Thursday, February 25, 2010

02/25/10 More Greenwich Post Breaking News About GMEA

Covering the news of Greenwich, Connecticut

Breaking News

Greenwich Post Ace Reporter Ken Borsuk Keeps Hammering Away At The GEMA Union Scandal

Union members call for criminal probe of GEMA

.....Additionally, Ms. Evans said there was a total of $2,250 in American Express Gift Checks purchased with union dues and that she couldn’t find any indication of what they were used for except that they were given to “members going through a hardship.”

“The board apparently took it upon itself to give gift cards to those people,” Ms. Evans said. “It was a completely arbitrary decision made in a vacuum with just the [union’s executive board]. This is a violation of our bylaws. They never came to the membership with this. My personal feeling is that this is something the majority of the entire membership would have to be comfortable with and if they were going to do this, they should have sent a letter out to everyone and gotten feedback on it. Now that this has come out, people are coming up to me and asking, ‘What about when I went through a hard time? The union didn’t help me.’”

Ms. Evans also said there is a lack of transparency around distribution of money from the union’s “sunshine fund,” which was created by the executive board out of union dues to provide gifts, flowers and other morale boosters for union members sick, injured or in the hospital for surgery. Ms. Evans said some union members have gotten lavish gift baskets and others haven’t even gotten cards, leading her and others to wonder why it’s so arbitrary.

Under union bylaws, GMEA dues may only be used for “operation and administration” of the union......

.....The use of union attorney Mark Santagada is also being challenged. Ms. Evans told the Post that the union owes close to $96,000, which is more than the GMEA says it has in the bank.

“The entire board has been complicit in one way or another by allowing the attorney to, what I perceive to be, milking the union for every last penny,” Ms. Evans said. “There is nothing in our bylaws that says they have to call the attorney for every single question that comes up. What it looks like to me is that the board has so painted itself into a corner with this situation that they don’t want to answer any questions without calling him first. The board avoided what were innocent questions for so long and its snowballed.”.....

....On March 3, GMEA members will vote on whether to retain the current leadership or instead bring the union under the umbrella of Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA). This is not the first time union members have had this vote, but previous attempts to have GMEA join with LIUNA have failed. However this time the election is expected to be a close one.

Ms. Evans has been a vocal proponent of having GMEA become a part of LIUNA and also accuses the current union leadership of improperly using dues money to fund mailings speaking out against LIUNA.....

Yesterday Greenwich Roundup Filed This Report

02/23/10 Wheres The Greenwich Time? Greenwich Post Breaking News - The Greenwich Police Department Det. Mark Marino Is Investigating GEMA

.....It Looks Like Greenwich Time
Reporter Niel Vigdor Got "Nervous In The Service"

Vigdor Is Once Again Asleep At The Switch

He Hasn't Reported On GEMA For Over Two Weeks

Maybe Hearst Newspapers Should Turn The Story
Back Over To Reporter Frank MacEachern

Well When Greenwich Roundup Types The Greenwich Time Listens And Comes Out With This Story Today

GMEA members claim union is broke

By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer

A week away from a critical vote on the future of the largest town employee union, a group of its members claims the bargaining unit is drowning in a sea of debt.
In a Feb. 18 letter to fellow members of the Greenwich Municipal Employees Association, Jenny Colucci, Melissa Evans, Kari Fuscaldo and Lisa Willis allege that the union has $96,000 in outstanding legal bills and only $65,000 in the bank.

Dubbing themselves "GMEA Members for a Change," the letter writers are trying to sway a majority of the group's 429 administrative assistants clerks and public service workers to join the ranks of the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 136.

A vote on whether to keep GMEA intact or disband the union, an all-or-nothing proposition, is scheduled for next Wednesday.

"The bottom line is, WE ARE BROKE!" the letter said.....

Rosalie Mastropaolo, GMEA's President Of Five Years Is Afraid To Talk To Hard Hitting Ace Greenwich Time Reporter Ken Borsuk, But She Will Blab On And On To Lightweight Greenwich Time Reporter Niel Vigdor,

Notice How Vigdor Never Challenges The Union Boss With Tough Questions

...."I think it's deplorable that it has been taken to this level," Mastropaolo said....

....Among the expenditures called into question by GMEA members to police and in the recent letter is a July 2007 check in the amount of $1,392 for Mastropaolo to attend a class at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.

Mastropaolo defended the expenditure, saying that she went to a two-night-per-week business law course for six weeks that summer to prepare herself for labor disputes.

"I took it because we were between lawyers," Mastropaolo said. "I checked with the board and they thought it would be a good idea if I took it."
Mastropaolo characterized her attendance as a personal sacrifice.

"I gave up my party time," she said.....

.....Mastropaolo insisted that she has done nothing wrong.

"We didn't steal any money," she said. ....

.....While she has no plans to resign, Mastropaolo said it has long been her intention not to seek re-election as president.

"We can reshape the union," she said. "Apparently, the members, they want to be more a part of it. They want the board to be more transparent, and that's possible. (But) we never hid anything from anyone."...