While UPS was making record profits—Hoffa gave the company record concessions. Split wage increases. No more 22.3 jobs. A pension pullout that threatens to bankrupt Central States.

That was all part of cutting a deal to bring UPS Freight into the Teamsters. But instead of doing it the right way, by uniting members to stand up to management, they cut a deal.

A substandard contract—with no Teamster healthcare. No Teamster pension. No work rules. And substandard conditions.

No wonder Hoffa and Ken Hall didn’t want to show up today.

With a record like this, you’re better off staying home, watching March Madness, and hoping the members don’t notice.

Remarks by Sandy Pope at the Local 344 Candidate Forum. Read more of what Sandy had to say.

Your fight in Wisconsin captured the imagination of our country—and showed the world what the labor movement can be. Not stuffy guys in suits holding press conferences and making empty promises. But working people uniting together and mobilizing to defend our rights. 

I want to bring the fighting spirit into the Teamsters Union. And that is why I am running for Teamster General President. 

In one month, you did more out in the street to restore labor’s political clout than the last 12 years of Capitol Hill lobbying by Teamster officials and professional lobbyists. 

This grassroots action wasn’t expensive—but it was priceless. And worth a lot more than the millions of dollars in blank checks our union writes every year to politicians who forget all about us as soon the ballots are counted.

We are not going to outspend Corporate America—or buy political influence. 

As Teamster General President, I will stop writing blank checks to corporate politicians of any party. We will use Teamster political action funds to educate the public, mobilize members and our allies, and fight for change.

Remarks by Sandy Pope at the Local 344 Candidate Forum. Read more of what Sandy had to say.

I’m a Teamster who joined this union when Teamster Power meant something.  I’ve come up through the ranks. No one ever gave me a job because of my last name. I’ve worked for everything I’ve got—just like all of you have.

I worked in a grocery warehouse before getting a job as a freight Teamster. I worked on the dock and then drove truck over-the-road. 

Before cell phones, my CB handle was Troublemaker—and I earned it. I volunteered at picket lines and in organizing drives. Eventually I was taken off the truck to be a full-time organizer for my local.

Back then, freight was the heart and soul of Teamster Power. It kills me to see how Hoffa has driven our union over a cliff in the freight industry. We have to rebuild Teamster Power in freight—with a long-term action plan and long-term commitment.

That has to start today with enforcing our standards—and fighting for real union standards and Teamster identity at UPS Freight. 

And we have to organize the nonunion competition. Organizing will be a lot easier when our own members have pride in their union—and confidence in our union leadership. We have to restore that first.

Remarks by Sandy Pope at the Local 344 Candidate Forum. Read more of what Sandy had to say.

We have to take on the nonunion competition.

Most Teamsters work at small companies that face cut-throat competition from nonunion competitors that pay lower wages—and low or no benefits. Healthcare? Maybe. A pension? Forget it.

I’m President of Teamsters Local 805 in New York. We’re a miscellaneous local with warehouse workers and truck drivers. Every time we go to the bargaining table, we face demands for givebacks and company threats to relocate and go nonunion.

We’ve said No to the concessions and won. But the problem isn’t going away.

That’s why the members and Executive Board of my local have voted to put our union’s money to work taking on the nonunion competition—including FreshDirect, the largest nonunion warehouse in metro New York.   

The Hoffa Campaign has made a big deal of attacking my local’s finances. But I will NEVER apologize for spending money to take on nonunion competitors who are threatening good union jobs.

Remarks by Sandy Pope at the Local 344 Candidate Forum. Read more of what Sandy had to say.

By Karl Gartung, Local 344 Members

On March 20 more than 200 teamsters from throughout Wisconsin and Northern Illinois attended a forum for candidates for General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Hoffa was a no-show but members listened attentively to Sandy Pope, President of Local 805) and Fred Gegare (President, Joint Council 39 and Teamster Trustee Chair of the Central States Pension Fund). Ken Hall had accepted an invitation but cancelled a few days prior to the event.

