By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

MADISON, Wis. – Why do so many people call public employee union leaders greedy?

Maybe it’s because they do so many self-serving things to feed that stereotype.

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Take the case of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, which allegedly seized as much as $45,000 from five local corrections officer unions that recently broke away from the WSEU.

WSEU officials reacted to the breakaway by allegedly withdrawing local union money from several banks, and in one instance persuaded a bank manager to allow a blacksmith to drill out a safe deposit box and remove a $14,000 money order, according to a report from the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal.

Officials from the local unions contacted the police, but they determined that it was a civil case and declined to pursue criminal charges against WSEU officials.

Both sides claim they have a legal right to the money.

“It all just proves that all they (in WSEU) worry about is the money,” said Craig Hull, president of one of the breakaway unions. “We’re pretty surprised.”