The Value of a Supervised Teamster Election

January 30, 2006: The campaign between James Hoffa, Jr. and Tom Leedham for Teamster presidency is in the early stages, but already the value of having an impartial election monitor and court approved Rules has been demonstrated time and again.

TDU members and other active Teamsters have caught the Hoffa administration, their allies and employers favorable to them in numerous violations of the Rules. Without this monitoring, the incumbent administration would make the rules and run the election. That is what the Hoffa administration wants to impose.

So far, protests have been won covering the following important issues:

• When the Hoffa administration transferred members out of Local 549 against their will to try to punish local president T. C. Bundrant for running on the Leedham slate, the Election Supervisor ordered that all members be restored to their local.

• When the Hoffa administration illegally used union funds to poll carhaulers on how they felt about Hoffa’s leadership, the Election Administrator ordered Hoffa to repay the union for that part of the poll, and make the results available to Leedham.

• When business agents appointed by Fred Zuckerman, the IBT Carhaul Director, intimidated members for receiving and reading reform literature, the E.A. ordered those agents to distribute a bulletin about their violation to the same members.

• When employers have denied parking lot access to Leedham supporters, the E.S. has intervened to correct each situation. No cases of employer access bias against Hoffa supporters have been reported.

• Other cases have moved against Teamsters tearing down pro-Leedham literature, overcharging delegate candidates for labels in a campaign mailing, an employer donation to the Hoffa campaign, directing pro-Hoffa local unions to make their plan for the delegate race available and biased literature displays inside union halls.

The bulk of these cases have been pursued and won by TDU counsel Barbara Harvey. These decisions have served to prevent many more violations.

TDU also secured five important changes to the proposed Rules, to make them more fair for all Teamsters: these Rules provide a good dose of accountability and democracy for all Teamsters, regardless of viewpoint.