October 18, 2006. “This is my first experience at the TDU convention and it was great for me. For 27 years I’ve been in the dark about a lot of things about the Teamsters. It’s a shame that you pay your money to these people who are supposed to work for you, and you hear messages like, ‘You should be glad you got a job.’ When I think about the things that I know now, that I didn’t know for 27 years, I feel good to be here. And for every time y’all have a convention, I’m going to try to be there, because I learned a lot. And I’d just like to say, I’m glad to be part of this family.”

John Williams, Local 237, New York

“Let me thank you for being in existence. My first real dealing with the Teamsters—our union just merged into the Teamsters two years ago—was when Hoffa’s special assistant Rome Aloise told us, ‘If you guys throw up a picket line, we’ll cross it.’ Then, before we could even get strike sanction, they took it away from us. You can’t get guys in my shop to wear Teamster T-shirts while they’re working. I’ll go back and tell them of your existence. Without TDU there is no hope for the Teamsters.”

Kerry Garza, GCC Local 4N, San Francisco

“This is my first convention. I enjoyed it, I felt the love. I have obtained a lot of information, a lot of useful things for me to take back to Chicago and get out the Leedham vote. I will let them know that the TDU stands for ‘Teamsters for a Democratic Union,’ but what I felt in this hall these last couple of days have been ‘Teamsters Dedicated and United.’ Thank you.”

Delores Bowden, Local 726, Chicago