August 15, 2013: There's a rerun election in the 5,000-member Local 848 in Los Angeles in progress, as a result of a federal lawsuit brought by the U.S. Labor Department due to serious election violations. The Labor Department is conducting the election.

The sad truth is, the exact same violations were brought before Joint Council 42, headed by International vice president Randy Cammack, and then to the International union. Instead of enforcing the members' right to a fair vote, JC 42 whitewashed the violations. Then the Hoffa administration did nothing.

The incumbents in the election had counted the votes of ineligible voters, and had illegally posted bulletins on union bulletin boards denouncing their opponents because they didn't like what their opponents said. On appeal, Hoffa told the local to take down the notices, but they left them up.

Those are clear violations of basic democracy. But Cammack and the Hoffa administration are more interested in keeping friends in office than fair elections.

August 14, 2013: After 8 months without a contract, Teamsters and UNITE HERE members at Gate Gourmet rejected a tentative agreement by the lopsided margin of 2,179 No to 742 Yes, in yet another national Hoffa-administration contract which the members think is a stinker.

The number one issue is wages. Yet IBT Local 528 in Atlanta, which represents a large number of Teamsters, says they will not pursue wage increases beyond what's been proposed but they will bargain to get one more sick day!

Gate Gourmet Teamsters prepare food for airlines where workers haven't had a raise since 2011. Other issues include unaffordable healthcare costs, too much overtime, supervisor harassment, and winning back double-time pay on seniority dates and birthdays, a concession from the 2010 negotiations.

The company and the union have jointly filed for federal mediation.

Click here to see CNN interview with Dan Moldea.

Also available: a review of the book "I Hear You Paint Houses" about the life, trials and corruption of Jimmy Hoffa.

May 24, 2013: "A nickel an hour for Teamster power" was Hoffa's slogan in 2002 to get the dues raised by 25 percent at a one-hour special convention in Las Vegas. A decade later, it's time to evaluate the organizing program: how are we doing at building Teamster power?

Very little of that new money goes to local unions; the bulk goes to the International, where it funds more staff salaries, as well as the strike fund and organizing.

Strikes are as rare as winners in Las Vegas. What about organizing? Are we building that promised Teamster power?

Our union needs to evaluate how we are doing in this critical work, and what the plan is for the future.

Numbers and Strategy

In 2012 the International union lost 51,936 members (according to LM-2 reports signed by James Hoffa and Ken Hall), worsening a downward trend of recent years and falling to 1.25 million members.

Also during 2012 our union was hit with the highest number of decertifications of any union, and lost 38 of those 51 votes where the boss was able to convince workers to leave the Teamsters.

Numbers matter. We can all agree we need to grow.

But strategy matters, too. We need to organize in Teamster core industries: trucking, warehousing, construction, and other areas to build Teamster power.

Does the International union have a strategy to organize in Teamster industries, or is the priority to get any members we can by the easiest route? This question needs to be addressed, with input from all locals.

Core Industries or Union Raids?

Teamster organizing in the waste industry has been aided by solidarity actions such as the rolling picket lines used in a strike against Republic Waste in April.

The IBT is organizing in the waste industry, where two huge corporations (Republic and Waste Management) control 80 percent of the market. This is the kind of strategy that we need to build Teamster power. And we need more coordinated action in waste, as we have seen recently, with quickie
solidarity strikes and coordinated bargaining.

But we don't see this model spreading to other core industries.

Right now, the IBT's biggest organizing priorities are two raids on other unions. The IBT is seeking to replace the Transport Workers Union (TWU) at American Airlines, and the International Association of Machinists (IAM) at US Air.

Dozens of Teamster organizers are on these drives, seeking to win over the mechanics at these two airlines. This means those organizers are not working on organizing elsewhere.

Perhaps those unions brought it on themselves by doing a poor job representing members, but are we building the labor movement this way? If the Teamsters win these campaigns, our union will grow, which is good, but by beating other unions, not organizing the unorganized.

Is this a Strategy?

Organizing at Conway or FedEx may be harder and long-term but they are critically important to the future of our union if we want to grow the membership, defend our contracts, and protect our benefits.

