Union Leader Ousted in Alleged Use of Funds for Personal Trips

The head of one of Orange County’s largest unions was ousted Thursday by its international leadership for using union funds to take personal trips to San Francisco and Las Vegas, union officials said.

Ruben L. Gomez, business manager for the 3,100-member Laborers’ International Union Local 652 in Santa Ana, was also banned from holding office for five years and ordered to repay the cost of two 1997 trips.

The removal of a local leader is highly unusual, but the drastic action was taken by a union that has been in the spotlight in recent years for charges of corruption.

The Laborers’ International Union, with about 750,000 members nationwide, continues to work closely with the Justice Department to implement self-policing measures and ethical reforms--steps the union agreed to take to avert a federal takeover in 1995.

In the Gomez case, officials of the international union conducted an internal investigation after allegations emerged in 1998, and the union subsequently decided that Gomez should be removed.

Gomez, who was elected the local’s top officer in 1994, appealed that ruling as “arbitrary and draconian.” But an international union appellate officer upheld the punishment last week, and his removal was effective Thursday.

Gomez, 47, did not return telephone calls Thursday.

Officials at the Labor Department were also investigating the matter, but said Thursday that they have taken no action.

Gomez was the highest-paid official at the local level, receiving nearly $100,000 a year. He can remain a union member.