St Patrick’s Day Parade Committee of Chicago…Ruining 130’s traditions through greed and corruption.
The Chicago Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and many of its long standing traditions are near and dear to many Local 130 plumbers and their families. From dying the Chicago River green, serving as parade marshals, or marching with our own members and families, the parade is a wonderful and wholesome event.
A long standing tradition going back nearly 70 years, the Plumbers have run the parade, in fact serving as the Parade Committee Chair, is the Business Manager of Local 130! No one could argue that since the parade's inception, the Plumbers have led the charge and answered the call to celebrate with our great city. It truly is our parade!
However, the taste of Corned beef and Cabbage seems to have soured over the last decade. In fact one COULD argue the flavor of the entire parade has. Ever since Jim Coyne has taken the reins of the parade, it's been...different.
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Previous parades were run by volunteers from our Union and various Irish organizations across the City. They would meet and plan the annual Corned Beef and Cabbage fundraiser to gather funds to host the annual Queen Contest, and the Parade. Now, it seems to be more of a corporate event than a parade. Isn’t the purpose of the parade to celebrate Irish heritage? YES! Then why are we now tasked with finding ways to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in parade sponsorships and sell raffle tickets to make the parade “Bigger and Better.”?
WHY? Because our Business Manager is paying his wife, that's why. It wasn’t like flipping a switch from wholesome family fun to corporate schilling though. It would take a few years for Jim Coyne to put into place his plans to make the parade “Bigger and Better”. First he had to raise more money, that would require getting sponsors and well, that would take marketing. So for the first time ever, The Parade Committee led by Jim Coyne created the position of Marketing Director to do just that, commercialize and sell sponsorships to our Union’s Parade, and who better to do this than Jim’s wife Michelle. The former group of “volunteers” who would plan events like the Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner were now being led by Jim and Michelle. Local 130 used to purchase tables to the event as a donation, and Officers attended the event and spent the evening celebrating the upcoming parade with all the other unions and organizations across the City and State. Now? Officers work the event, why pay for bartenders when you can just assign Business Agents and Organizers to pour beer. What a wonderful cost savings for the Parade Committee and for Jim and Michelle, looks like she just earned another raise!
After reviewing the tax filings for the Saint Patrick's Day Committee of Chicago, we can see over his tenure, Jim Coyne has paid his wife well OVER $700,000* to run our parade. In fact they even created a company, Prizim Event Planning, to bill the Parade Committee.
Jim Coyne has turned our Parade into a paycheck.
*Salary taken from 2016-2021 form 990 tax returns filed by the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee of Chicago. Previous to 2016, and last two years of 2022 and 2023 not yet posted on IRS website.
Why are questions considered Lies?
1/2 TRUTHS ARE FULL LIES
1. Jobsite Campaigning is allowed, however here is the half truth from Team Coyne, they admit to taking time off to do so, good! However the campaigning was done on paid employer time, that is NOT allowed. Where are the other guys? Following the law! The following is taken from The OLMS Guide to Union Elections: “The prohibition against the use of union and employer funds applies to direct expenditures from the union or employer as well as indirect expenditures including:
a. campaigning on time paid for by the union or employer
Funny how ‘HALF’ of the “TRUTH” was left out of their post.
2. Campaigning in the parking lot has been allowed since 1988? Allowed by who? The incumbents? Where were the “other guys?” They were not abusing the power of the office of Business Manager by having 5 Local 130 organizers and 2 Illinois Pipe Trades Organizers use time off to improperly campaign on employer time on employer job sites and in the union parking lot A MONTH BEFORE NOMINATIONS. Stop acting like the show of force at the April Union meeting was anything less than candidate suppression and member disenfranchisement, Why was the meeting in Chicago only? What was the cost savings? 28k if we vote only in Chicago, or even better 60k if there’s no election at all. Team Coyne seeks to stifle Union Democracy.
3. Dues Checkoff has been 3.5% yes, we all know this, but we aren’t wearing blinders. 3.5% of our wage equates to $1.99 in hourly dues. The Jim Coyne created target fund is another $1.15 an hour. The Building fund has now under, his “vision “risen to $0.70 an hour. The PAC fund is another $0.10. Bringing the grand total of “DUES'' from our checks to $3.94 an hour. Which is 7%, maybe you should stop the Half Truths.
4. Building Fund, yes the membership created the building fund, and those projects happened, were the members ever informed? Did the members know we were going to remodel the BA offices? What was the cost? Where's the transparency? Yes, the Local purchased the property around our Union Hall to secure the “130 Campus” to stay in the West Loop. That's why we built a 23 million dollar State of the Art Training Center. That's why the membership agreed to bolster the building fund and to build a parking structure for OUR USE, at our Union Hall and Training Center. Promises were made to give that money back “after it was built”. Maybe we misheard his September of 2022 improper motion to move money from the Target Fund to the Building Fund to “pay off the mortgage quicker” How many extra payments have been made?
