Copyright 1986 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.  
The Toronto StarMarch 9, 1986, Sunday, SUN
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A5

LENGTH: 369 words

HEADLINE: June elections promised to embattled Metro union

BYLINE: By John Deverell Toronto Star

BODY:
 
   The Laborers International Union says it will lift a trusteeship and allow June elections in Toronto Local 506.

But Metro-area members, who demanded the move be made, aren't yet declaring victory in their battle for restoration of democratic procedures.

The union's international treasurer, Arthur Coia, is still fighting a rearguard legal action to retain control over Local 506 election machinery and business operations until June. This has raised concerns among Local 506 members about the prospects for fair balloting.

At Coia's behest, Laborers president Angelo Fosco suspended the executive of the 4,000-member Toronto construction union a year ago and aborted elections scheduled for June, 1985. Coia took control of the local within days of realizing that his key Ontario ally, Local 506 business manager Mike Gargaro, was likely to be voted out of office by union members.

Take control

A large group of those members were at the Ontario Labor Relations Board this week opposing Coia's bid to extend the trusteeship beyond its first anniversary. They asked the board to end the trusteeship and supervise an immediate election of local officers.

Ontario law allows parent unions to take control of local unions for one year without providing justification, but trusteeships can be extended beyond 12 months only by consent of the labor board.

Coia's lawyer, Chris Paliare, informed the board that Coia intends to order elections in June. He argued that to avoid "a serious upheaval" and permit "an orderly transfer of power" the trusteeship should be maintained in the meantime.

Paliare told the board that "there hasn't been a single complaint" about the trusteeship over the past year other than by staff members fired by Coia.

In December, however, about 500 members of Local 506, which represents workers on large industrial, commercial and institutional projects, petitioned the union to lift the "unjustly imposed" trusteeship and call elections. They asked for the right to participate in the affairs of the union "without fear of intimidation or retribution."

The petition organizer, Pat Scaduto, said this week Coia did not acknowledge the membership missive.