Teamsters Local 50 boss in Swansea removed from office over alleged personal purchases

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 50 in Swansea has been placed under the control of an outside trustee amid an investigation into alleged improper use of union funds and failure to withhold taxes from salaries by the union’s president and one of its bookkeepers.

The notice of trusteeship removes local union president and business agent Scott Alexander from office. Also removed was Nancy Alexander, who is listed on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards website as a bookkeeper at the union.

Tony Barr, president of Teamsters Local #916 in Springfield, has been named Trustee of Teamsters Local 50.

The notice, posted on the union’s website and also taped to the door of the union’s shop at 1609 N. Illinois St., came Friday from Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa. Hoffa wrote that an audit of Local 50 “has revealed numerous occasions on which the Local Union’s credit cards were used for personal purchases and expenses.”

According to Hoffa’s notice, improper purchases made with union credit cards included “concert tickets and travel for which there is no apparent union purpose ... and meals that appear to have been provided to family members.”

Neither Scott nor Nancy Alexander could be reached for comment Monday.

The notice additionally listed the following findings from the audit:

▪  “The Local Union has not maintained sufficient records to document the propriety of expenditures. Credit card receipts are missing and/or have inadequate explanations of the union purpose and the individuals who incurred the expenses. This is despite the Local officers having been advised in 2013 by the Department of Labor that its record keeping procedures were inadequate.”

▪  “The Local Union has not withheld sufficient taxes from the salaries of Scott or Nancy Alexander, thereby subjecting the Local to penalties from the Internal Revenue Service. ... This constitutes a breach of fiduciary duty by incurring additional costs to the Local and, at the same time, provides unearned additional compensation to Scott and Nancy Alexander.”

▪  “Vacation credits have been awarded to Nancy Alexander without the approval of the Executive Board. ... Despite the fact that she did not have any prior employment at the craft or with the Local Union, she was awarded six weeks’ vacation in her first year, an amount appropriate for a 20-year employee, according to the Local’s benefit schedule.”

▪  “There are numerous missing checks or checks that do not indicate to whom the money was paid.”

▪  “The Local Union officers have failed to cooperate with the International Auditors who have been sent to investigate the above financial transactions and other complaints.”

▪  “Both Scott and Nancy Alexander received pay in lieu of vacation that exceeded the amounts to which they were entitled under the Local’s policy.”

“These allegations evidence a pattern of abuse that continues to date,” Hoffa wrote. “There is little reason to conclude that the Local Union will be operated in a fiduciary manner if the current Executive Board remains in office.”

A Teamsters spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Monday the union does not make its audits public and would not comment on the situation at Local 50.

A hearing intended to allow the union’s officers to respond to the allegations has yet to be scheduled.

Teamsters Local 50 in Southern Illinois represents truck driver, construction workers, auto dealership workers, beer drivers, nursing home workers, concrete plant employees, service station workers and others.

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Teamsters Local 50 boss in Swansea removed from office over alleged personal purchases."