NCJ Number
75940
Editor(s)
G R Blackey,
R Goldstock
Date Published
1979
Length
559 pages
Annotation
The historical background and causative elements of labor racketeering are analyzed, and materials for workshops on investigating racketeering are provided.
Abstract
The history of labor racketeering is viewed as the process of opportunistic exploitation of inherent weaknesses in the system for personal gain. Labor racketeering began in 1880 with the peddling of 'strike insurance' by officers of the building trades unions and was dominated in the early stages by amateurs. The protection racket came into its own during Prohibition. In the period from 1933 to 1957, racketeers began to take over major unions, e.g., the International Longshoremen's Association and the Teamsters. Since 1957 the chief developments have involved increased sophistication in the conduct of rackets such as welfare fund misuse, sweetheart contracts, and strike insurance. Modern racketeers enjoy a competitive advantage in licit businesses because of their ready access to capital, their retailing networks, and their monopolies in certain industries. The likelihood that a specific union will be the subject of racketeering activity is related to two separate issues. First, a union is most susceptible to manipulation when the only effective barrier to abuse is the conscience of the union's officers. This is the case when labor relations laws simply assume that protecting the democratic rights of workers insures the integrity of the collective bargaining process. Susceptibility is also affected by the work performed by the union and the underworld contacts involved in the course of the work. Second, the desirability of racketeering activity in a union is dependent on the nature and structure of the industry in which the subject union operates, e.g., the probable effect of strike threats, union opportunities for enhancement of other criminal activities, and the size and organization of benefit funds. The materials and teachers' guides for workshops on simulated investigation cover investigative planning, execution of eavesdropping orders, analysis of corporate records, legal objections to testifying, examination of recalcitrant witnesses, and perjury and contempt indictments. References and appendixes containing a study of Federal prosecution of labor racketeering, a comparison of labor racketeering statutes of the States, and a transcript demonstration of how to examine a recalcitrant witness are supplied.