Government asks court to void election
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The government Thursday asked a federal court to void as unfair the Dec. 9 United Mine Workers election in which incumbent W. A. "Tony" Boyle defeated Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski, his dissident rival who later was murdered.
The Justice Department filed a suit in U.S. District Court here in behalf of the Labor Department, which asked that a new election be ordered on the basis of what Labor Secretary George P. Shultz called "the most widespread and painstaking investigation in the history of the Land-rum-Griffin Act."
The suit, resulting from the work of 200 investigators during more than two months, charged that UMW members were denied the right to vote as they chose "without being subject to penalty, discipline or improper interference or reprisal." Some were denied the right to vote at all, the government said.
Shultz also charged that the union "failed to provide adequate safeguards to insure a fair election," and denied candidates the right to have observers at polling booths and at the counting of ballots.
The government also sought an injunction to force the union to keep adequate records. Sen. Harrison A. Williams, D-N.J., announced at the same time that his Senate labor subcommittee would hear testimony March 17 into a charge that Boyle engineered a 30 per cent increase in monthly pension benefits payments by miners to further his bitterly contested re-election campaign.
The request for a new UMW election originally was requested by Yablonski, who along with his wife and daughter were found fatally shot in their Clarksville, Pa., home on Jan. 5.
A federal grand jury in Cleveland has indicted five persons, including the president of a small UMW local in La Follette, Tenn., and four others—including his
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daughter—who reside in Cleveland on charges of conspiracy in connection with the Yablonski murders. Actual murder chargés have been filed by Pennsylvania state authorities.
Even as the government filed suit Thursday, the Cleveland grand jury indicted a retired Kentucky coal miner, Dillard Couch, on perjury charges in connection with what it called a UMW "research and information committee" in the union's District 19, which encompasses Tennessee and eastern Kentucky.
A union representative said the
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committee was set up in 1968 to organize non-union mines, but Yablonski charged before his death that the union had illegally funnelled $3.7 million into the district to keep Boyle in power.
Another affidavit, by Henry A. Queen, another department investigator, said seven persons described as organizers for UMW District 2 were added to the payroll last June.
"Checks were issued to these organizers for 'organizing expenses' without any supporting vouchers or receipts to substantiate the purpose for which such expenditures were actually made." Queen said.
Neither Boyle nor the UMW had any immediate comment on the government suit. Yablonski's lawyer was not available for comment.
The government charged in its suit that millions of dollars of union funds had been spent without an official accounting of where they went. It requested an injunction to prohibit UMW officials from spending any more union funds without keeping adequate records and notifying the Labor Department of how the money is spent.
This period was shortly after Yablonski announced he would oppose Boyle's re-election bid. Boyle defeated Yablonski by a two-to-one margin.
Shultz told newsmen that Boyle
and other international officers of the 195,000-member union who were elected in December would be entitled to remain in office until any new election was ordered by the court. He said he expected quick court action on the request for an injunction on financial records.
Documents accompanying the suit included an affidavit by Thomas F. Kane, a special Labor Department investigator who said he found records showing that more than $5.4 million in loans were made by the UMW headquarters to union districts in 1967, 1968 and 1969.
"My examination of the records of the UMW International did not disclose any documental evidence concerning the disposition of these loaned funds," Kane said.
Shultz said any new election orders by the courts would be supervised by the Labor Department, but that Boyle would be eligible to run again.
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