A corruption probe of Unite Here is the latest problem for the local lodging union, which is losing members as hotels close.
A corruption probe of Unite Here is the latest problem for the local lodging union, which is losing members as hotels close.
BY DOUGLAS HANKS
dhanks@MiamiHerald.com
Already facing a membership squeeze, South Florida's leading hotel union is in the midst of an internal corruption probe targeting two top organizers, according to union officials and documents.
Outside investigators accuse Unite Here Local 355's president and secretary-treasurer of abusing their union expense accounts, filing bogus financial reports with the federal government and violating court orders barring the union from associating with certain criminals.
The charges are not criminal but stem from an oversight board created in the 1990s to settle a federal corruption case against the national hotel-workers union.
Andre Balash, who runs day-to-day operations at Local 355, declined to comment on the investigation except to say the allegation that he associated with a Mafia figure ''is not true.'' President Jorge Santiesteban did not return several phone messages left on his voice mail at the union hall.
The internal documents obtained by The Miami Herald call for Unite Here to dismiss Balash and Santiesteban and permanently bar them from holding union jobs or elected offices.
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Source - Miami Herald
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