Concerns about Controlling Union Employees' Benefit Funds by the Carpenters Collection Agency, Youngstown, Ohio

摘要

The Collection Agency, established by union affiliates, collects payments from employers primarily for union employee fringe benefit funds. It is administered by five trustees who are also union trustees of one of the benefits plans served by the Collection Agency. Operating costs are paid from interest earned on employer payments before disbursement to the funds. The Department of Labor determined that some fringe benefit fund trustees violated their fiduciary responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; however, Labor did not take aggressive action to correct the violations. Also, the Collection Agency may have violated the Labor-Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act by accepting employer payments.