Boston Guild's Dan Totten Accused of Funds Fraud
Union President Faces Financial Impropriety Charges, Possible Recall
Sep 26, 2009
The treasuer of the Boston Globe’s largest union has charged Dan Totten, the organization’s president, with misappropriating union funds by signing the name of a fellow union officer as a countersignature on his paycheck. As she previously had vowed to do, guild Treasuer Patricia Sneyd October 5 lodged formal accusations against Totten which also involve violating the union's constitution and failing to obey orders.
Totten, who has denied any financial misconduct, has come under blistering criticism this year from newspaper employees for his role in the handling of the union contract concessions with the Globe’s parent company, the New York Times Co.
Prior to receiving the the formal charges from Sneyd, the executive board of the Boston Newspaper Guild announced September 24 it had revoked Totten’s union credit card and removed his check-signing authority. In a letter to the guild’s membership, the board also said it had ordered a “comprehensive external audit” of the union’s finances.
Boston Globe and Boston Herald Report on Series of Developments Involving Totten
The Globe and its rival paper, the Boston Herald, have reported the guild's actions in relation to Totten. A story by Robert Gavin, in the October 6, 2009 Globe, "Globe union official files charges vs. president," said the charges could result in "Totten being fired, suspended, or even expelled from the union if he is found guilty by a jury of union members."
According to the paper, Totten signed the name of Scott Steeves, the union vice president, without Steeves' knowledge, as a countersignature on his paycheck in order to obtain his pay. "Sneyd was apparently withholding Totten's paycheck because he had failed to turn in receipts for expenses, despite repeated requests for many months, according to [union] members with knowledge of the matter," Gavin wrote. "The Guild's policy is to deduct expenses that are not accounted for within a certain timeframe."
Totten had earlier said that all "union funds remain and always have been intact."
Totten Claims "Vendetta" Being Waged Against Him over Guild Contract Negotiations
In a September 26, 2009 Herald story, "Globe planning charges vs. Dan Totten" by Jessica Heslam, Totten termed the allegations about him a "political vendetta" over the union's "contentious contract negotiation." It added: "'I am dismayed and angered that these disgruntled individuals are seeking to discredit me publicly, but I must put the interest of our Union first, and will do so,' Totten wrote."
In a prior Herald story on September 25, "Daniel Totten under fire: Globe Guild chief faces probe over spending," Heslam reported that: "A union official told members Totten was caught signing his own paychecks, which he is not authorized to do, a source said." In the same story, the paper disclosed its findings "that Totten made $98,076 last year as full-time president of the union. While members have gone without raises, Totten's salary jumped 12 percent in three years. He made $87,482 in 2006 and $97,929 in 2007."
The charges in this matter, with the consent of the union's governing board, would be filed under provisions of the Communications Workers of America, the parent union of the Newspaper Guild, according to the Boston union's executive committee. Totten would be given the opportunity to respond.
Guild Recall Effort of Totten Launched over Communications with Members on Contract Concessions
Some Globe staff already have undertaken an effort to recall Totten as president, claiming he did not adequately communicate with the newspaper guild's members about proposed wage and benefit reductions during the union's spring and summer contract talks with the paper's corporate owner, the New York Times.
In a profile of Totten, before the final contract vote, in the June 2009 Boston Magazine, "Globe in the Balance: The Holdout," Jason Schwartz wrote: "For years, newsroom staffers have largely opted out of union affairs. Though they make up 40 percent of the membership, they have just one delegate on the eight-member executive committee. Reporters offer various explanations for their lack of involvement, which seem to boil down to having neither the time nor the interest."
Following months of heated negotiations over financial and other concessions the Times demanded to keep the Globe going, the Boston Newspaper Guild—which represents nearly 700 newsroom, advertising, and business employees—in July ratified a contract with $10 million in savings for management, including a 5.94% pay cut. In June, the union had voted down a pact that would have contained an 8.4% salary reduction.
The contract that was approved, in the face of intense debate, eliminated lifetime job guarantees for some 170 veteran guild members, as well as imposed a pension freeze, unpaid furloughs and unpaid vacations, and reductions in health and retirement benefits.
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