News

Feds charge former Countryside union chief with misdemeanor

By James Pluta

The former president of a prominent Countryside labor union was charged
with a single misdemeanor count of violating federal labor law by
demanding livestock feeders for his Maryland farm from a company that
employed union workers.

The U.S. Attorneys Office announced in a March 8 press release that Bill
Dugan, who retired in 2008 as president of Operating Engineers Local 150,
misused union resources.

The union hall has long been located on a large, partially gated property
along South Joliet Road in Countryside.

Prosecutors maintain the 76-year-old Dugan, who owns a buffalo farm in
Maryland, demanded concrete “buffalo feeders” valued at more than $900 in
2005.

His lawyer, Joseph Duffy, said Dugan has reached an agreement with
prosecutors and will soon plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge.