Inspector general office were briefed by two members last night after the meeting. it is our understanding that they will seek to obtain a copy of Vince DiVarco's hand written notes of the meeting this morning.