Two top former union officers from southeastern Michigan were sentenced to terms of probation on charges of conspiracy to demand from General Motors Corporation (GM), the authority to amend the terms of the national labor agreement between GM and the United Auto Workers (UAW) when they were not authorized to do so; and in conjunction with that, conspiracy to extort from GM, skilled trades positions of employment for two specified non-GM and non-UAW individuals whom the union officers knew were not qualified or entitled to those positions, United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy announced today.

Murphy was joined in the announcement by Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena, of the Detroit Division, and James Vanderberg, Special Agent in Charge, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.

Sentenced today by United States District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds were:

Donny G. Douglas, 65, of Holly, Michigan, on both counts, to two years probation with six months home confinement on electronic tethering, in addition to 100 hours of community service, and a $4,000 fine. At the time of the offenses, Douglas was employed as a UAW International Servicing Representative.

Jay D. Campbell, 65, of Davisburg, Michigan, on both counts, to two years probation with six months home confinement on electronic tethering, in addition to 100 hours of community service, and a $4,000 fine. At the time of the offenses, Campbell was employed as the Chairman of the Shop Committee and chief negotiator for UAW Local 594.

Douglas and Campbell were found guilty on June 27, 2006, after a jury trial, of the offenses of conspiracy to violate the Taft-Hartley Act, and conspiracy to extort under the Hobbs Act.

United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said, “Abusive and extortionate practices increase the costs of doing business for our local employers and undermine the confidence in the integrity of our community's essential commercial activity. Any criminal extortion activity like this, which we consider to be serious and abusive of voluntary participation in the marketplace, will be pursued with vigor, as it was in this case."

The evidence presented at trial showed that between approximately August 1995 and August 1997, Douglas and Campbell, using their union positions, conspired to demand from GM the hiring of Campbell’s son and another individual, who was the son of a former union official, into skilled trades positions, when Douglas and Campbell knew those two individuals were not qualified for those positions and when such hiring was in violation of the normal hiring process that existed in the union contract with GM. Furthermore, these demands by Douglas and Campbell threatened to delay or prevent the settlement of various negotiations that occurred between Local 594 and GM during those three years, culminating with the threat to prolong an 87-day strike that occurred in 1997. As a result of these illegal demands by Douglas and Campbell, the two individuals were hired by GM into skilled trades positions so as to avert the continuation of the 1997 strike.

Murphy commended the work of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey W. Dancer of the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and Special Agent David B. Rogers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James M. Wouczyna and Trial Attorney Vincent J. Falvo, Jr., from the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Labor Management Unit in Washington, D.C.