In the 1990s, our union took on an organizing drive at Overnite with this long view in mind.

It wasn't fast or easy. But we stuck with it and organized terminals and laid the groundwork for unionizing the company nationwide when it became UPS Freight.

Organizing is about long-term strategy—not chasing a quick fix.

Problems in the Organizing Department

Teamster organizing has been hindered by top officials who harassed IBT organizers who formed a union.This notice mandates the IBT officials to not threaten to pull the Teamster cards or lay-off organizers who sign a union card.

Funding for organizing has been cut in recent years, and the organizing staff reduced. The budget may be tight, but there seems to be plenty of money to maintain and expand multiple salaries.

Politics plays a heavy role in the IBT organizing department. Western Region organizing coordinator Manny Valenzuela has a checkered record on this score. For example, some five (!) former Teamster organizers he selected or trained now work as professional union busters! One of them, Sherri Henry, has a website advertising her sleazy work on defeating Teamster organizing drives. Should he be doing the hiring and coordinating?

It does not help that some top officials have antagonized and threatened some of the IBT's 40 full-time organizers. That's why a year ago, they voted to form a union despite heavy pressure from the Hoffa administration. They wanted protection against political firings and retaliation. A full year later, bargaining continues to try to settle the internal rift, pitting staff organizers against the top officials, including Organizing Director Jeff Farmer.

Various former organizers have lawsuits against the IBT for sexual harassment and other issues, costing upwards of a million dollars in legal fees and damages. Does this money come out of the organizing budget?

Turning into union busters, suing the IBT for sexual harassment, forming a union to prevent political firings: this does not sound like a well-run department.

It's time to make peace with the Teamster organizers and operate as a team and to rid the department of petty politics.

The Future of Organizing

The good news is that more locals, as well as the IBT, are committed to organizing as the lifeblood of the union. That's a positive foundation.

Now we need to take a hard look at how to grow in core industries and how to back up all locals who want to organize. Then we can build an effective and united organizing program with the International, the locals, and volunteer members.

January 23, 2013: The Independent Review Board (IRB) has sent a 141-page investigative report to Teamster president James Hoffa, calling for charges against the former top Teamsters in Minnesota, Brad Slawson Sr and Jr, along with their family friend and business partner, Todd Chester.

The IRB report, which is available here, alleges that both Brad Slawson Sr and Jr committed racketeering and bank fraud. While the IRB does not have the authority to bring criminal charges in federal court, the report is no doubt already in the hands of the Justice Department.

The Slawsons have bragged that they will return to the union hall. It now seems they should be less concerned about getting into the union hall than with staying out of federal housing-with-bars.

The Slawsons were removed from running the 11,000-member Minnesota Local 120 in November, when the IRB recommended that Hoffa place the local in trusteeship, which he then did.

The new IRB document covers much of the same material as the November IRB report, but now recommends that eleven specific charges be brought to expel the Slawsons from the Teamsters and bar them for life from the union. In addition to racketeering, the IRB alleges numerous acts of embezzlement totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, diversion of strike fund money, padding payments to a building contractor, violation of the bylaws, signing a sham collective bargaining agreement, and lying under oath.

From Minnesota Viking tickets to liquor sales to building a new union hall, it seems the opportunities to skim money were taken.

Slawson Sr and Jr were paid $469,228 in salaries and expenses in 2011 from the union treasury. The IRB report says they were embezzling a lot more for several years.

The IRB is jointly-appointed by the union leadership and the U.S. Justice Department, and responsible for investigating corruption within our union. The Hoffa administration is attempting to abolish it.

Background: Read Why Hoffa Won't Take on Corruption, IRB Hits Corruption in Local 120.

Further reading: Slawson Holds Fundraiser!

And: Teamsters accuse Minn. father, son of embezzlement

January 16, 2013: Once again a claim has been made regarding the location of Jimmy Hoffa's body in Michigan, some 38 years after his July 1975 murder. This time, it is from the one-time under-boss of the Detroit mafia, Tony Zerilli, so the FBI may be looking into it. Zerilli is claiming the body is on land owned by Jack Tocco, Zerilli’s cousin and enemy. And Zerilli is promising a forthcoming book (of course).

