A new report indicates that some “sources” are corroborating shocking corruption claims aimed at a powerful New York City union.
Fox News Digital claims that union sources are speaking to them about the allegations against the New York Hotel Trades Council and UNITE HERE Local 6, including “gifts from hotel executives, manipulated lease arrangements and improperly influenced union business in a culture of quid pro quo dealings.” The alleged abuse was revealed by a whistleblower, who says that even President Richard Maroko “participated in actions that violated internal policies, fiduciary obligations and possibly federal law.”
The union is denying any wrongdoing and has brought in two third-party lawyers to conduct internal investigations, which they say prove the whistleblowers claims are unsubstantiated.
“Mr. Maroko had personal knowledge of, and either directly participated or directed others to misappropriate millions of dollars of retail income,” says the letter, reviewed by Fox News Digital. “He accepted and allowed his Elected Officers to accept gifts of Hotel Rooms, Liquor, Gourmet Food and Electronic Items from Hotel Officials on a Quid Pro Quo System.”
“For 25 years, maybe 24 years, there was a standard then that was really adhered to. [The former president] was very disciplined about it as far as receiving gifts and what you did and didn’t do,” said one source who has “decades of experience” with the union. “And the past five years when the new president came in, that was completely tossed.”
HTC spokesman Austin Shafran shared a statement with Fox News, defending the union.
“Two exhaustive, independent investigations, including one by a former federal prosecutor, have concluded that these anonymous claims are frivolous, lack any factual basis, and were clearly an attempt to derail contract negotiations between the union and hotel management. Thankfully, these efforts failed as our union secured the best contract in its history that will provide unprecedented wage increases and benefits to tens of thousands of hotel workers. Nothing will ever deter the union from working every day to better the lives of our members and their families,” they said.
But Fox News argues that there are multiple people with “firsthand knowledge and insight into the day-to-day operations inside the union’s 8th Avenue headquarters” that support some of the key components of the letter.
More from the report:
In addition to providing gifts to union officials, a former union leader told Fox News Digital that the duo of hotel executives served as “inside guys” who could keep HTC union leadership informed about what was going on in boardrooms so that they could protect their own power.
These favors, according to the longtime union leader, preceded contracts that benefited hotel owners to the detriment of workers.
“If I could cut away one department [from being unionized], you’re talking about millions of dollars per year over the life of a contract, and if Lafferty could deliver that to the owners, then what he’s now doing is changing the entire economic structure of hundreds of millions of dollars in a real estate transaction,” the former union leader told Fox News Digital.
ADVERTISEMENT“The union’s ability to make your property profitable or not is all its leverage. So that’s the inside that’s what’s going on there,” they continued. “If you look at every time Lafferty made a deal with [Maroko] on one of these new properties, you’re going to see that all these weird deals are made where bargaining unit members are cut out. How come at your properties there’s no front desk agents? How come at your properties food and beverage isn’t under the union contract, but it is everywhere else?”
The allegations made by the whistleblower have not been substantiated by any independent review or investigation, and no legal action is being taken at this time.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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