Turmoil Engulfs Boilermakers' Brass After Union Boss' Ouster For Using Funds For Personal Use
Some rank-and-file members want him gone. So, why won't Newton Jones just go away?
It has been nearly five years since a report exposed Newton B. Jones, the now-former president of a relatively-small national union, and his use of 16 personal assistants.
Over the course of the past five years, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers paid Jones over $3.1 million dollars in total compensation, according to financial disclosures on file with the U.S. Department of Labor, even has the union’s membership has declined by more than ten percent, making it one of the smallest unions in the AFL-CIO.
However, earlier this month, the Boilermakers’ executive council voted to oust Newton B. Jones for “misappropriating union funds for personal use.”
Jones has been ordered to reimburse the union “all of the funds which he misspent as reflected in these charges” and to immediately resign from all of his other positions, including serving as a trustee of all funds in which the union participates, reported the Eagle Tribune.
Jones, though, is not taking his ouster—and the possibility of losing his high-six figure, perk-filled income—lightly and is using the union to sue the executive council members in federal court.