TDU will hold a national zoom call on Saturday, Aug. 14 for Teamsters who are volunteering to elect the O’Brien-Zuckerman Teamsters United Slate. Join candidates, campaign coordinators and Teamster activists for an update and to make plans to Get Out the Vote and win this fall. Registration is now closed.

The ballots to elect the new International Teamster President and all International officers will be mailed to all members on October 4. They should be received by members in mid-October, and will be due back by November 15, 2021.

The IBT Convention is in the books. The O’Brien-Zuckerman Teamsters United Slate is officially on the ballot, and the campaign for a new leadership and a new direction in the Teamsters is on.

Today the IBT Convention delegates voted overwhelmingly to eliminate the hated “two thirds rule” that Hoffa used to impose UPS contract givebacks in 2018 after a majority of members voted no.

For the first time in the 30-year history of Teamster members voting for International Union officers, there will likely be one or more debates between the candidates for Teamster General President. Both the O’Brien-Zuckerman and Vairma-Herrera slates are publicly calling for debates.

Both slates competing in the IBT election conducted petition efforts to accredit additional candidates by the December 15 deadline. OZ-Teamsters United successfully accredited a new candidate. The Vairma slate failed to muster enough support for two of their three new candidates. 

The International Union has cancelled plans for holding the IBT Convention in Las Vegas on June 21-25, due to the restrictions on large gatherings during the COVID pandemic.  The Convention will be held on-line, during the same week.

The substance of the IBT Convention remains the same.  It will be a nominating convention and it will be a constitutional convention where amendments to the IBT Constitution will be voted on.

The two IBT vice presidents from Canada and the president of Teamsters Canada have petitioned among Canadian Teamsters to accredit the Team Canada Slate in the IBT Election.  Yesterday the Election Supervisor reported that they submitted 8,156 petition signatures, far more than the needed number of 2,807 in Canada.

There will be one fewer International VP elected from the Central Region next year, and one additional one in the Western Region, according to IBT figures released on October 8.

Steve Vairma was handpicked by Jim Hoffa and Rome Aloise to run for General President. Yet, Vairma and his slate have spent the last six months trying to distance themselves from Hoffa and his failed policies.