If you are interested in following this story, we suggest that your starting point can be www.moldea.com, the website of Dan Moldea, author of the The Hoffa Wars.

October 19, 2012: The 6,000 members of Los Angeles Local 630 have spoken loud and clear in rejecting Hoffa's appointed Trustee of the local, Randy Korgan, as well as candidates supported by the corrupt former local officers.

Will Hoffa let the membership vote stand, or will he pull a "do-over" even though his appointee, Korgan, ran the election. This undemocratic tactic has been used by Hoffa before.

Korgan, a close associate of International Vice President Randy Cammack of Local 63, was appointed Trustee to come in and run Local 630 when it was put in trusteeship in 2011. Korgan is known more for his threats than respect for members.

Another slate was backed by former Local 630 leader Paul Kenny, who was bounced from office in 2011 after the Independent Review Board (IRB) caught him embezzling $1,000 a week by spending the members' money at fancy bars. That slate finished third.

The winning candidate was Ernie Lopez, on a slate headed by two business agents and rank and file members of Local 630.

The members of Local 630—mostly grocery warehouse workers—deserve a new day. For years they have endured heavy-handed leaders who thought they owned the union. Kenny even testified that the former head of the local signed it over to him, from his deathbed, like personal property.

The Hoffa administration knew about the embezzlement, as proved by letters from International Auditors detailing it. But Hoffa tolerated it. TDU reported on that, click here to read it.

The hard-working members of Local 630 deserve help and support from the International union, not yet another slap in the face.

August 24, 2012: The International Union has been required by the NLRB to post notices that the IBT will cease harassing union organizers for joining a union. The notice includes that the IBT will not tell them they will no longer be Teamsters if they join a union, or that they will be laid off or that they cannot wear a union pin.

A majority of IBT organizers voted to form a union and are seeking to get "just cause" protection. So far the IBT has refused to negotiate.

A copy of the NLRB notice is here.

June 22, 2012: Organizers employed by the International union have voted to unionize, and on June 21 the NLRB regional director ruled that the objections to the vote by the Hoffa administration lack merit. 

On May 29 the vote count was 18-16 in favor of FAIR, the Federation of Agents and International Representatives. The International union then filed exceptions to the vote with the NLRB, claiming that five ballots were not received in the mail. However, it was the Hoffa administration which insisted on a strict ballot deadline.

Now that the NLRB regional director has made a decision, it is not clear if the Hoffa administration will continue to appeal the certification of the unionization vote. The organizers’ union steering committee issued a statement saying it is time to “come together for the greater good of all of us and the great work we do as Teamsters.”

Hoffa operatives fought hard against the unionization effort. They refused a request to remain neutral or agree to card-check. They held one-on-one meetings and issued nasty warnings that those in favor of unionizing were disloyal and would not be welcomed by Teamster locals during organizing drives.

There has been a lot of dissent among organizers and other IBT staff regarding favoritism, pay disparity and complaints about political hacks being promoted. The organizers’ main goal is to obtain “just cause” protection regarding discharge.

June 12, 2012: Organizers employed by the International union have voted to unionize, in order to bargain with the Hoffa administration. On May 29 the vote count was 18-16 in favor of FAIR, the Federation of Agents and International Representatives.

The International union has filed exceptions to the vote with the NLRB, claiming that five ballots were not received in the mail. However, it was the Hoffa administration which insisted on a strict ballot deadline.

Hoffa operatives fought hard against the unionization effort. They refused a request to remain neutral or agree to card-check. They held one-on-one meetings and issued nasty warnings that those in favor of unionizing were disloyal and would not be welcomed by Teamster locals during organizing drives.

There has been a lot of dissent among organizers and other IBT staff regarding favoritism, pay disparity and complaints about political hacks being promoted, so the unionization is the result. The organizers expect their union to be certified soon, and hope that the Hoffa administration will meet and bargain.