Pope noted in her comments that Hoffa and Hall always make time for high-dollar fundraisers, but never can make it to answer questions from members or to face a debate.

This meeting happened as a result of a motion from the members, which was noted by Local 344 President Ric Schmidt in his introduction to the event. The leadership of the Local is to be applauded for hosting the meeting. Local 344 Secretary-Treasurer Pat Tappa introduced the forum, which allowed for twenty minute speeches from each candidate, to be followed by questions.

There was substantial agreement between the candidates regarding the present state of the union, particularly in regard to pensions, the UPS contract, the freight industry and the lack of aggressive contract enforcement by the present regime. Not a single member in attendance voiced support for the Hoffa/Hall ticket, as they questioned candidates Sandy Pope and Fred Gegare.

Sandy Pope promised to reduce top salaries for IBT officials (including General President) to put money to work for a stronger union.

Gegare emphasized the weakness of the Pension Funds (he's the head of the Central States Pension); the poor record of investment by the pension funds and the poor financial condition of the Union, even with the dues increase ("a nickel an hour for Teamster Power").

With most attendees from UPS, contract enforcement was a key question. Sandy Pope addressed concerns from members over lack of enforcement, and the glacial pace of enforcement even when language clearly supports member grievances. She proposes reducing the panel process, to get disputes settled in a more timely manner. At present, even a grievance with air tight language and evidence takes two years to resolve.

Pope attacked the backwards slide in real wages and benefits for part-time UPSers, with starting wages stuck at $8.50 (hardly more than minimum wage in some states) and in the most recent contract a new year-long wait for benefits, including health, for new hires.

Regarding UPS Freight, both candidates talked about the poor language and even worse enforcement of seniority, pension and subcontracting grievances.

The forum was held in the context of the fight over public worker rights in Wisconsin. Local 344 helped organize and has maintained a presence in the Madison demonstrations. Recall petitions were available in the hallway for member signatures.

Sandy Pope's pledge to reward locals for such organizing activity was especially pertinent in this context, as was her promise to reward political parties and politicians when they act in our economic interest, and not otherwise.

As the hour allotted for the forum drew to a close, Tappa asked members if they would like to extend the discussion, to enthusiastic applause. The forum continued for another forty five minutes, and then in the hallway. Then a number of us headed to a nearby restaurant to continue talking with Sandy Pope and planning to expand her Wisconsin campaign.

Did you get a letter from the Office of the Election Supervisor, asking you to verify contributions that you made to TDU or to the Sandy Pope Campaign?

These letters are part of a routine audit conducted by the Election Supervisor during the election period. All candidates are audited, as well as TDU, which is an independent committee.

By court order, all information about donors to TDU is kept confidential by the Election Supervisor. No information about donations to TDU, including membership dues, is made public.

If you have any questions about the letter you received, call the TDU office at 313-842-2600.

February 22, 2011: No one calls Teamsters' president Jim P. Hoffa Jimmy.

That nickname is reserved for his father, the famous and infamous Jimmy Hoffa, who earned respect for building the Teamsters into a powerhouse organization and went to jail for pension fraud, amid allegations of ties with organized crime.

On July 30, 1975, James R. "Jimmy" Hoffa disappeared. His body has never been found, but his legacy continues, even as his son, a lawyer, retains the leadership of the union.

This year, though, Hoffa, the son, is up for reelection for his third five-year term and is encountering more than the usual opposition.

"You take the name away from him and he never worked as a Teamster," said Bob Ryder, 52, a former bread-delivery driver who now heads Teamsters Local 463 in Fort Washington. "People believe you can't beat him."

It might seem that union politics do not really matter, given the ever-shrinking percentage of working people represented by unions.

But the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is not an ordinary union, and the influence it wields goes well beyond its 1.4 million members. Its clout is political and economic, all wrapped in a storied history that is legendary in organized labor.

Teamster politics came Saturday to the Fort Washington Holiday Inn, where Ryder, who leads a local of 2,100 bakery-truck drivers and dairy workers, hosted a fund-raiser for Hoffa's opponent, a disenchanted top lieutenant and Teamsters' vice president named Fred Gegare, who is from Wisconsin.

