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To: Liatris Spicata who wrote (2433)	9/8/1999 3:09:00 PM
From: Liatris Spicata	Respond to of 3764

OT- Those who affected outrage at my suggestion that labor unions in this country might be guilty of thuggery might do well to read the following, which I have excerpted and paraphrased from an editorial in today's WSJ. I would note I have not known the IAM to engage in these activities. Former UPS driver Rod Carter's Labor and his wife filed suit against his former union--the Teamsters--in circuit court in Florida alleging civil conspiracy, racketeering, & assault and battery. Defendants include the Teamsters' local, its officers, as well as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Mr. Carter, a one-time linebacker for a Miami Hurricanes national championship team, was a UPS truck driver at the time of the 1997 strike. After considering the issue, he opted to work. As he told the local paper at the time, "They have the right to strike and I have the right to work. My family is more important than a union or UPS." While driving his truck, Mr. Carter was assaulted by several members of his union, Teamsters Local 769. Pulling the door open, they jumped him and stabbed him several times with an ice pick. One of the assailants, Benigno Rojas, ended up serving a year in jail for aggravated battery and criminal mischief, following a plea bargain. Others agreed to probationary periods. But there was no trial, and so the question of union complicity in the violence was never aired. This has proved a critical omission. Though what happened to other targets of union wrath was not as spectacular or frightening as what happened to Carter, dozens of others were instances of harassed by members of Local 769 during the UPS strike. Things will be different in Mr. Carter's civil case. On the night before the attack on Mr. Carter, his wife received a threatening phone call from a stranger named "Benny"--the nickname of one of the assailants, Benigno Rojas. Mr. Carter's lawyers at the National Right to Work Legal Foundation will have a chance to present phone records showing that, at around the same time, a call was placed to the Carter house from the home of the president of Teamster Local 769, Anthony Cannestro. Mr. Carter's lawyers also have a sworn deposition from Rolando Pina, an officer and employee of Local 769. The deposition reveals that the local reimbursed all six of Mr. Carter's assailants for the bail they put up. Mr. Pina says the union did that because leadership had told members at the strike's outset that "if they were arrested we would bail them out." ... Another worker reported that "the union representative[s] were encouraging teamster member[s] to use UPS violence toward employees that crossed the picket line." Still another, a driver, said of a union leader, "In my personal opinion he was instigating members to commit crime." There are many similar statements, including one by a man who says union leaders were "encouraging the members to take a violent approach against anyone who crossed the picket line." One reason Mr. Carter and other drivers found themselves vulnerable during the UPS strike was that union chiefs know all too well that many acts of union violence or abuse are unlikely ever to go to trial. Unfortunately, that also means they never get the airing they deserve. If we are to change this, a thorough court review of any union role in the ugly attack on Mr. Carter would be a healthy first step.