Yale Alumni United
When in doubt, follow the money to find out why GESO doesn't have the best interests of Yale graduate students at heart. Looking at where GESO's money comes from shows whom they are beholden to. Looking at where it goes shows why their corrupt self-dealing practices will continue. Think about it - would you want to listen to the will of the majority if you were being paid more than $22,000 per year with AFL-CIO money to agigate? GESO does not represent the best intersets of Yale graduate students. GESO is funded with AFL-CIO money and the AFL-CIO expects a return on their investment. Bob Proto, longtime union boss, even admits that GESO is a pawn in the AFL-CIO's attempt to gain leverage against Yale.
GESO is taking money from the hard-working men and women of Locals 34 and 35 and using it to fund their misguided attempt to unionize. Support Locals 34 and 35 by rejecting GESO.
1. GESO is funded almost entirely by the AFL-CIO
In 2000 GESO recieved $83,836 as a subsidy from HERE-IU (now UNITE-HERE), a union affiliated with the AFL-CIO. This represented 99.8% of their total receipts for the year.
In 1999 GESO recieved $115,939 as a subsidy from HERE-IU (now UNITE-HERE). This represented 95.3% of their total receipts for the year.
In 1998 GESO recieved $103,619 as a subsidy from HERE-IU (now UNITE-HERE). This represented 94.9% of their total receipts for the year.
In 1997 GESO recieved $90,000 as a subsidy from HERE-IU (now UNITE-HERE). This represented 94.9% of their total receipts for the year.
2. GESO has paid its own organizers over $10,000 per year (each)
GESO can try to hide their funding as much as they want, but they can't hide from the publicly-available LM-2 form that they are required to file every year with the Department of Labor. The LM-2 unquestionably proves GESO's self-dealing practices and further suggests reasons why graduate student organizers might want to continue the fight. Further, it shows the hypocracy of GESO claiming to support locals 34 and 35 while paying themselves inflated salaries in addition to recieving financial aid from Yale.
In 2001 GESO organizer Lisabet Pimentel GRD '02 paid herself $11,552 with union funds. (src: 2001 LM-2)
In 2001 GESO organizer Carlos Aramayo GRD '03 paid himself $11,701 with union funds for his work. (src: 2001 LM-2)
In 2001 GESO organizer Rachel Sulkes GRD '01 paid herself $22,353 with union funds for her work. (src: 2001 LM-2)
In 2000 GESO organizer Carlos Aramayo GRD '03 paid himself $10,620 with union funds. (src: 2000 LM-2)
In 2000 GESO organizer David Sanders paid himself $16,833 with union funds. (src: 2000 LM-2)
In 2000 GESO organizer Rachel Sulkes GRD paid herself $11,712 with union funds. (src: 2000 LM-2)
3. GESO parent union UNITE-HERE has a history of corruption, greed, and slush-fund payoffs
"HERE has long been considered one of the most corrupt unions in America" and this isn't the first time that UNITE-HERE has mis-spent union dues to pay off its own organizers.
HERE-IU boss (and now UNITE-HERE hospitality chief) John Wilhelm was directly involved in a 2001 union scandal involving mis-directing Local 1 funds to fund Wilhelm's prefered slate of candidates. Some have gone as far as calling this scandal "essentially election-fixing."Local 1 resorted to suing Wilhelm to remove him from power.
John Wilhelm himself recieves salary and benefits in excess of $300,000 per year, while many Local 34 and 35 employees struggle to earn less than one-sixth as much.
4. Jesse Jackson has benefited from suspicious payoffs by UNITE-HERE
Jesse Jackson's mistress, Karin Stanford, was paid $35,000 from the slush fund of GESO parent union HERE-IU (now UNITE-HERE) for performing little to no work. Maybe that's why the Reverend is so eager to support UNITE-HERE.
Jesse Jackson has been called "a modern-day highway robber who uses cries of racism to steal from individuals, corporations, and government, to give to himself" He uses donations to his not-for-profit as his personal tax-free slush fund and has been caught cheating on his taxes.
Jesse Jackson cries wolf yet again to stay in the spotlight. Jesse Jackson wanted the government to intervene to put a feeding tube back into Terry Schiavo.
NEW: Discuss GESO and Yale Unions in the online forum
The Facts || The Wrong Way to Good Ends || Dirty Means || Dirty Money || Dangerous Results
NEW: What Others Have Said || NEW: What You Can Do
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
THIS SITE IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH, SPONSORED BY, OR APPROVED BY YALE UNIVERSITY.
Opinions represented in this site are entirely those of a group of alumni of Yale University who are concerned about certain issues. Opinions do not reflect official Yale policy. Official Yale information may be found at http://www.yale.edu/opa
This site recieves no support or assistance from Yale University, the Yale Corporation, or Yale College.