Pa. Senate votes to close loophole on union intimidation

The Pennsylvania State Senate approved a measure that eliminates a loophole in Pennsylvania’s Crimes Code which prevents law enforcement from intervening in situations involving stalking, harassment and threatening someone with weapons of mass destruction if the perpetrator is a party to a labor dispute.

The bill passed with a vote of 30 to 18, though all of Philadelphia’s senators chose not to support the measure that was spurred by last year’s federal indictment of 10 members of Ironworkers Local 401 on charges of allegedly participating in a conspiracy to commit extortion, arson, destruction of property, and assault, in order to force construction contractors to hire union members.

The FBI launched an investigation into the union’s activities after a December 2012 arson attack at the site of a Quaker meetinghouse being built in Chestnut Hill.

Most defendants wound up pleading guilty and received prison sentences.

Local 401’s leader, Joseph Dougherty, chose to fight the charges and was sentenced to 19 years in prison in July after a federal jury found the 73-year-old guilty of a racketeering, conspiracy, multiple counts of arson and extortion.

House Bill 874 will now go back to the House of Representatives for a concurrence vote. Its passage was welcomed by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.

“While the vast majority of unions do not engage in such otherwise unlawful, behavior, the loophole has been cited in previous court cases related to charges of harassment and threats, in which the exemption was successfully used as a defense,” Chamber President and CEO Gene Barr said in a statement. “And according to recent federal indictments related to the burning and vandalism of a Quaker church in Philadelphia, this incident and many others were preceded by harassing and bullying behavior. Had these exemptions not been in the Crimes Code, local law enforcement and prosecutors may have been able to intervene before these cases escalated to the point of violence and destruction of property.”

All seven Democrats representing portions of Philadelphia — Larry Farnese, Christine Tartaglione, Shirley Kitchen, Art Haywood, John Sabatina, Vincent Hughes and Anthony Hardy Williams — voted against the measure.

In the suburbs, Chester County Andrew Dinniman was one of the few Democrats to support the measure. The full vote can be found here.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal