Leftist Union Boss Uses Member Dues As A Personal Slush Fund
Christopher Jacobs
Those who think government employees live life on a gravy train haven’t spent time examining labor unions’ racket. As a recent Politico investigation showed, one labor leader has been using his members’ dues to finance his lavish lifestyle.
While efforts by the putative Department of Government Efficiency have yet to examine labor unions, the federal government can, and should, play a role in helping to clean up this corruption. Rank-and-file members tired of being ripped off by someone who claims to be their “leader” can also vote in a new union head or, better yet, disaffiliate from the union entirely.
Lavish Expenditures
The Politico story examined the leadership of George Gresham, president of 1199SEIU United Health Care Workers East. Gresham, who has headed the union since 2007, is facing an electoral challenge from an opposition slate this year. With the union having its first competitive election since 1989, the investigation revealed the corruption that decades of uninterrupted power by a single individual and ideology can bring.
The list of questionable, dubious, and/or outright wasteful spending — spending that seems focused more on Gresham and his coterie than union members as a whole — reportedly runs the gamut:
A total of over $86,000 was spent on two flights to South Africa, in 2014 and 2018.
A total of approximately $92,000 was spent on a 2019 live-music event held in rural Virginia. The concerts, part of an event titled “Raise Our Voices,” were billed as part of a get-out-the-vote effort. But this event, and the others like it, were all held in the 500-person town of Urbanna — and all happened to occur when Gresham’s relatives were hosting family reunions in the same location.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of which was handed over in cash, was directed to Gresham’s former driver, who arranges entertainment for 1199SEIU parties and events, and Gresham’s son, who served as a DJ for union parties on several occasions.
Over $60,000 was spent to “cover his daughter’s room, board, and transportation to accompany him on business trips as his caregiver,” on top of two logistics officers serving as his personal drivers and attendants.
Over $17,000 was spent on a Residence Inn in the Bronx next to Montefiore Medical Center — even though Gresham owns his own residence in the same borough.
more
https://thefederalist.com/2025/04/11/report-democrat-union-boss-uses-member-dues-as-a-personal-slush-fund/
