Union suspends Rodrigues The United Public Workers' mainland parent has suspended the union's state Director Gary Rodrigues two days after he was found guilty on federal embezzlement, mail fraud and money-laundering charges.
The move by UPW's mainland parent
comes 2 days after his convictionBy Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.comIn a terse news release, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said it notified the UPW's local board of directors of the 30-day suspension yesterday.
The board is meeting today to discuss transition of the union's top post and other issues.
AFSCME said it took action after a federal jury found Rodrigues guilty Tuesday on 101 counts of mail fraud, embezzlement and money laundering stemming from a kickback scheme involving union dental and medical contracts.
Rodrigues' daughter Robin Haunani Rodrigues Sabatini also was convicted on 95 counts of mail fraud and money laundering.
Robert Miller, an attorney representing the roughly 13,000-member UPW, had said Wednesday that no determination had been made about Rodrigues' leadership status. By law, Rodrigues did not have to resign until he is sentenced, Miller said.
Following AFSCME's announcement yesterday, Miller said Rodrigues had been preparing to step down before sentencing and that the suspension may have wrecked his plans for an orderly transition of leadership.
But the parent union's action came as a relief to UPW state President George Yasumoto, who said he had planned to ask for Rodrigues to be suspended at a board meeting today.
"I thought that Gary had enough pull to stop me from what I needed to do," Yasumoto said.
Yasumoto said he has two candidates for interim state director, Rodrigues' executive assistant, Dayton Nakaneula, and Oahu Division Vice President Joe Rodrigues, who is no relation to Gary Rodrigues.
Rodrigues has said he plans to appeal the ruling.
Under federal law, a union member convicted of a felony is barred from holding office within five years of their conviction.
Although Rodrigues will not be considered convicted until a federal judge discharges the jury sometime next week, his suspension is prudent given the potential turmoil at the union, according to one of his critics.
John Witeck, former assistant Oahu division director for the UPW before he was fired by Rodrigues four years ago, said he was encouraged by AFSCME's decision.
Witeck said he hopes the international or the union's local board orders a new election as soon as possible.
But Witeck, who now works as training specialist with the city Department of Environmental Services, said AFSCME "blew it" three years ago when it failed to take action against Rodrigues on a related matter.
At the time, three UPW shop stewards, Keith Chudzik, Angel Santiago-Cruz and Keith Faufata, filed internal charges that Rodrigues violated the union constitution by failing to disclose information about questionable financial dealings. They also alleged that Rodrigues retaliated against members.
After a one-day hearing in July 1999, the union's international parent found Rodrigues innocent of the allegations.
"A lot of this could have been corrected earlier," said Witeck, who has a pending suit against Rodrigues for wrongful termination and retaliation. "It took courage for the three rank-and-file guys to stand up and come forward, and the international really failed them. The harm done to union democracy is very, very serious."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.