The ten highest-paid union bosses at United Association of Plumbers & Pipefitters headquarters in Annapolis, Maryland received a sum of roughly $3.5 million taken from workers’ paychecks in the union’s latest fiscal year.
From July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013, United Association General President Bill Hite was paid $468,011 in salary plus reimbursements.
Hite was one of two United Association bosses paid more than $400,000, and one of a dozen United Association bosses paid over $300,000.
Without accounting for insurance or retirement benefits, a total of 42 employees and officers at United Association headquarters were paid in excess of $250,000 last year.
President Obama and like-minded “progressives” often treat $250,000 per year as the point at which, in the president’s words, “you’ve made enough money.” Americans paid more than $250,000 are targeted for higher taxes, often in the name of “the middle class” as defined by United Association and other labor unions.
“I have had a long-standing, working relationship with Barack,” Hite boasted when announcing United Association’s 2008 endorsement of Obama for president. Obama appointed Hite to the President’s Export Council in July 2010.
Bill Hite raked in $468,011 last year on the backs of plumbers, welders, HVAC technicians, and other employees of workplaces unionized by United Association affiliates. United Association headquarters takes anywhere from $19 to $27 per month from represented workers’ paychecks.
In addition to fattening the wallets of the union’s leadership, last year $50,000 in United Association dues went to a Washington, DC Super PAC called “The Ninety Nine Percent,” a reference to the rallying cry of fringe-left Occupy Wall Street.
United Association Local 290 in Portland explicitly endorsed Occupy Wall Street, groaning in an October 21, 2011 resolution that “Corporations, Wall Street bankers and financiers, and the wealthiest in the top 1% have undue influence on the American political system and on public policy.”
In a list of national campaign contributors dominated by Big Labor, United Association ranks 37th among all donors since 1989. Based on a Wall Street Journal calculator using 2011 data, the 42 United Association headquarters officers and employees paid over $250,000 last year are in the 96th income percentile or higher.
The 12 United Association bosses paid more than $300,000 rank in the rarefied air of “the 3 percent,” while Hite’s $468,011 makes him one of the 2 percent.
Following is a list of the United Association of Plumbers & Pipefitters employees and officers whose 2013 salary plus reimbursements make them millionaires by President Obama’s standard. The numbers shown here come directly from the union’s fiscal year 2013 LM-2 report to the U.S. Department of Labor.
| Name | Title | Total Disbursements, Fiscal Year 2013 |
|---|---|---|
| William Hite | General President | $468,011 |
| Mark McManus | General Secretary-Treasurer | $400,663 |
| John Telford | Dir. of Canadian Affairs | $371,779 |
| Stephen Kelly | Asst General President | $351,920 |
| Larry Cann | Admin Assistant/Canada | $332,331 |
| Budrow Tozer | Int’l Representative | $320,247 |
| Rick Terven | Executive Vice President | $317,218 |
| Robert Kinsey | Int’l Representative | $312,297 |
| Anthony Finelli | Special Representative | $311,745 |
| Larry Bulman | Dir. of Political Affairs | $305,024 |
| Larry Slaney | Special Representative | $304,371 |
| Terry Ranson | Administrative Assistant | $303,084 |
| James Macdonald | Int’l Representative | $295,930 |
| William Lille | Administrative Assistant | $294,175 |
| James Hart | Director of Metal Trades | $291,530 |
| Michael Pleasant | Director of Jurisdiction | $291,518 |
| Steven Morrison | Special Representative | $291,401 |
| Thomas Bigley | Dir. of Plumbing Svcs | $288,637 |
| Chris Haslinger | Director of Training | $288,480 |
| Tom Gross | Dir. of Pipeline & Gas Dis | $287,195 |
| James Moss | Director of Energy | $283,161 |
| Martin Naseef | Director of HVAC | $282,774 |
| Brett McCoy | Director of Organizing | $280,855 |
| Ronald Maisonneuve | Special Representative | $279,177 |
| Patrick Kellett | Dir. of Bus Devel/Mrktg | $277,908 |
| David Donato | Int’l Representative | $264,789 |
| Lance Albin | Int’l Representative | $263,524 |
| James Cahill | Int’l Representative | $263,510 |
| Bill Eden | Int’l Representative | $262,813 |
| Kenny Ruggles | Int’l Representative | $262,536 |
| Curtis Cade | Int’l Representative | $258,507 |
| Charles Watts | Int’l Representative | $257,484 |
| Terrence Urbanek | Int’l Representative | $254,784 |
| Bradley Karbowsky | Int’l Representative | $253,842 |
| Greg Sayles | Int’l Representative | $252,799 |
| David Posey | Int’l Representative | $252,586 |
| Michael O’Mara | Int’l Representative | $251,957 |
| Anne St. Eloi | Special Representative | $251,875 |
| Mark Butler | Int’l Representative | $251,047 |
| Richard Oliver | Int’l Representative | $250,851 |
| Donald Braun Jr | Special Representative | $250,504 |
| Reuben Bautista | Special Representative | $250,233 |
This story was originally published at Media Trackers.
