NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, March 12, 2017, 12:29 AM
There’s something rotten going on at a Queens carting plant where two rival unions are battling over workers — with the owner hinting that the future of his business rests on the outcome.
Tom Tolentino, owner of Planet Waste in Maspeth, told the Daily News the current contract he has with Teamsters Local 813 could “bankrupt” his company because of its underfunded pension plan — and he says that concern motivated his workers to consider moving to a new union that only offers 401ks.
“It’s the workers, not me. My men don’t feel secure,” Tolentino said Friday. “It’s up to the workers.”
But Local 813 has a different take.
“This has nothing to do with our pension fund, which is 70% funded by the way, or our severance fund, which is now 100% funded,” said Local 813 president Sean Campbell. “This is about taking advantage of scared workers and trying to bring in a sham union to lower wages and benefits because it’s better for the owner.”
Tolentino told The News he feared he would be driven out of business regardless of how his 15 drivers voted on March 22. Staying with Local 813 might drag him into more pension liability that could sink his company, he claimed. But leaving it would mean having to pay a withdrawal liability fee to the pension.
“It could bankrupt the company. I am personally on the hook for that money,” he said. “We foot the bill for everything. Health care, pension, wages.”
Tolentino is part of a multi-employer pension plan — meaning he’s one of several companies that pay into Teamsters Local 813’s fund. Even if he chooses to pull out, by law he has to pay a certain amount into the pot to offset the burden on remaining companies.
“If he stays in the plan, he won’t have to make any liability payment, and we’re working hard to get our fund all the way up to 100%, like our severance fund,” said Campbell, noting the teamsters offer workers the option of a pension and a 401k, not just one or the other.
And even if Tolentino does pull out, Campbell noted, the Planet Waste owner has the option to stretch his withdrawal payment over 20 years —or offer a lump sum the pension fund might accept.
“It’s not about the pension at all. That’s an excuse,” said Campbell.
The real issue, according to Campbell, is the presence of the League of Independent Federated Employees Local 890 — which is trying to raid the Teamsters’ shop.
LIFE is registered with the Department of Labor — but is not affiliated with a larger federation, such as the Teamsters or the AFL-CIO. It represents workers at several other private carting companies — but generally keeps a low-profile, operating out of a Brooklyn townhouse linked to its president, John Mongello.
Based on Dept. of Labor filings, LIFE appears to consist solely of Local 890. The two entities share the same Brooklyn address and many of the same officers.
LIFE was created in the 1990s when Mongello and other officers in Local 445 of Laborers' International Union of North America came up with a scheme to break away from LIUNA and steal its contracts.
A bitter battle ensued between LIUNA and the rogue Local 445 officers. In 1998 the National Labor Relations Board ruled that LIUNA was the “victim of fraudulent concealment.”
Mongello and his officers “concealed the existence of LIFE ... as well as the fact that they had, in effect, transferred many contracts and members from Local 445 to LIFE,” the NLRB said.
Many of the LIFE officers listed in the 1998 NLRB ruling are still running the union now, according to tax filings.
Mongello is the president of LIFE and secretary-treasurer to the union and the LIFE benefit plan, its tax filings said. He drew his salary from the benefit plan — $197,708 in 2014, the most recent year tax records are publicly available.
The union and the benefit plan are located at the Brooklyn brownstone owned by Mongello and the plan pays $90,000 annually in rent.
Mongello and his wife Kathy created an LLC in 2007 to take over the deed to the brownstone. The LLC is registered at an upstate New York property that belongs to John and Kathy Mongello, property records show.
Mongello’s wife and daughter are both drawing salaries from LIFE, as well.
Daughter Jessica Gambino is a senior account manager for the LIFE benefit plan. Her salary in 2014 was $72,000.
Kathy Mongello is a LIFE dental claims administrator and earned $13,381 in 2014, records show.
Mongello did not return multiple calls and messages for comment. Local 890 president Ella Dupree — who was among the original officers who peeled off from Local 445 — confirmed over the phone from her Queens home that Mongello and his family ran LIFE.
Dupree, who is 83, said she couldn't comment on Local 890's actions at Planet Waste without permission from Mongello.
“If he says it's OK, then I'll talk,” she said.
According to Department of Labor records, two workers represented by LIFE 890 filed complaints against the union over how it handled complaints of wage theft at Five Star and Boro Wide sanitation companies.
One worker said he was fired and owed back wages. The union “only helped me with vacation pay,” his complaint said.
The other was still employed but said he wasn’t being paid correctly.
“They ignore all my requests for assistance,” the worker said of LIFE 890.
Another worker, Carl Orlando, who was employed at Liberty Ashes and represented by LIFE 890, filed a lawsuit against the company alleging he was not paid overtime in violation of the law.
Two other LIFE 890 members who worked at a carting company went to the City Council in 2015 to complain of their horrendous job conditions. They were fired for speaking out.
At Planet Waste, tensions are high ahead of the March 22 vote, which the NLRB is going to monitor.
Workers said that management let Local 890 into the plant twice to talk to employees and allowed them to hand out literature — a charge Tolentino denied.
“No, that would be illegal. They’re not allowed on the property,” he said Friday.
Tolentino insisted the wages and benefits would be the same for his workers if they voted for LIFE 890. But when pressed, he admitted there was no firm deal on the table and nothing had been negotiated.
“It’s pretty much equal to what they have now ... if it gets negotiated that way. There are a couple of proposals,” he said.
He said his employees chose to consider LIFE 890 of their own accord.
“They’re afraid for their pensions, because of the Teamsters funds and everything that’s going on,” he said. “They’d rather have a 401k.”
Tolentino said Local 813 went to his shop and threatened workers with retribution if they voted for LIFE 890. He said he would have workers who experienced this call The News, but as of deadline, none contacted the newspaper.
Campbell said nobody from Local 813 threatened the 15 drivers who will vote on March 22.
“We gave out a flyer trying to educate workers on what’s at stake here,” he said. “With a real union pension, there’s some protection. A 401k, you can lose everything — and it will all fall on the workers. We want these employees to have a union that’s fighting for them — not trying to break them down to benefit management.”
Even though there are only 15 drivers voting in this election, the issue is one that resonates across the region — where “sham” unions are trying to take hold, said Vincent Alvarez, head of the city’s Central Labor Council.
“An integral piece of a healthy workplace is workers' ability to have a true voice on the job, and the traditional organized labor movement is responsible for helping to elevate the voices of these and all workers,” Alvarez said.
“Unfortunately, the track record of many independent ‘rogue’ unions is that they use a model of making deals with employers that undercut the contracts of more legitimate unions, thereby enriching employers instead of union members. Simply put, in order to truly serve working people, workers’ rights must be at the forefront of a union’s mission.”
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Hmmmm....... Birds of a feather flock together.
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