Back in my days there the problem was the owners were willing to sign a pact with the devil. They found one with the union. The very union I paid to protect me!
I never paid the owners for job protection, I paid 560 for that. What did I get for my hard earned dollars????
MY former employer may have been corrupt but I did not look to them for security, I had an organization that was supposed to do that for me. They failed me, my fellow workers and the entire union movement.
They should rot in he** slowly......
The transcripts clearly show that NEMF was mobbed up before Transcon went out of business ( I'm not sure of the year but it had to be after 1978) I did't include the wiretaps because of the cursing.
Puff Driver if you bother to read this you will see that under Sammy Pro Local 560 did try to end the sweatheart deal at NEMF but the mob wouldn't allow it.
This is taken from the RICO transcripts
During the December 7, 1984 conversation Ianniello and Andretta discussed another subject which is of significance in this case. They discussed the relationship between the carrier New England Motor Freight ("NEMF") and Local 560. To understand this part of the conversation it is necessary to be familiar with certain background information.
Until 1977, NEMF was a party to the pertinent Teamsters National Master Freight Agreement and subject to its terms and conditions. In 1977, Local 560's business agent Henry Slyboom agreed that NEMF would be permitted to continue certain "past practices," namely (i) the use of outside companies to supply labor to be used as an adjunct to NEMF's bargaining unit dockmen and (ii) NEMF's use of contract cartage companies. Use of contract cartage companies involved retaining owner-operator-persons [**47] who owned their own vehicles and on whose behalf NEMF was not required to make payments to the Teamsters' pension and welfare plans. Slyboom's agreement with NEMF was memorialized in an October 14, 1977 letter from NEMF's Director of Operations to Slyboom (Exh. G85).
On November 2, 1981 NEMF's President Myron P. Shevell wrote to Teamsters Local [*1174] 560 notifying it that NEMF had withdrawn from the National Master Freight Agreement negotiations and would not be bound by any national contract agreed upon by the negotiators. Meanwhile Henry Slyboom died and was replaced by Local 560 business agent Daniel Rubino.
On February 5, 1982 the International Director of the Eastern Conference of Teamsters issued a directive that any tentative agreement which differs from the proposed National Master Freight Agreement and Supplements "MUST BE APPROVED by the UNION representatives of the Eastern Conference Joint Area Committee." (Exh G87).
On March 8, 1982 Shevell wrote to Local 560 announcing NEMF's willingness to comply with the economic settlement reached as a result of the National Master Freight Agreement negotiations. He added, "I also agree to extend my present contract, conditions and practices [**48] and existing terms for three (3) years to March 31, 1985." (Exh. G88; see also Exh. G89).
Without obtaining prior approval from Union representatives of the Eastern Conference Joint Area Committee Daniel Rubino accepted Shevell's offer, advising him on April 16, 1982 "that I have taken a vote with the employees of New England Motor Freight Inc. and they are in agreement with the terms and conditions that were proposed in your letter to me on March 8, 1982." (Exh. G90).
There were two practices in which NEMF engaged which were of substantial economic benefit to it, and, conversely, were to the very great detriment of Local 560's bargaining position. This can be illustrated by NEMF's employee position in 1985, which reflects the situation which developed after Henry Slyboom's 1977 and Daniel Rubino's 1982 "past practices" agreements.
As of 1985 NEMF had two general categories of workers -- warehousemen and drivers. Relying on the past practice of using outside companies as an adjunct to the bargaining unit, NEMF contracted with its subsidiary or affiliate Apex to provide 40-50 warehousemen. The Apex employees were members of District 15 of the Machinists Union and their collective bargaining [**49] unit had terms and conditions much less favorable than those of the Teamsters National Master Freight Agreement. In addition to the Apex employees, NEMF hired Local 560 members as warehousemen, and as to them it was subject to the economic provisions of the National Master Freight Agreement. In 1985 NEMF had three Local 560 warehousemen in its employ.
Also relying on past practices, as of 1985 NEMF retained approximately 70 so-called "owner-operators" as drivers. While the owner-operators may have been members of a Teamsters local, they owned their own vehicles and it was not necessary for NEMF to make pension and welfare benefit contributions on their behalf. In addition to the owner-operators, NEMF had 10 of its own employees performing as drivers and on account of whom it had to meet the economic requirements of the National Master Freight Agreement. Thus as of 1985, out of NEMF's approximately 123-133 warehousemen and drivers, only 13 were a part of the Local 560 bargaining unit. This gave a significant economic advantage to NEMF (an advantage which it claimed was necessary to its survival) and it put Local 560 in a very weak bargaining position, because even if it called a strike [**50] by its 13 members there would be little impact upon NEMF.
While the foregoing statistics reflected the status of NEMF's warehousemen and drivers in 1985, the situation was generally the same in and prior to 1982 when Daniel Rubino agreed to Shevell's March 8, 1982 proposal to continue in effect the "past practices" arrangement originally entered into by Slyboom in 1977.
The situation took a sudden change in 1983. Salvatore Provenzano asserted that all NEMF warehousemen and drivers were covered by the National Master Freight Agreement and threatened to destroy NEMF if it did not accede to that position. Local 560 submitted the question to the Joint Local Committee of North Jersey. NEMF instituted an action in this court [*1175] seeking to enjoin arbitration through the grievance proceeding of the question of its use of non-bargaining unit warehousemen and drivers.
On October 24, 1983 Judge Sarokin, to whom the case had been assigned, set forth his reasons for denying NEMF's application for a preliminary injunction. He viewed the March 8, 1982 Shevell letter, as accepted by Rubino, as determinative of whether NEMF was bound to resolve its labor disputes through the Joint Local Committee mechanism [**51] of the 1979-82 National Master Freight Agreement. He accepted NEMF's position for the purpose of the application "that [Local 560] agreed that plaintiff could continue to use non-bargaining unit personnel as it had in the past" but that NEMF had failed to establish likelihood of success on the contention that the question whether non-bargaining unit persons were being used beyond the past practices exception was outside the agreed upon jurisdiction of the Joint Local Committee. Judge Sarokin did not foreclose the possibility that at a final hearing NEMF might establish that its past practices were not subject to review by the Joint Local Committee.
After Judge Sarokin's October 24, 1983 opinion and order denying preliminary injunctive relief, discovery was conducted, and the proceedings before the Joint Local Committee went forward.
That was the status of the NEMF dispute at the time of the December 7, 1984 conversation between Ianniello and Andretta. It is the government's contention that throughout the period 1975 to mid-1976 Shevell, on behalf of NEMF, cultivated a corrupt relationship with Local 560 officials, including Anthony Provenzano, Stephen Andretta, Henry Slyboom, Daniel [**52] Rubino and Peter Granello, as a result of which NEMF obtained a "sweetheart" arrangement from Local 560 throughout the years and was eventually able to deunionize its operations altogether.
The December 7, 1984 tape recorded conversation provides strong support for the government's contention.
Prior to Myron Shevell's formation of NEMF his brother Daniel had operated Eastern Freightways. One of Eastern's employees was a fourth Provenzano brother, Angelo. Eastern went into bankruptcy and thereafter Daniel Shevell committed ******* by shooting himself in the head. Afterwards Myron Shevell formed NEMF.
