Turmoil in the 2,500-member union representing workers at the Richmond Veterans Administration Medical Center in South Side is offering a cautionary tale for city employees who are now in the process of unionizing.

Since 2019, two presidents and an acting president of Local 2145 of the American Federation of Government Workers have been removed.

At this point, the AFGE’s national president, Everett Kelley, has installed a trustee to handle the local’s affairs after a union investigative committee found “probable cause” to uphold member complaints of illegal spending from the lo- cal’s treasury. The committee also referred the evidence it found to the U.S. Department of Labor for review and potential prosecution through the U.S. Department of Justice.

Separately, the Labor Department last year ordered that members of the local receive a refund of a dues increase that an administrative judge found was improperly imposed two years earlier.

The AFGE’s deputy counsel, Rushab Sanghvi, ahead of the ruling, stated in an email that the dues increase did not pass muster after finding that the president at the time, Gloria Dunham-Anderson, had not first put the dues to increase to a secret-ballot vote of the local’s members.

Mr. Kelley has not responded to a Free Press request for comment about the situation at the local.

But turmoil is not unusual for the AFGE, which represents 280,000 federal employees, or two-thirds of unionized federal workers, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

In 2020, Mr. Kelley’s predecessor, J. David Cox, was forced to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse and misuse of union funds for his personal benefit.

In a recent report titled “AFGE Corruption Warrants Investigation,” the arch-conservative Center for American Freedom found that AFGE ranks first among all unions for prosecutions for embezzlement and other criminal misdeeds.

But criminal prosecutions of union officials are not unusual. In 2022, the Department reported conducting more than 50 prosecutions of mostly local union officials across the country for financial crimes involving misuse of union funds.

Among the key reasons that union leaders can be tempted is most dues- paying members do not attend meetings or participate in policy matters. Minutes for Local 2145 indicate that fewer than 50 members would attend monthly general meetings to participate in discussions and vote on spending.

Still, some AFGE members are very active and are making no secret of their concern about the operation of the Richmond local and other locals in the organization as well as the stewardship that Mr. Kelley and the national officers are providing.

Those members publicize their con- cerns in a Facebook group called “Stop the Corruption: AFGE Members Coming Together.”

At long stable Local 2145, the turmoil began in 2019 after Jennifer Marshall, who had been president for 20 years was apparently defeated in her bid for a sixth term, by Gloria Dunham-Anderson and a slate of new people.

Ms. Marshall went to the Labor Department with complaints about conduct of the election, which upheld her complaint and ordered a new election in 2021, which she won.

However, during Ms. Dunham-Anderson’s tenure, not only were dues raised, but her slate approved monthly payments for officers, rather than the quarterly payments that had been authorized by the bylaws.

An audit of the local’s finances also reported that during Ms. Dunham-Anderson’s tenure, bonus payments to members of her team for recruiting new members exceeded the reported number of people listed as joining the union.

Ms. Marshall had begun trying to clean up the financial situation after taking office again in 2022, only to be removed by Mr. Kelley within several months based on an assault complaint that the executive vice president, Mintina Minto, filed against her. Ms. Marshall has denied the complaint and is now battling for reinstatement.

Meanwhile, Ms. Minto moved up to acting president after Ms. Marshall was removed and ended up being removed for

a trustee following investigation of mis- spending complaints from members.

In a report obtained by the Free Press, the chair of the investigative committee, Anita M.Autrey, president of AFGE Local 1923 in Baltimore, notified Mr. Kelley that the evidence indicated Ms. Minto “committed the alleged offenses. In addition others may be complicit.”

Ms. Minto vehemently denies any wrongdoing, telling the Free Press that allegations have been trumped up by a faction of union members who have oppose her and support Ms. Marshall.

Deneen Harris, a 20-year member of the local and an active member in Concerned Members of AFGE, told the Free Press, “I’ve never seen the local in the state it is in right now.

“The union was created to protect the rights of employees and hold management accountable,” said Ms. Harris, who has been a steward and held other offices in the local. “But this local is being destroyed from within. It is time for members of the local to hold those responsible for the financial problems we face and install officers with integrity to run the local.”