Breaking ranks with other Philadelphia-area Teamsters leaders, Ryder is running on Gegare's slate to represent Teamsters on the East Coast.

The campaign puts Ryder at odds with Hoffa running mate Bill Hamilton, head of Teamsters Local 107 and Pennsylvania's most powerful Teamster.

"That's got to get tongues wagging," said Joseph Brock, a former Philadelphia-area Teamsters official who now helps companies improve their workplaces to keep Teamsters out.

"Ryder has [guts]," Brock said, using a slang word for a different body part. "If Hoffa tells you something, you better do it. If you buck that, all his yes men are going to gang up on you."

Hoffa has been influential in Washington. He "was pivotal helping Obama win Ohio and Pennsylvania," said labor expert Philip Dine, author of the book State of the Unions, published in 2008.

Hoffa "met with white conservative union members and said, 'You have to vote your economic interests, not your fears - racial or otherwise,'" Dine said.

The union's economic clout stems from the workers it represents. Truck driving cannot be outsourced to another country, nor can it readily be automated. "No one has figured out a machine that can drive a truck, or unload," said Ken Paff, national organizing director for the Teamsters for a Democratic Union, another group that is opposed to Hoffa.

The TDU, a persistent and vocal opponent of the Teamster establishment, hopes that Gegare's slate of disenchanted insiders, including Ryder, will draw enough votes from Hoffa to allow TDU's self-styled reform slate - headed by Sandy Pope, a female truck driver from New York - to win the election.

Ryder and Paff share the beliefs that the Teamsters under Hoffa have been too concessionary in bargaining and that Hoffa has too readily agreed to allow employers to get out of pension plans.

Meanwhile, the Independent Review Board, a group appointed by a federal court to keep the Teamsters free from organized crime, found Hoffa's campaign guilty of some election violations in Memphis.

In the Philadelphia area, Ryder has a lot on his plate.

His local has been trying to organize truck drivers at troubled Tasty Baking Co. Interstate Breads Corp., which makes Wonder Bread, wants more concessions. Stroehmann's, now Bimbo Bakeries USA, is laying off and consolidating delivery routes. Fifteen contracts are up this year - at companies such as Keller's Creamery Inc. in Harleysville and Amoroso's Baking Co. in Philadelphia.

Ryder said he fully expected retribution for bucking Hoffa's organization. Within a week of trying to get drivers to sign campaign petitions last summer, the review board notified him that it would be auditing his local's books.

The review board, which is separate from the union, would neither confirm nor deny the audit.

"The idea that the IBT had anything to do with that is preposterous," said a Teamsters headquarters spokesman, Bret Caldwell.

No one from Hoffa's campaign staff responded to a request for comment.

Ryder's take? "There are no coincidences with the Teamsters," he said.

By Jane M. Von Bergen Philadelphia Inquirer.

January 24, 2011: Under Hoffa, Teamster members have faced the worst benefit cuts in our union’s history.

Hoffa can’t run on his own pension record, so he’s trying to distort Sandy Pope’s.

Get the facts about Sandy Pope’s record on protecting Teamster pensions. Cut through the spin and decide for yourself.

• Sandy Pope is the only candidate for General President who has a proven record of reversing pension cuts.

• After the president of Sandy’s local sided with employers and cut members’ accrual to zero, Sandy teamed up with other members, ran for office and won. She filed a lawsuit against the employer trustees and won increases in members’ pension accrual.

• The Local 805 Pension Plan’s funding percentage is on the rise. The Plan is on the way to full funding over time.

• Like every Teamster plan the Local 805 Pension Fund took major losses in the stock market crash. The fund is currently in the Red Zone—but is on track to reach full funding over time.

• Sandy Pope has negotiated record increases in pension contributions to strengthen the Pension Fund and protect members’ benefits.

• In contract negotiations, Sandy Pope won a blank check that requires Local 805’s largest employer to pay whatever contributions are necessary to protect members’ benefits and keep the Pension Fund on the road to full funding.

