Timet Steelworkers local chief forced out in financial scandal

David Strow

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

The president of the United Steelworkers union local in Henderson was forced to resign by the international union over allegations that he wrote bad checks on a union account.

Billy Hand, president of Steelworkers of America Local 4856, resigned at the international union's request on Sept. 15. The union represents about 300 workers at Denver-based Timet's Henderson plant and an additional 25 at Chemical Lime Co.

Hand, who was employed by Timet -- Titanium Metals Corp. -- also resigned from that company on Sept. 24.

The local has notified both its bonding company and the U.S. Department of Labor. The administrator of the local said any criminal investigation would be handled by the Labor Department.

"There's no indication that any other member of the local union or its officers have done anything wrong," said Jerry Storms, a staff representative with the international union, now serving as administrator of Local 4856. "That's why all elected officers, with the exception of the president, are assisting me in the administration of the union.

"That local union has been there 46 years, and we feel like that local union has been a very important part of that community."

Hand denied wrongdoing.

"I didn't embezzle any money ... I'm denying that," Hand said.

He said he wrote "all but two" of the checks to bail a union member out of jail. The other two checks were written, he said, to pay for attorney's fees in connection with those charges.

Storms said Hand relayed that story to him, but that he had been unable to confirm it.

Storms began his investigation earlier this month at the request of several officers of the local. The officers said Hand had requested that the local write a check out of its general fund to cover overdrafts on its recreation and welfare fund. Storms advised the officers that this would be illegal, and began conducting an audit.

The fund contained no more than $4,000 at any time, but Storms said his audit showed more than $11,000 in drafts that had been cashed at a Henderson casino.

Checks written on this account are supposed to be signed by two union officials. But Storms said he had been able to verify that Hand forged the second signature on the disputed checks, and that Hand admitted this to union members. Storms also accused Hand of cashing some of the checks personally.

"It appeared that checks had been written on an account which he knew no funds were available," he said.

Storms is now completing his audit of bank records, and will soon turn over the results to the bonding company and to the Labor Department.

The union will now form a trial committee, which will hear evidence from both Hand and other union officers and decide what disciplinary action to take.

Storms said he will remain administrator of the union "only as long as it takes to satisfy the bonding company and the Department of Labor." The presidency of the local will fall to the vice president, Joe Arellano.

"I want to make sure it's as short as possible, that we get the local back to where it belongs," Storms said. "The only delay will be in making sure we comply with the rules and regulations of the Department of Labor."