The charges stem from Forte's earlier job as executive vice president of the Boeing Helicopters Credit Union. Prosecutors said Forte and others had collected more than $105,000 by granting loans in exchange for a portion of the cash borrowed.

United Auto Workers Local 1069, which Forte heads, represents some 1,800 people at the sprawling plant off I-95 that manufactures and produces parts for the Chinook helicopter and V-22 Osprey.

Calls to the Eddystone union office about Forte's future were not returned, and a spokesman for the national headquarters in Detroit, Christine Moroski, said the union would have no comment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah L. Grieb said Forte's job as union head was not discussed during his plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Forte pleaded guilty to conspiracy, loan fraud, and bank bribery, she said.

Forte, 43, is still listed as president of the local on the union Web site. As president, he earned $54,524 in 2008, according to U.S. Department of Labor documents. He is no longer a credit union official.

According to the federal charges, in 2001 and 2002 Forte set up a program to allow non-Boeing employees to obtain signature loans of up to $20,000 as long as they worked for a company approved by the credit union.

In return, the borrower had to pay a kickback of about 7 percent, or $1,400 on a $20,000 loan. Forte got 5 percent and a collaborator 2 percent.

False statements were also made on the loan applications.