Laborers say union uses English literacy test to rig elections
A major laborers’ union with a large Hispanic immigrant membership is using an English literacy test to disqualify candidates from running for leadership positions in the union.
The English competency requirement policy is being enforced by Local 78 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), whose members work dangerous jobs handling hazardous waste, including asbestos removal.
The union’s screening panel recently rejected the candidacies of two members seeking to run for office in June 2 elections — Matilde Guiracocha and Carlos Guzman — for failing to pass the English basic competency test.
A literacy edict is enshrined in LIUNA’s constitution.
Candidates are asked to read a passage from the union constitution to determine if they have basic English literacy skills.
“Your disqualification is based upon your failure to have met the requirement contained in Article V, Section 3 that every candidate must be literate,” Local 78 chairperson of Judges of Elections Radek Korek said in a May 7 rejection letter to Guiracocha, who sought to run for auditor general.
“An inability to read and write in Basic English would at a minimum put a candidate under a severe disadvantage and more likely prevent him or her from fulfilling the responsibilities of this office.’’
The union also found she didn’t meet job availability requirements in the year prior to the election.
But Guirococha, 57, an Ecuadorian native who has been with the union for 17 years, cried foul.
“I’m being discriminated against by the judges of elections of Local 78,” she said.
Meanwhile Guzman, 56, in a May 9 response to his rejection, told the LIUNA national executive board in D.C. that Local 78 is selectively enforcing the literacy rule to stifle competition and rig elections.
Guzman noted that he ran for office in 2015 after the screening panel said he “met all the requirements” — including English adequacy.
“While my English skills have not changed, my political allegiance has, and this raises serious questions as to the motivations of the instant veto,” Guzman said.
Guzman, also an Ecuadorian native, said he passed a basic literacy test before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2012.
In his appeal letter, Guzman argues said the literacy test violates the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
It’s not the first time LIUNA has come under fire for the English competency rule.
Last year, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who was appointed by President Trump, invalidated the election of LIUNA’s Local 872 in Nevada and Arizona after concluding the literacy rule was selectively enforced.
Radik Korek, chairman of Local 78’s Election Judges who screen candidates, declined comment and referred questions to the union’s attorney.
The union lawyer dismissed accusations of discrimination, saying Local 78 is abiding by a provision in LIUNA’s constitution and applied the English basic competency test uniformly to all 31 candidates seeking t to run in union elections.