5. Related Midwest, Correct we are NOT developers we are PLUMBERS. We have secured our Local 130 campus to stay in the West Loop, to stay in the City, to Stay in Steven M Bailey Auditorium! We have invested in a new Training Center worth 23 Million Dollars! We have built a parking garage for 32 Million Dollars for OUR USE. Why would we want to sell our property and add 500-600 apartments attached to our Union Hall and Parking Garage? Who wants those headaches of garbage pick up, and building deliveries running through our alleyways and giving up half or our parking spaces in our parking garage? And now they're suggesting the Kaiser Tiger property and our parcels by our BRAND NEW TRAINING CENTER will be sold and developed? HOW WILL THE JAC CONTINUE TO OPERATE? How will they accept deliveries? Use our parking lot for training? Pipefitter 597 Training Center was forced out of the city due to development they couldn't control. We own and control our campus! Or at least we DID, they admit it! The EXECUTIVE BOARD already gave concurrence to sell our property. THEY ARE SELLING OUR ASSETS to COVER THEIR MISTAKES.
6. Retail Space, More empty space and empty excuses. It’s well over 2 years, put a UWC Wellness Center in there if we cant fill it with retail. Why are we letting them continue to gamble with our dues money? Now the “bright future” of our parking garage is Related Midwest? At the cost of losing our own right to park there? No thank you.
7. The Target Fund, generating close to 6 million dollars a year, could be a POWERFUL tool to combat the non union. However we should be doing more targeting and less “brand building” of the unsuccessful Plumbers 911 Program. Also, the FST does read off the bills the Union has paid out for the Target Fund on TARGETED JOBS. Has anyone ever heard a bill read off for sports advertising? Or the monthly cost to run the 911 program? And we’re spreading half truths?
8. JAC, The JAC was in turmoil, 7 full time instructors and a Training Coordinator were fired or quit! That is a sizable loss in investment of OUR TRAINING FUNDS. Are we to be taken as so gullible to believe that the position of “Director of Codes and Standards” given to the former Training Director was for merit and not for patronage? How many people applied? Where was the job posted?
9. St Patrick’s Day Parade, if the Parade Committee is truly a stand alone organization, why would our Business Manager care if they were under funded? Because it's not. He’s said it himself “It's our Parade”. We’ve sponsored it for over 60 years. It’s Our tradition. We dye the river. We run the parade. Our Union Officers and employees do everything for the parade. Our Officers and staff work the parade fundraiser, the corned beef and cabbage dinner, by assignment of the union office. Therefore IT IS OUR PARADE! Well until someone asks: How much do you pay your wife? How much does the parade cost the membership every year? Then it becomes a stand alone organization. Who’s speaking half truths now. No one is attacking anyones family. We’re asking basic questions every member deserves to know. Wake up 130. Jim Coyne has turned the Parade into his PAYCHECK!
Are we Plumbers or developers?
Local 130 members voted to build a parking garage, so they would have a place to park for union meetings and functions. With around 500 spots the members have ample parking. Construction costs exceeded the 30 million dollar mark with a final price tag of around $32,000,000. Members were never notified about the escalated costs or the total cost. Why? According to the LM2 filed for the period covering 7/01/2022 through 6/30/23, Schedule 18 - General Overhead, the members paid $2,368,492 in INTEREST AND GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS alone! Now the members must pay for the financial blunder. First, Jim Coyne moved money from the target fund to the building fund in order to cover the mortgage, and now he wants to sell off the members' assets to pay for garage. If our general fund was so strong why are we paying so much interest and selling off assets? Is the lot he is selling worth $25,000,000? What happens to the plumbers parking garage when the 500 unit building has the rooftop and the majority of the parking spots? Where do all the plumbers park? Sounds like the members are left with no parking garage, less property, and roughly $7,000.000 of debt. Ask Jim Coyne why the members were never given an opportunity to vote on what he does with their assets!
conducting Local union officer elections
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11. Campaign Restrictions
Federal law prohibits the use of any union or employer funds to promote the candidacy of any person in a union officer election. This prohibition applies to cash, facilities, equipment, vehicles, office supplies, etc., of Factory Workers Local 888 and any other union, and of employers whether or not they employ Local 888 members. Union officers and employees may not campaign on time paid for by the union.
Federal law also provides that candidates must be treated equally regarding the opportunity to campaign and that all members may support the candidates of their choice without being subject to penalty, discipline, or reprisal of any kind.
Are all the candidates afforded the equal opportunity to campaign provided under the U.S. DOL requirements?
Jim Coyne, accompanied by John Hosty, visited both the water department and park district plumbers today. Clearly a direct violation of U.S. DOL regulations. Other potential candidates have been reassigned to desk jobs and directed not to campaign at their work places, why? Ask Jim Coyne and the progressive party why they are actively engaging in candidate suppression while they are out illegally campaigning!
FAir and impartial elections....