History

The History of Teamster Corruption, Rebellion, and Reform

right_to_vote.jpgA 55-minute podcast interview with Ken PaffStart the broadcastThis 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.

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Fighting for Change at Teamster Conventions Past and Present

On June 25 some 1,700 delegates and several hundred alternates will assemble at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas for the 27th Convention of the Teamsters Union. The majority of these delegates will be there to rubber stamp whatever Hoffa proposes. Many see the convention as a chance to party on members’ dues money. But hundreds of delegates will fight for changes to rebuild our union’s power and strengthen members’ rights—and history is on their...

Take the Teamster History Quiz

1. How soon after the formation of the IBT did reformers challenge an incumbent president? ___Two years ___Twenty-eight years ___Fifty-four years ___Eighty-eight years 2. Which Teamster leader was beaten and nearly killed by opponents? ___ Ron Carey ___ Pete Camarata ___ Cornelius Shea ___ Tony Provenzano 3. Which Teamster leader likened himself to a Roman emperor? ___Tom Keegel ___Jackie Presser ___Mike Ruscigno ___Dane Passo 4. Which are victories won by TDU? __ Stopped unreasonable rules...

Women on Front Lines of Early Teamster Reform

Before TDU won the right for direct elections of delegates, women and minorities hardly ever made it to the floor of the Teamster Convention. The Right to Vote helped that situation. As we look forward to building a movement that includes the voices of all Teamsters, TDU would like to take advantage of Women’s History Month to acknowledge some exceptional women who have fought for their sisters and brothers against the corruption of previous Teamster...

Corruption and the Fall of Jimmy Hoffa: An Inside Story from the Man Who Claims He Killed Hoffa

Review: "I Heard You Paint Houses": Frank 'the Irishman' Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Final Ride of Jimmy Hoffa. "I heard you paint houses." Those are the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank Sheeran, who would become a top Teamster official in the 1960s and '70s as well as a hired killer for Hoffa and the mob. The words refer to the splatter of blood when...

Celebrating History in Minneapolis

On July 24th, Minnesota unionists and other social justice activists held a day-long celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters Strike. In the summer of 1934, truck drivers demanding that employers recognize and bargain with their union shut down all freight and delivery traffic in and out of Minneapolis for weeks. “Flying squads” of picketers patrolled the streets, stopping all non-union deliveries. Business, supported by the local police, cracked down violently. Two...
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