Bricklayers union leader ousted after claims he misused union members to fix up his home

The president and business manager of Philadelphia’s bricklayers union was ousted last month after revelations surfaced that he abused a union apprenticeship program to get free work done on his Delaware County home.

In a letter sent to union members last month, managers at Local 1 of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers accused longtime union chief Dennis Pagliotti of using the local’s training program for “his personal benefit.” Pagliotti denied the allegations, according to the letter, but offered his immediate resignation.

The local, which has more than 2,000 members, said it is investigating to what extent Pagliotti, 55, used “the labor of instructors” from its training program to perform work on his personal residence during program hours.

“We are now in the process of determining whether such labor was improperly diverted for his personal benefit and, if so, what was the value of that labor,” the union said in a statement to The Inquirer. “We will assure that the training program is made whole for any wrongful act.”

Whether any funds were siphoned from the apprenticeship program remains unclear. In the letter to members, secretary treasurer Joseph Battaglia assured them that the local has a “legal and moral obligation” to recover “any funds or resources wrongly diverted for personal use.”

To that end, the union hired a Bala Cynwyd accounting firm, Novak Francella, to conduct a forensic audit of its books.

“If any acts of dishonesty are revealed by this process, we will take all steps necessary to make sure that full redress is made,” the local said in a statement.

Pagliotti, of Broomall, could not be reached for comment. A recent cell phone number for him was disconnected and he did not return an email. An attorney for the union said Battaglia is serving as interim president and business manager for the local. The International Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, headquartered in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment.

» READ MORE: Ex-labor leader John Dougherty surrenders to begin serving his six-year prison term

In the letter alerting members to the potential misuse of labor and funds, Battaglia asked for discretion as the investigation plays out.

“This process will take some time, so we ask that you exercise patience and refrain from speculation or the spreading of rumors that will damage the Local and its reputation in the community,” Battaglia wrote.

The ouster comes amid federal scrutiny into union spending, following a yearslong embezzlement and bribery probe that brought down the powerful head of the Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. John Dougherty, the onetime political kingmaker and three-decade leader of the electricians union, began a six-year prison sentence this week. (Among the allegations against Dougherty was that he put family and friends on the union payroll and used them for personal errands.)

The bricklayers union training fund was established as a separate nonprofit in 1999, and spent about $1 million a year intended to provide “apprenticeship and journeymen training programs.” However, in its 2023 nonprofit disclosure statement, the fund reported a loss of $244,000, as well as a nearly $400,000 jump in training costs. (It was not clear whether that loss was connected to the allegations against Pagliotti.)

Pagliotti earned $205,359 from the union last year, according to federal Labor Department records. A union attorney said the training program instructors who allegedly performed the work on Pagliotti’s house are employed by the training fund, but are all members of Local 1.

Since taking the helm of the local in 2012, he has advocated for stronger safety regulations to improve how silica dust, a by-product of sawing bricks and concrete, is controlled on job sites, an issue that he said accelerated lung disease for bricklayers like his father, who died at 59.

Neither the union’s website nor its social media pages announced the recent change in leadership.

» READ MORE: Read the full letter that led bricklayers president Dennis Pagliotti to resign