The Teamsters Union has issued proposed Election Rules for the 2025-2026 election of International Union officers and convention delegates. The proposed rules are available here and on the Teamster website.

The Election Supervisor will open a comment period and any member may submit comments on the proposed rules. The Election Supervisor will issue the final rules in May.

TDU has been heavily involved over many years in working to have Election Rules that are the most democratic anywhere in the labor movement. Read more on TDU’s role here and here.

The election timeline looks like this:

• May 2025 – Election Supervisor issues final rules.
  
  
• June 1, 2025 – Opening of the period for Accreditation Petitioning by IBT candidates and slates. The petitioning is a kind of “pre-nomination” where any slate or candidate who submits petitions with at least 2.5% verified signatures of members will gain the right to publish campaign materials in the Teamster magazine, and will have access to the Teamster membership list for campaign purposes.
  
  
• Fall 2025 – Delegate elections in a few locals; locals with substantial numbers of seasonal workers, and a few locals with union elections this fall may opt-in to an early delegate election.
  
  
• Jan-March 2026 – Nominations of delegates and alternates in over 90% of local unions. All elections are subject to the Rules and oversight by the Election Supervisor. Ballots are mailed 30 days after nominations. 
  
  
• June 21-25, 2026 – The Teamster Convention in Las Vegas. Elected delegates will convene to vote on proposed amendments to the IBT Constitution, Resolutions, and to nominate candidates for IBT officer. Candidates need the support of 5% of the delegates to be nominated.
   
• Summer-Fall 2026 – Nominated candidates will have their campaign literature published in the Teamster magazine in August and September, and campaign literature mailed to all members in October.
  
  
• October 2026 –  Ballots will be mailed to all 1.3 million Teamsters.
  
  
• November 2026 – Deadline for receipt of ballots. Counting of ballots by the Election Supervisor’s staff, with observers from all candidates.

A detailed timeline is available as a preface to the Rules. More on TDU’s role in shaping and improving the election rules is here.

Click to Download Rules