Chicago union boss quits after pension law violation revealed

Tim Foley resigned from the presidency of the powerful International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134 after it was revealed that he was earning a six-figure city of Chicago pension while participating in a union pension plan--which violates Illinois law.

More from the Chicago Tribune:

In 2008, Foley formally retired at age 54 from a $47,000-a-year city job that he last in 1995. He began receiving a $105,000 city pension based on his union salary with Local 134, even as he remained at the helm of the local and continued collecting an annually salary of about $160,000.

In order to qualify for the pension perk, however, Foley was barred from receiving pension benefits from his local union. He signed a city pension application saying that he was not participating in a local union pension plan. That turned out to be untrue.

Last year, officials from the city's municipal pension fund discovered that Foley and the three other Local 134 officials had been receiving contributions toward a union pension for work that was already covered by their city plan. Foley and the others said that the law was vague and they had made an honest mistake.

All of them were allowed to keep their city pensions after signing affidavits promising to "disclaim" their union pensions. Less than a year later, they attempted to have about $300,000 in union dues moved into a different pension fund so that they could receive benefits. After reports of the move by the Tribune and WGN-TV, Foley withdrew the resolution.

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