Grant Leads to Union Organizing, Corruption

Subcontracted by a non-profit to enroll people in Affordable Care Act coverage, union workers ended up recruiting more union members.  The whole scheme came to light when a union worker sued for unpaid overtime.  Perry Chiaramonte has the story on foxnews.com.

 Non-profit group Southern United Neighborhoods got a $1.3 million federal grant in 2013 to serve as a “navigator,” enrolling people in Affordable Care Act coverage. The group subcontracted with United Labor Unions Local 100, which, according to Cause of Action, paid members less than it billed the government and, in some cases, paid them to recruit union members. The watchdog group discovered the alleged discrepancy in court papers filed by union workers suing the labor organization for unpaid overtime.

“Southern United Neighborhoods and ULU Local 100, both rebranded ACORN entities, present a risk of violating the law – this time by potentially misusing over $1.3 million of taxpayer dollars for union activities instead of enrolling individuals in the Affordable Care Act,†Daniel Epstein, executive director for Cause of Action said to FoxNews.com.

“Plaintiff [Cedric Anthony] was initially hired to work for SOUTHERN UNITED NEIGHBORHOODS,†reads the allegation in the court filing. “Once Plaintiff began working for SOUTHERN UNITED NEIGHBORHOODS as a federal navigator assisting people with the Affordable Care Act, he was directed to also perform work for Local 100 by visiting schools to speak with cafeteria workers to sign up for the union.â€

Epstein says that SUN, which was formerly a branch of the now-defunct ACORN, and Local 100 likely violated federal law and that it should be worrisome that the union groups have personal information of those who signed up for ObamaCare.

“They have to comply with federal regulations,†he said. “First, as ACORN, they had our voter information. Now as SUN they have our healthcare info as well.â€
“Plaintiff [Cedric Anthony] was initially hired to work for SOUTHERN UNITED NEIGHBORHOODS,†reads the allegation in the court filing. “Once Plaintiff began working for SOUTHERN UNITED NEIGHBORHOODS as a federal navigator assisting people with the Affordable Care Act, he was directed to also perform work for Local 100 by visiting schools to speak with cafeteria workers to sign up for the union.â€

Officials for Cause of Action also said that they to have spoken with another former Local 100 worker who alleges that some employees worked less than 40 hours per week, but were told to inflate their hours in order for the union to obtain more money from available government funding.