Saturday, October 9, 2010
Izzy Rivera Secretary Treasurer Of Local 100 Removed By E-Board For Embezzlement Of Union Funds
An emergency meeting of the Local 100 Executive Board was held this evening to consider charges brought by President John Samuelsen against Secretary-Treasurer Israel Rivera, Jr. Since Samuelsen brought the charges against Rivera, and Rive...ra has filed charges against Samuelsen, Samuelsen stepped down as chair and appointed Steve Downs to chair the meeting.The charges are:1. "Misappropriation of the monies of the organization" by engaging "in a scheme causing the Union to enter into expensive leases with Xerox Corporation - without comparison shopping - for the purpose of funneling commissions to Lizette Baumgarten, a woman with whom he has a personal relationship".2. Engaging in Unauthorized Financial Transactions "causing the Union to pay $53,339 to purchase for his use an automobile with a market value of only $38,333."3. Refusing to process the Union's Payroll "thus jeopardizing the ability of the union to function."4. Refusal to Make Financial Report to Executive Board on Sept. 1, 2010.Because of the seriousness of the first two charges, the Board (invoking Article XXI of the TWU Constitution) voted to suspend Rivera immediately from his duties as Secretary-Treasurer, pending the outcome of a hearing by the Executive Board to be held within 15 days.The vote to suspend pending the hearing was 40 yes, 1 no, and 1 abstention. Rivera cast the no vote.The Board also voted that Rivera's suspension will be with pay. Samuelsen stated that he did not want to copy the MTA's practice of suspending people without pay while they wait for their hearings. The vote was 36 yes, 6 no, 1 abstention. Although will not be carrying out his duties as Secretary-Treasurer, he will be expected to report to the Union hall daily and will be given other assignments.Finally, the Board approved a motion made by VP Nelson Rivera to refer the information concerning charges 1 and 2 to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. The vote was 41 in favor, 1 opposed, and 0 abstentions. (I. Rivera supported this motion.)I want to emphasize that there has not yet been a hearing on the charges. I. Rivera has not had a chance to respond to the charges and the Board has not made decision about whether he is guilty or innocent of the violations he is charged with. Today's vote to suspend was based solely on the Board's assessment of the seriousness of the charges. A hearing must now be held within 15 days.The charges I. Rivera has brought against Samuelsen will be presented to the Board at a future Board meeting.
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There have been many issues regarding Izzy Rivera, especially when it came to the TWU's political allies! Izzy supported a candidate that wasn't supported by the local which gave the local a black eye to the Democratic politicians. When questioned, he demanded the head of vernon Thorpe Political Director of Local 100. Since then other things started to come out regarding Izzy. I started to view Izzy as anti union and power hungry. I'm sorry that this happened, I only wanted our union to move forward. At the end of the day, this is just an obsticle that will get justice. We will move forward and continue to represent our members!
ReplyDeleteThe house of card is falling down. The motley crew that we have as leadership are now attacking each other instead of attacking the common enemy who is Jay Walder and his managers at the MTA. Every day brothers and sisters are subjected to write ups and disrespectful behavior by managers. The in house fighting only hurts us and gives the MTA the green light to attack us. The rank and file must stay strong until we can get rid of the pretenders who are bring us down. At the end of the day lets hope that we have a union to move forward. If not heaven help us all.
ReplyDeleteMr Yates has a problem with individual identity.Its not your place to tell me who to support. Its your place to support whom the membership tells you to support. Its not your money excclusively. Its the membership's
ReplyDeleteThose who know me, know better than that! I'm just sorry that this circus has given our Union a black eye! What ever the reason for the infighting, we should never attempt to bring down the house that we must dwell in.
ReplyDeleteMy question is very simple, in light of all that has taken place was it worth it?
Our struggles with the MTA and NYCT have reached new levels. War was announced and responded to on different fronts including the newspapers of our city.
Our benefits that we fought so hard for was and is the focus of these attacks.
Pick practices, seniority rights and bargained work have also been challenged in all divisions of this union, and all that my MaBstoa Brother could do was get on TWUbus and create infighting!
As I recall the issues, you wanted us in MaBstoa to just blindly respect and support you without works, and thats not taking into account the abuses and illegal activities you participated in! If you recall, I tried to intervene through Rey Rosario and have you to fix the problem, but unfortunatly you had a problem with the wishes of the membership.
Response to Israel Rivera Jr - Mr. Donald Yates is a sounding board, he was giving you pointers out of his generosity - a common sense and a reasonable person would have adhered to them.
ReplyDeleteMembership wishes & money is a two way street - a traffic light must be respected by all.