African American Teamsters Stepping Forward
“We need more African Americans to step forward into leadership in the Teamsters Union. And we cannot wait to be invited from on-high from Hoffa, because we'll waiting be a long time.
"Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is here to help. TDU organizers like me travel all over our union to talk with Teamsters, and help brothers and sisters take an active part in building stronger locals and a union that welcomes all workers.
“Send me an email or call me at 901-230-7992 to set up a meeting in your area.”
Willie Hardy, TDU Staff Organizer and Black Caucus Chair
Want to get involved in the TDU Black Caucus? Click here to contact us form and a TDU member will contact you.
News from the TDU Black Caucus
May 3, 2011: The 36th Annual Educational Conference and Banquet of the Teamster National Black Caucus will be held August 9 to 14 in Detroit, Michigan.
“…If you stand up straight, people can’t ride your back. And that’s what we did. We stood up straight.”
That's how Taylor Rogers explains the success of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike. Rogers was a principal organizer of the historic strike.
January 14, 2011: We celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, because of his leadership in the nonviolent movement for civil rights for all Americans.
January 14, 2011: It has been 27 years since Dr. King’s birthday became a federal holiday, but still very few Teamster employers recognize it.
August 9, 2010: When Thomas P. Samatas, co-founder of Labor One Inc., was building his business, he turned to a part of the work force that is often shunned.
July 27, 2010: Yellow Transportation must turn over the names and phone numbers of black employees who worked at the company's Chicago Ridge terminal as part of a federal lawsuit filed last year, alleging racial discrimination, according to a court ruling.
January 18, 2010: This month our nation and Teamster members remember and celebrate the work of Dr. Martin Luther King and countless other civil rights activists.
November 3, 2009: Commercial mover Walter Taylor has been fighting for a stronger Local 814 since 1987. His efforts bore fruit in their 2009 election when Local 814 voted 72% for new leadership.
June 30, 2008: Hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are African American, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the Teamsters General Executive Board.
May 1, 2008: When an employee at Kraft Foods repeatedly directed the epithet “coon” at Willie Knox, the Local 445 Teamster knew he had to stand up for his rights.