No jail time in union fund case By BENNETT HALL, Corvallis Gazette-Times, OR
The best news for mid-valley carpenters may be that Dunford has begun taking steps to restore control of the local to its members. The parent union suspended the local's officers and put the local under the international's supervision Feb. 13 of last year. Local 1094 has operated under the international's trusteeship ever since.
'They want their local union back, and they're going to get their local union back,' Dunford said.
Dunford plans to appoint interim officers this month. The local could begin holding monthly meetings again in March, with elections tentatively planned for this summer. New officers elected by the local membership could be seated in September, Dunford said, provided the local demonstrates a firm grip on its financial affairs. To guard against a repeat of the embezzlement, the local's trustees will get training from the union in proper fiscal oversight.
Some of the interim officers will be returning to posts they held before the head office took control of Local 1094, but others won't be back, Dunford said. While none of the officers has been implicated in the theft of union funds, he said, some local officials should have exercised tighter controls on the union's accounts.