The corruption charges against Teamsters Union President Ron Carey received quite a bit of coverage over the last year. But other cases of union corruption have been treated as local stories and received little national attention.

Nevertheless, research from the National Legal and Policy Center found union corruption very much a national problem. For example:

• A former secretary-treasurer of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Joseph C. Talarico -- whose salary was more than $1 million a year -- was sentenced in July to 30 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $925,000 from union members.

• Frederick Devine, the ousted president of New York City's District Council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, was sentenced to up to four years in federal prison last month for squandering $175,000 in union funds on golf trips, car rentals and expensive dinners.

• Thomas W. Waters and Barbara T. Wood, district council members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Washington, pleaded guilty in July to embezzling more than $830,000 from union coffers.