“There is one candidate in this race who reversed Teamster Pension cuts—and that’s me. In this economy, Teamsters don’t expect pension miracles. They want and deserve a plan to rebuild our funds and protect our retirement security.”

Sandy Pope

January 24, 2011: From June 27-July 1, some 1,700 delegates, from all local unions, will convene in Las Vegas for our union’s five-yearly convention.

They have the power to amend or rewrite our union’s constitution—for better or for worse.

They have the power to give members a choice in the Teamster election this November—or to make the event a coronation of Hoffa, who wants to extend his reign to 17 years.

Hoffa’s Goals

Hoffa and his circle of advisers and handlers have a plan for the convention. Here is what it is:

• Effectively cancel the election by preventing Sandy Pope from getting on the ballot. He can do that by bullying enough delegates so that Pope does not get nominated.

• Silence any debate and independent voices through mob rule.

• Hold a giant Las Vegas party and Hoffa campaign fundraiser, paid for by your dues.

Hoffa spends millions of dollars every year on multiple salaries—and political loyalty. But he will tell delegates that having an election once every five years is a waste of money. Democracy just gets in the way of having giving him a free pass toward 17 years in office.

At the 2006 Convention, Hoffa turned the hype machine to full blast to puff up his failing administration. In the biggest lie of the convention, he told delegates that he was holding in his hands a card-check agreement with UPS Freight—but he forgot to add that it only covered one terminal, and he had made a hand-shake deal to give away Teamster pensions and contract rights to UPS.

Mob Rule

When it comes to silencing independent voices, Hoffa’s campaign will stoop to the lowest level. At the 2006 Convention, Hoffa’s campaign tried to boo and shout down every speaker who questioned or criticized Hoffa. They screamed at women delegates and used personal attacks instead of debating our union’s future.

His campaign made his supporters wear goofy red vests, so they could isolate and abuse the independent delegates.

Campaign-appointed “whips” patrolled the aisle and enforced discipline among Hoffa’s supporters—telling them when to boo, when to applaud, and how they should vote on every single issue with a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Hoffa will try the same tricks again. He’s been doing it for years—at the 1996 Convention, his supporters even booed the National Anthem and a moment of silence for fallen members.

“At the last convention, most of Hoffa’s delegates voted the way he wanted, no questions asked,” said David Thornsberry, a Local 89 delegate at the last convention and to this upcoming one.

“I’m going as a working Teamster to this year’s convention to make sure that members get heard and we get the best choice in this election—Sandy Pope.”

What Happens in Vegas

Hoffa wants what happens in Vegas to stay in Vegas. Many members have a different idea.

Right now, independent members and local officers are running for delegate across the country to make sure that working Teamsters get heard on the convention floor.

They’ll go to speak out if Hoffa tries to raise our dues or take away our democratic rights.

And they’ll make sure that members get a choice this fall by nominating Sandy Pope to run against Hoffa.

In every convention since 1991, it has been the independent delegates, many of them in Teamsters for a Democratic Union, who have made history. They have won your democratic rights, including the Right to Vote. They have spoken truth to power. They have given rank and file Teamsters a choice for General President, as Hoffa’s cronies have tried to block the election.

Working Teamsters Deserve a Voice at the Convention

“At the last convention, most of Hoffa’s delegates voted the way he wanted, no questions asked.

“I’m going as a working Teamster to this year’s convention to make sure that members get heard and we get the best choice in this election—Sandy Pope.”

David Thornsberry, UPS, Local 89, Louisville, Ky. 2011 Convention Delegate

Teamster Convention Highs and Lows

Raising Your Dues Without a Vote

Hoffa promised in his campaign that he wouldn’t raise members’ dues. But in 2002—after he got re-elected—he called a special convention and rammed through a proposal to increase dues for all members. He banned cameras from the room and would not a allow hand vote.

In 2006, independent delegates demanded the members’ right to vote on a dues increase. One of Hoffa’s running mates for International office, George Tedeschi, told the Convention “Having a referenda is no more than a waste of money, just like TDU is trying to make this union spend millions of dollars in an election [for International Officers].”