[Addendum: Of course, from an ‘optics viewpoint, it does not help that union bosses are raking in millions while the Plumbers’ pension fund is billions underfunded. — Ed.]
I wouldn’t care what these so called leaders made if they had our best interests in mind!
In my opinion the contractors should be paying their wages not us the members.
Again in my opinion we members have lost more ground financially and power as a union since these guys have taken over OUR UNION!
Donnie Your a joke!!! Hite did a great job running my Union United Association. Being from Canada I do feel we send to much to head office it ShoUld be kept at Canadian head office. Hite did a great job after getting rid of the real crook Mattiloni
433,000 to protect the wages and benefits of somee 300,000 people I wonder what the ceo of general motors would want for compensation if they still employed 300,000 instead of 212,000 and 27 dollars per month is a paltry sum to be a member of an organization that provides free training and education
Actually, the $27 is the per capita tax paid by the locals to the international. The dues are higher than that.
Dues are a tax deductible I receive more than half back. That is great for what I receive as a member
The salaries and expenses are voted on at the convention every 5 years and the officers salaries are in the Constitution for all to see!!
This should be a requirement as part of their fiduciary duty: 75,000 reduction in pay for individuals who make over 400,000 since it is a non profit, then allocate monies into pension, continue the reductions according to each officers pay. Reduction in all perks like travel, vehicles, cell phones,all across the board. After which the National Convention needs to be on Jenny Craig diet since they are always in debt over 300,000 after each national UA convention which has been compounded onto each new debt acquired by each National convention. A huge fat snowball rolling on the members. Then rid all of the Union medical/ health care to get rid of the relatives/ middlemen so we can get Obamacare which way better than the crappy insurance we have.
Your so called Union leaders are nothing more than scum of the earth magots that steal from hard working men and women who are trying to provide a honorable life for them selves and their families.
Bill Hite has set up his entire family with cush jobs! His son is a absolute train wreck, an embarrassment, but will never be with out work thanks to daddy.
The B.M., James Bucannon, who heads up LU 597 in Chicago as well as all of his BA’s should be jailed with how they treat their members while making sure that all their family members are never with out work. Mr Bucannon’s step son became the head of mechanical piping at Mc Cormik Place in Chicago only 2 years out of his apprenticeship!!!!
Pipefitter Union members who work hands on in the field are worth their weight in GOLD! It’s a hard, demanding, skilled job but our union leaders today from BA’s on up to General President Bill Hite are nothing more than cum guzzling, mafia want to be’s that steal from the men and women that get up every day, go to work, put on work boots / PPE and eat out of a paper bag!
Today, the word Union is nothing more than a word brothers and sisters. Chicago 597 motto is “Brother brother in the hall. In the field fuck’em all! WOW, I’m glad I’m no longer a active member working to support the upper tear leadership.
God bless all the hard working members just wanting to provide a better life by hard work. The leadership can all go and rot in hell!
The average C.E.O. makes 271 times their average workers pay. General President Hite, who is elected by membership at national convention once a very four years makes roughly 6 times what the unelected corporate C.E.O. makes. Your propaganda is bullshit lies.
Ken,
Unfortunately, you (like many) have fallen for the AFL-CIO’s “CEO Pay Watch” bait and switch. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data on CEO pay (link here), there are 195,530 CEOs across the U.S. Among those, the mean average wage data for CEOs is: $200,140, far less than what is purported in the mainstream media (or union publications). . . and there’s a reason for that.
What the AFL-CIO does every year is take the “total compensation” of the CEOs in the S&P 500 and uses the data to come up with their numbers.
Now, the S&P 500 (and their CEOs) are not representative of all CEOS since the S&P 500 “measures the value of the stocks of the 500 largest corporations by market capitalization listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq Composite.”
So, while you may believe what is posted in the article is “propaganda,” it is not. Rather, you might want to reconsider your source since it appears as though you, like the media, are merely echoing the AFL-CIO’s talking points which are cherry picked numbers.