October 30, 2005: When Hoffa launched his candidacy for General President, he pledged to implement a series of financial reforms at the IBT. Instead, bloated IBT salaries and perks are at an all-time high. Our $100,000 Club study reveals that Hoffa’s broken “Cut and Cap” pledge has cost our union more than $15 million since he took office in 1999. That’s $15 million that could have been spent to organize new members and increase our...

Teamster employers have many ways to wring greater production out of workers. United Parcel Service and grocery warehousing both have high levels of productivity demands. Many of these suggestions for dealing with production harassment will apply to any workplace. 1. Beef up contract enforcement overall. Production harassment can flourish when management is given free rein. Members may feel they have to give in to pressure because the union is weak. An ongoing campaign of contract...

October 5, 2005: The negotiations covering approximately 8,000 members in the Southern California grocery industry have concluded.  The five-year agreement contains wage increases of 50 cents, 45 cents, 50 cents, 45 cents and 50 cent; pension contribution increases of 10 cents, 0, 10 cents, 0 and 10 cents: and maintenance of benefits over the life of the agreement.   Even though members overwhelmingly ratified the offer, many were disappointed by the paltry pension increases and...

September 30, 2005: The Teamsters officially left the AFL-CIO on July 25. One day earlier, James Hoffa announced the IBT would boycott the Convention where the AFL-CIO was marking its founding 50 years ago as a united labor federation. On Sept. 27, the Teamsters and seven other unions who are currently part of the Change to Win coalition will formally launch a rival labor federation at a founding convention. The other Change to Win unions...

September 25, 2005: Do you know Greg Tarpinian? If you care about your union, you should. He’s practically running it. And you are paying him millions of dollars to do it. Tarpinian is a labor consultant in New York. He attached himself to Hoffa back in 1996 when he campaigned for him, along with another consultant, Richard Leebove of Detroit. He’s wiggled upward ever since. His long time close associates have eased into key positions...

September 25, 2005: The Election Rules, which govern our election for International officers and delegate elections in every local, have been improved, thanks to a strong set of proposals from Teamsters for a Democratic Union. On Aug. 31, U.S. Attorney David Kelley submitted revised Rules to federal judge Loretta Preska for approval, with four changes from the proposed rules issued in May. All four were proposed by TDU and submitted to the U.S. Attorney by...

September 25, 2005: The Election Rules, which govern our election for International officers and delegate elections in every local, have been improved, thanks to a strong set of proposals from Teamsters for a Democratic Union. On August 31 U.S. Attorney David Kelley submitted revised Rules to federal judge Loretta Preska for approval, with four changes from the Proposed Rules issued in May. All four were proposed by TDU and submitted to the U.S. Attorney by...

September 5, 2005: The famous Hoffa “Unity” is straining under the pressure of pension cuts and declining Teamster power. The first open split in the Hoffa slate came on August 28, when Tom O’Donnell, International Vice President at Large from New York, officially announced he would run against Hoffa for General President in 2006. The divisions in the Hoffa camp don’t end there. O’Donnell circulated a letter charging that Hoffa “never knew the real purpose...

September 25, 2005: In a recent interview with the Associated Press, James Hoffa said that leaving the AFL-CIO would make the Teamsters more successful at organizing the nonunion competition because “we’re more nimble and we don’t have the big bloated bureaucracy.” Skeptics might wonder if it’s really John Sweeney and his AFL-CIO bureaucracy that has held back Hoffa’s organizing ambitions. Four months have passed since UPS announced it was buying Overnite and the nimble, bureaucracy-free...

September 25, 2005: Almost every Teamster local union will hold a supervised, mail-ballot election this winter to elect delegates to the IBT Convention next June. A schedule for your local union’s delegate race will be available by Sept. 30. You need to get a copy and get involved. By running for Convention Delegate—or supporting reform candidates for delegate—you can strengthen our campaign to dump Hoffa in 2006. Do you want to replace the Hoffa administration...