$100 a Day Meal Allowance

In 2006, Hoffa’s delegates voted to raise the meal allowance for IBT officials to $100 a day. This is on top of other allowances and expenses accounts. That’s a lot of Big Macs.

Winning Your Right to Vote

In 1991, old guard officials tried to block your Right to Vote on Contract Supplements. But they lost and members won that important right.

Hoffa’s allies also tried to eliminate the Right to Vote on Convention Delegates that same year. They lost that fight, too.

January 24, 2011: Sandy Pope speaks out on mud slinging by the Hoffa Campaign and what it will take to organize the nonunion competition.

Question: The Hoffa Campaign says Local 805 is losing money and that you can’t be trusted with our union’s finances.

Local 805 has a strong financial foundation. We’ve put our reserves to work taking on the nonunion competition.

The Hoffa Campaign has made a big deal of attacking Local 805 because we have less money in the bank. I will never apologize for putting members’ dues money to work protecting their jobs and their contracts.

Q: How does one local take on the nonunion competition?

It’s tough. The lack of leadership and support from the IBT on organizing is a big reason I’m running for General President. Most local unions don’t have the resources or the reach to succeed on their own.

At Local 805, we’ve still made organizing a priority. I cut my salary. I make $40,000 less than the Local 805 President did more than ten years ago. We hired full-time organizing staff and launched campaigns to take on the nonunion competition.

We’ve organized around a dozen companies—and taken on major targets like FreshDirect, a grocery warehouse that employs more than a 1,000 nonunion workers in the heart of New York City.

When nonunion companies have threatened to take our work, we’ve leafleted customers and protected Teamster jobs.

We even took on Mayor Bloomberg when he tried to kill union jobs by shutting down the Brooklyn Piers. We teamed up with community groups—and took to the streets.

People told me I was crazy. They said you can’t beat City Hall. We proved them wrong.

Not many unions have even dared to take on Mayor Bloomberg. We did and we won. Teamsters are working on those piers today because we took on that fight.

Q: The Hoffa Campaign says your local has lost membership....

A few. Since I’ve been President, the local’s membership has been steady at around 1,200 members. I have never had a company decertify. But we have lost members when electronics companies and tobacco distributors have closed.

Under Hoffa, our International Union has lost a quarter of a million members—and added 140,000 through mergers.

I’m not interested in finger-pointing. We need less of that—and more organizing. The biggest threat to our union’s membership is the nonunion competition.

Q: What can the International Union do differently to boost Teamster organizing?

First, we’ve got to make it a priority. The International Union needs long-term, nationally coordinated campaigns to target the nonunion competition in our core industries—including freight and FedEx.

The concessions we’re seeing, especially in freight but in other industries too, they are the direct result of a decade of failure to make organizing in our core industries a priority.

As an International Union representative, I negotiated a neutrality agreement with the biggest nonunion grocery company in the Northeast, C&S.

We protected thousands of grocery workers under good contracts and good Teamster benefits. Hoffa let that agreement expire. Now C&S is eliminating Teamster warehouse distribution jobs up and down the East Coast.

If we’re going to protect our contracts, our jobs and our benefits, we’ve got to get serious about organizing.

Q: What about organizing at the local union level?

The International has got to do more to help. Hoffa doubled the International Union’s income when he raised members’ dues. He found the money to raise his own pay to more than $350,000. But he can’t find the money to help local unions organize.

As General President, I will expand funding to local unions to help finance strategic campaigns to organize the nonunion competition at the local union level.

That goes for any local. We’ve got to take the politics out of this. If you’ve got a plan to organize the nonunion competition, you’ll get resources to help you do it.

We’ve got to get smarter and more aggressive—and we’ve got to work together. I want to bring local unions together who operate in the same market to organize the nonunion competitors that are undercutting us.

Local unions in the Northeast have started to coordinate on our own to take on nonunion warehouse distribution employers. But local unions can’t be abandoned to do this by ourselves. We need backing and resources from the International Union.

Reprinted from www.SandyPope2011.org