Lawsuit: Powerful Carpenters Union Purged Reformers

Whistleblower Allies Endured Spying, Tracking, and Intimidation

Newark, NJ, December 1, 2020. Five terminated employees of the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters suffered multiple acts of retaliation and discrimination at the hands of vengeful Union leaders, according to the lawsuit filed today in Superior Court of New Jersey in Essex County.

The illegal acts against the plaintiffs culminated in their termination, according to the complaint. Plaintiffs were all vocal supporters and allies of former Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC) Executive Secretary John Ballantyne, whose efforts to reform the Union and root out corruption led to his dismissal (2018) and a federal investigation of Carpenters Funds Administrator George Laufenberg. Laufenberg was subsequently indicted for embezzling $1.5 million from the Union.

The lawsuit claims Union leaders violated the Conscientious Employer Protection Act (CEPA) and the Law Against Discrimination (LAD) through a pattern of retaliation culminating in the plaintiff’s termination because of their relationship with John Ballantyne and their participation in and support of his efforts to rid the union of corruption and discrimination. The plaintiffs are represented by Nancy Erika Smith, Esq., of the Montclair, N.J. law firm Smith Mullin.

“This is textbook retaliation taken to the extreme,” said Smith. “My clients were devoted Union employees who fought to change the Union’s regressive culture of racism and sexism. The bosses cynically used the pandemic to justify their removal. In fact, union jobs continued, and newly hired employees were not terminated while these five long-term dedicated employees were fired.”

The plaintiffs are:

• Anthony Verrelli is a State Assemblyman and a 31-year Union employee who worked with John Ballantyne to expose Laufenberg’s actions. He founded “Carpenters Who Care,” a program designed to aid members who were suffering from addiction and help them achieve sobriety.
• Justin Ballantyne, John Ballantyne’s son and a Union employee for more than 15 years, was a vocal opponent of race and sex discrimination within the Union.  He often spoke out against the all-too-common racist and sexist remarks made by his co-workers.
• Alex Lopez is a 20-year veteran of the Union and a close friend to John Ballantyne. He voted to approve the internal investigation into Laufenberg’s activities.
• Vanessa Salazar was a Union employee for almost 15 years and worked with John Ballantyne to expand the Union’s diversity and inclusion programs.  She was Chairwoman of “Shades in the Trades,” which sought to increase the recruitment and retention of people of color and women.
• Susan Schultz was a 41-year employee of the Union and a vocal supporter of John Ballantyne’s efforts to rid the Union of discrimination. She chaired the “Sisters in the Brotherhood” program, a committee within the Union whose mission is to create a network of active female Union carpenters.

“In order to purge the Union of those who wanted more honesty, accountability, diversity, and inclusion, the Union leaders employed tactics against my clients which included spying, defamation and intimidation,” said Smith. “They were verbally threatened and stalked; tracking devices were surreptitiously hidden on their vehicles; their phones were monitored; and their every movement was scrutinized and questioned.”

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs had their budgets cut and were intentionally harassed. Without explanation, some were demoted and received pay cuts. Others were penalized by being assigned distant work locations that added hours to their daily commute. All were forced to relinquish passwords to their digital devices. They were deliberately frustrated in their jobs and set up to fail.

According to the Complaint, the Union’s former political director verbally attacked a plaintiff claiming to be “acting as the voice of the Union.” She lashed out at him, accusing him of being a “traitor to the organization” after seeing a Facebook photo of the plaintiff with John Ballantyne. She demanded the plaintiff end his relationship with John Ballantyne because Ballantyne had called for an investigation into Union activities.

The retaliation and abuse culminated on March 27, 2020 with the abrupt and arbitrary termination of all five plaintiffs, an action falsely and cynically attributed to the impact of COVID-19 on the Union’s work.

“There were no work stoppages caused by the coronavirus, union members with much less seniority were not laid off and members in other related Unions were only temporarily furloughed. The Union leadership saw in the pandemic an opportunity to clean house of troublemakers who wanted to move the Union forward, to change the decades-long white-men-only culture in which no one questioned leadership,” said Smith. “Rather than lead an honest and inclusive organization, these leaders were addicted to their power and to maintaining the self-serving status quo.”