UPW to process Rodrigues' pension claim, attorney says

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Former union leader Gary Rodrigues should begin receiving his United Public Workers pension payments soon, according to attorney Eric Seitz.

Gary Rodrigues will get his pension from UPW. Advertiser library photo

Seitz sued the UPW on Rodrigues' behalf, saying that the union was wrongly withholding money Rodrigues was owed after contributing to the pension plan during his more than 30 years with the union.

Rodrigues was removed from the $200,000-a-year job last fall after he was found guilty of 100 criminal counts in federal court. The counts included mail fraud and money laundering and evolved from health insurance plans he arranged for union members. His daughter, Robin Rodrigues Sabatini, was found guilty of similar charges. The two are to be sentenced June 2.

During an April 7 hearing on his efforts to force the UPW to begin paying his pension, Rodrigues told Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna that he had no financial resources and was at the point of starvation.

McKenna declined Rodrigues' initial request for a court order directing the union to pay him, saying Seitz should have included the union as a defendant when he filed a lawsuit against Peter Trask, who was appointed by the union's parent organization to replace Rodrigues.

Seitz said this week that he did not have to return to court because the union agreed to process Rodrigues' pension claim.