Earlier this month, a former Secretary-Treasurer for a train engineers’ union was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to embezzling union funds. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) investigated after an internal audit found that Edward C. Davis, Jr. had written approximately 86 checks to himself totaling $61,386 between 2016 and 2019.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) is a founding member of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), their parent organization. The predecessor of the BLET, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, is North America’s oldest rail labor union, founded in Marshall, Michigan on May 8, 1863. The union was formed just one year after the founding of one of their largest employers, the Union Pacific Railroad.

Edward C. Davis, Jr. was the Secretary-Treasurer for Division 620 of the BLET Union Pacific Southern Region representing about 130 locomotive engineers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, all employed by the Union Pacific Railroad.

OLMS is the federal agency responsible for enforcing and auditing compliance with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959. The Act is a way for Congress to “ensure basic standards of democracy and financial integrity in labor organizations” by setting out specific provisions each union must abide by when annually reporting their financial reports. The responsibility of conducting annual internal audits for each union fall to the trustees. Usually an elected position, trustees must ensure, among other things, that all OLMS annual reports are timely and accurately filed.

LMDRA came into effect under the Eisenhower Administration. While in office, Dwight D Eisenhower, a Republican, nominated Martin P. Durkin as Secretary of Labor. Durkin was a Democrat and president of his own union for plumbers and steamfitters. At the time of his congressional confirmation, Democrats were focused on repealing the anti-labor union Taft-Hartley Act. The Act restricted the influence and actions of labor unions across the country. Unfortunately, Durkin only lasted eight months before being replaced with James P. Mitchell, a Democrat with a history of dealing with labor relations for the U.S. army.

Under Mitchell, Congress began investigating union racketeering. The Senate’s McClellan Committee exposed alarming patterns of corruption in labor unions throughout the country. These revelations led Congress to pass the Landrum-Griffin Act, legally known as the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959.

This law created a “bill of rights” for union officials and required disclosures and annual budget and spending reporting for unions. While the law further restricted some actions of labor unions, Congress promoted the legislation as a way to ensure transparency of union leadership to their members.

Under LMRDA, OLMS uses a “streamlined” system to conduct audits on local unions to ensure LMRDA compliance. Following these audits, an investigation by OLMS may be initiated by either a union’s members or information revealed during required examinations. Investigations involve both civil and criminal matters, and any information uncovering possible embezzlement violations must be referred to the U.S. attorney who then decides if criminal prosecution is warranted.

Davis, Jr. will serve six months in prison and three years of supervised release. Davis must also pay $61,386 in restitution equal to the total amount OLMS found Davis embezzled in their investigation. Under the LMRDA, Davis is prohibited from holding union office or employment for up to 13 years after the end of his prison sentence.