Teamsters Suspend Chicago Official for 2 Yrs.

The Teamsters General Executive Board on Wednesday suspendedFrank J. Wsol, a high-ranking Chicago Teamsters official, for twoyears, contending he and others retaliated against a union member whocriticized local officials in a union publication.

Wsol, secretary-treasurer of 12,000-member Teamsters Local 710,denied the allegations, and said he planned to sue. He maintainedthe action was retaliation by Teamsters General President Ron Carey.Wsol said he's been vocal in opposing Carey's re-election as generalpresident of the international union.

The Teamsters national office said its general executive boardsuspended Wsol from union office for two years and from membershipfor three months. It also suspended Local 710 Recording SecretaryRobert Falco and shop stewards Gary Crume and Greg Lees from unionpositions for one year.The national office said its executive board upheld the findingsof a hearing panel, which concluded that in 1994, Wsol retaliatedagainst Local 710 member Nicholas Johnson for writing a letter to theeditor of the International Union magazine, The Teamster. The lettercriticized Local 710 officials for not supporting a one-day nationalsafety strike at United Parcel Service in February, 1994.The national office said that after the letter was published,Crume and Lees said Johnson shouldn't expect much support from thelocal if he ever got in trouble. When Johnson later was fired fromhis job for not reporting an accident, Wsol and Falco failed tohandle his grievance and the investigation properly, the hearingpanel concluded.Johnson was accused by a UPS customer of damaging a decorativewooden barrel in the driveway of the customer's home. He said hedidn't report it because he didn't know he had hit it, according tothe report, which noted the customer later said she had not seen theaccident, and it was possible Johnson might not have known he hit thebarrel. Johnson has since been reinstated. He could not be reachedfor comment."Retaliation against members for speaking their minds will notbe tolerated in the Teamsters Union," Carey said.But Wsol, who said he's supporting James P. Hoffa's candidacy tohead the Teamsters International union in the election this July,accused Carey of doing just that. He noted the hearing panel wasappointed by Carey."I'm not surprised by this," Wsol said. "I have been very vocalagainst the general president and executive board in Washington. Iam running on the Jimmy Hoffa ticket and I have tremendous support inthe Chicago area. That poses a threat to Carey and his board."Teamsters national office spokesman Craig Merrilees said"politics had nothing to do with the action. It had to do withviolations and the facts."Falco, Crume and Lees could not be reached for comment.