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History

Video: 50 Years of TDU. An eleven-minute video on TDU's history, from fighting against mob rule in the 70s to right-to-vote and contract campaigns of today.

Webinar: TDU's Role in the Teamsters

Since 1979, TDU has built union power from below. Watch this webinar to learn about the history of the Teamster reform movement and TDU's role in the union today.

The History of Teamster Corruption, Rebellion, and Reform

right_to_vote.jpgA 55-minute podcast interview with Ken Paff. Start the broadcast. This fact-filled podcast covers the growth of Teamster power, the parasitic corruption that accompanied it, and the victories, defeats and future of Teamster reform. Ken Paff is a founding member of TDU, and the strategist behind winning the Right to Vote for IBT Officers for all Teamsters.

Click here for a six-part history of TDU.

Click here for a history of changes to the IBT Constitution. 

Video: Reform History at IBT Conventions: 1981-2001. A nine-minute video of highlights and lowlights from past IBT Conventions.

Mother Trucker: The Diana Kilmury Story. A fact-based award-winning movie telling the history and TDU-involvement of the first-ever woman elected to the IBT General Executive Board in 1991. 

Video: Labor's Turning Point. A documentary film on the 1934 Minneapolis strikes that paved the way for Teamster growth in the trucking industry. Strike leader Jack Maloney, featured in the film, was a strong TDU supporter in his later years.
Article: "The Teamster Revolt Against the Hoffa Era" by David Levin. The story of how TDU and Teamsters United built a coalition to oust James Hoffa Jr. and transform the union.
Video: TDU pioneers Diana Kilmury ("Mother Trucker") and Ken Paff are interviewed on TDU's origin and taking on the mob.
Read: A Brief History of the Consent Order and the Right to Vote for IBT Officers.
Read: The Legal History of TDU. A detailed history of the many members' rights won by the TDU movement, and how it happened. By law professor Michael Goldberg.

Related Articles

Happy Birthday: TDU Turns 37

September 19, 2013
September 19, 2013: On this weekend in 1976, a small group of courageous Teamsters met in Kent, Ohio, to form Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). They had little going for them except guts, principles, and a vision of a union driven by rank and file power. At the time of TDU's founding, the IBT General Executive Board and many local unions were dominated by organized crime. Contracts could be imposed even if the majority...

Know Your History To Make More History: The Battle For Our Contract Rights

September 19, 2013
We have a legal right to a fair and informed vote on our national contracts. But our rights have not come without Teamsters for a Democratic Union taking on big battles.  Here is a summary of some key legal – and membership – victories involving our rights in national Teamster contracts. We Won the Right to a Fair and Informed Vote Bauman v Presser.  This case set a precedent for a “fair and informed” vote. ...

How TDU Won Contract Rights for All Teamsters

March 15, 2013
Membership Rights at Contract Time Teamster members do have power and democratic rights when it comes to voting on their contracts. It was not always this way. But Teamster members united through TDU to win key rights at contract time. TDU won the Right to a Majority Vote on Teamster Contracts Teamster members have the right to vote on their contracts by majority rule. This might seem like a no-brainer. But before 1987, it took...

Teamster History: How the "Club" Changed Our Union

November 26, 2012
The first "$100,000Club" in 1976.(Copies of thishistoric book areavailable from TDU.) November 26, 2012: It started in the mid-1970s, with an organization called PROD, the Professional Drivers Council. PROD collected hundreds of LM-2 financial reports on Teamster locals, joint councils and the International and began to analyze them, tracing all the multiple salaries, family connections, and more. The "$100,000 Club" was born. In 1979 PROD and TDU joined hands in one organization. TDU has published...

Women's History Month

March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012: TDU celebrates the contributions of Teamster women to our union and to labor struggles for social and economic equality. Building strong unions has paid off for women workers—literally. Women in unions earn higher wages, have better health care coverage, more rights to paid sick leave and vacation, pension plans, and more rights and power on the job. Women union members make $2 an hour more than nonunion women workers. The difference for...
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