Labourers' union officials quit public housing board

3 March 1995
The Toronto Star
Jack Lakey

The board of directors in charge of government-funded housing operated by a big Metro union have resigned over allegations of nepotism and conflict of interest.

A Saturday Star story outlined how the son and son-in-law of Michael J. Reilly, former boss of Labourers' Local 183, got high-paying work with no job competition at the union's social housing projects. Local 183 runs four social housing projects built with government funds, which are overseen by a six-member non-profit property management board composed of union officials.

After reading the story, Joe Mancinelli, manager of the union's central Canada office, asked for the resignations of the board of directors, including Doug Felice, who replaced Reilly two months ago as chairperson. "We're showing that we are going to take action so things are done properly," said Mancinelli, who began supervising the day-to-day operations of Local 183 last month.

Mancinelli took over after The Star reported the local's president ordered workers to renovate the home of a government official who helped the uni- t+0 on's training centre obtain a $1.6 million grant. The story led to criminal charges against Local 183 president Tony Dionisio, training centre administrator John Colacci and Eric Ferguson, a federal government manager.

Mancinelli said the resignations of all six board members, who are Local 183 officials, were on his desk yesterday morning. "We're going to appoint a new board, get a lawyer at the table and start correcting this stuff," he said. "It's disheartening to see that things were taken so lightly."

The Ministry of Housing is investigating how Reilly's son, Michael Reilly Jr., got a $60,000 job as director of the union's non-profit property management corporation. It is also probing how Reilly's son-in-law, Sean McCann, was hired at a salary of $65,000 to be superintendent of the union's Duncan Mills co-op.

McCann and Michael Cassidy, another Reilly son-in-law, also operate contracting firms that do the maintenance work at the housing projects. Mancinelli has requested a meeting with Housing Minister Richard Allen to resolve the apparent conflicts. Some board members may not have known about the housing ministry's conflict-of-interest rules, he said, noting Reilly was in complete control of the board's business until he resigned.

But Mancinelli stressed that board members were responsible for knowing the rules and complying with them. Meanwhile, forensic accountants have been busy at Local 183 since last week, conducting a wide-ranging audit of the union's finances. The audit was requested by the head office of the Labourers' union in Washington, D.C.