A group of immigrants—members of the Asbestos, Lead and Hazardous Waste Laborers Local 78, which has a membership of 3000—accused their local union leadership of electoral fraud.
The group, mainly Ecuadorian nationals, visited Ecuador News’ editorial offices and claimed that they were victims of harassment, persecution and blackmail by the directors of their union. According to Edison Severino, the group’s spokesperson and a Dominican national, they will not give up their struggle until their voices are heard, their work acknowledged, and there is real change within the union so that all workers receive equal treatment.
The main charges are against Pawel Kedizor, a Polish national, who serves as the union’s treasury secretary and business manager. When Severino and his group approached the executive committee to demand that these two functions be separated and run by Hispanics, the committee denied the motion, putting pressure on its members to vote against it. Severino, who served on the executive committee for seven years, but was fired (supposedly to save money), explained that the real reason behind these moves is to maintain control of the union.
It was discovered that the elections for new leadership of Local 78, held on June 28 of this year, were marred with irregularities—former union members were paid off and pressured to support the leadership against the motion presented by Severino’s group. Severino’s group then sent these findings to the union headquarters in Washington D.C. for a careful investigation. While awaiting the results, the group was informed that the documents sent for review were lost. Jorge Roldan, who is from Ecuador, said that although a new date was set for election—they will be held on Jan. 30,2004—no explanation was given regarding their allegations. He suggested that the international union’s headquarters was covering up something big and simply didn’t want a group of Hispanics heading up a Local. Naming names, Severino said many people were bribed and manipulated by the union’s directors.
According to Severino, the group will call again on all New York City politicians to send letters to the union’s headquarters in Washington D.C. Previously, they succeeded in enlisting 80 politicians to send a proposal demanding that the international union investigate these allegations and ensure that the coming elections be conducted properly. However, the union managed to sidestep this demand and simply postponed the date for the next elections.
The group received backing from the New York State Senate and Assembly, and Councilmembers Hiram Monserrat (Queens) and Margarita Lopez (Manhattan). The support, however, prompted strong reactions within the union, with Councilmember Lopez receiving direct threats.
