2006 $100,000 Club

Hoffa’s Weak Contracts Can’t Hide Behind His Father’s Famous Name

 
July 2006. The 2006 IBT election will be a rematch between Hoffa and Tom Leedham, who squared off in 2001. While the names at the top of the ballot are the same as in 2001, the similarities end there.

In 2001, Hoffa was an incumbent without a record. In three years in office, he had never negotiated a UPS or freight contract. In the few bargaining units where Hoffa had negotiated a contract, the members voted against him. But for the most part Hoffa could still run on his father’s celebrity.

This year, Hoffa has to run on his record and it’s not pretty. His “Best Contract Ever” is so weak that he’s back at the bargaining table to try to fix it two years before it expires. Hundreds of thousands of Teamsters have been hit with pension and health care cuts after Hoffa guaranteed his contracts would maintain or increase our benefits.

Tom Leedham has a proven record in exactly the areas where Hoffa has failed.

Winning Strong Contracts

Leedham has negotiated industry-leading contracts as the head of Oregon Local 206 for 20 years, where he represents warehouse, UPS, freight, sanitation, public employees and other Teamsters.

Leedham has eliminated Local 206’s multi-tier contracts that paid different wages and benefits to Teamsters doing the same work. Leedham’s contracts brought all members up to the top scale.

Restoring Good Benefits

When Leedham took office, the Local 206 health trust was nearly bankrupt. Retiree healthcare coverage was being eliminated.

Leedham instituted reforms and won higher employer contributions. He turned that fund around and reversed the benefit cuts.

Today, Local 206 members enjoy a top-notch health benefit with no or low co-pays. Leedham has restored affordable health benefits for retirees.

The Hoffa Legacy

Hoffa’s record dues hike doubled the budget of the International Union. Did Hoffa double our union’s power? Did he double the backing Teamsters get from our IBT? Or did he just double the PR we get in our homes?

Hoffa won the last election on his father’s famous last name. This year, he’ll have to answer for his own infamous record.

Weaknesses in UPS Contract Force Hoffa to Ask Management for Another Bite at the Apple

 
July 2006. It’s official: Hoffa’s “Best Contract Ever” has failed; the union will now sit down to try to negotiate early with UPS management.

Management seems happy to bargain early, hoping to button up a deal long before any threat of a work stoppage, and before the big 100 year anniversary events. Management is telling the media that they are eager to put forward their demand to pull out of Teamster pension plans.

The timing of the early negotiations seems geared not so much towards securing the best possible contract, but the best possible election PR for Hoffa. The announcement came at the Teamster Convention, with the fantastic claim that management came to the bargaining table because Teamster officials were massed at the Paris Casino in Las Vegas.

We can expect that more such announcements, rallies and PR will be timed to the coming campaign period, leading up to the Teamster election in October. Our contract is being used by Hoffa for political purposes.

Hoffa has never carried the vote of UPS Teamsters, and now he is worried they will turn him out.

Hoffa’s Incompetence Likely to Cost UPS Votes

Hoffa is good at PR. In the 2002 contract we saw him guarantee pension improvements, health care improvements, guaranteed staffing levels to reduce unwanted overtime, and more. He imposed a dues increase and promised it would deliver Teamster Power. It sounded good.

He settled early and settled short, then put his PR machine to work. But six months into the contract, benefits were cut and promises abandoned.

Hoffa is not good at finishing the job. In 2002 he was in an ideal position, coming off the 1997 strike victory, and blew it. Now he’s going to management, admitting his contract failed, while management is pushing to crush our pension plans.

Tom Leedham knows how to finish the job. He knows how to mobilize members and local officers and put a united team in place to win. And he isn’t controlled by consultants, PR men, and handlers. He’s a Teamster for Teamsters.

In 2001 Tom Leedham defeated Hoffa among UPS Teamsters. He won among UPSers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Louisville, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Memphis, and most other places.

And that was before UPS Teamsters experienced Hoffa’s record of broken promises and benefit cuts.

UPS Teamsters need to get involved. First, in the contract. Our future is more important than politics. Get informed and get involved.  Second, get involved in the Teamster election. Get every UPS Teamster to vote. Talk to them about the issues, the candidates and how we can turn our union around this year.

 Critical UPS Freight Battle Looms

 

“This agreement between the Teamsters and UPS Freight is a letter for card check and neutrality at Overnite.”

James P. Hoffa, June 27, 2006

IBT Convention, Las Vegas

With those words, Hoffa promised Teamsters that he won an agreement to let our union organize Overnite (now UPS Freight) without the union-busting tactics we’ve seen from management in the past.

Will Hoffa’s agreement really deliver this promise? We hope so. Organizing UPS Freight is an issue that rises above politics. It’s critical to our union’s future at freight and UPS—and to the future of our pensions and benefits too.

We hope Hoffa’s deal gives us the ability to organize. But we have questions, too.

Agreement Still Secret

When it comes to agreements, the devil is in the details. And we’ve learned the hard way that what Hoffa promises and what he delivers aren’t necessarily the same thing. In 2002 and 2003, Hoffa guaranteed that his agreements at UPS, freight and carhaul would protect our pensions and benefits for six years. We know how that turned out.

So far, Hoffa has not shared the agreement, even with Teamster leaders. But serious questions are being raised since the BNA Daily Labor Report revealed that the agreement is limited to just one UPS Freight terminal out of hundreds.

Hoffa failed to mention this detail at the Teamster Convention. So did the IBT’s press release and Hoffa’s letter to local leaders after the convention.

Under a normal “card check” agreement, an employer agrees to voluntarily recognize the union if a majority of its employees sign a union card. This eliminates the need for an NLRB-run union election. In the past Overnite has used illegal tactics to bust Teamster organizing drives during the NLRB process.

“Neutrality” means that management agrees not to oppose unionization efforts and to let workers decide for themselves.

Hoffa’s card check and neutrality agreement applies to just one UPS Freight facility of the IBT’s choosing. After that, the IBT will have to go terminal by terminal. At this point, there is no agreement from the company to extend card check and neutrality to any other location.

From Card Check to Union Contract

What does this mean for our goal of organizing all 15,000 UPS Freight employees under the National Master Freight or UPS contract and into our pension plans? That’s not clear.

The IBT’s plan is to choose one facility and organize it. The next step, according to Ken Hall, will be to win a contract at that one facility.

What is the IBT’s plan for winning a strong contract at one UPS Freight terminal when the vast majority of the company remains unorganized? So far the IBT is not saying.

On July 1, 2005, Hoffa first announced he would unveil a “comprehensive plan to organize UPS Freight.” More than one year later, local leaders and members are still in the dark about what the plan is to win.

Organizing this long-time union-buster is critical. So is bringing it under a strong master contract and into our Teamster pension and benefit plans.

It will take the unity and involvement of the Teamster membership. All Teamsters should be ready to help.

It’s time for Hoffa to level with the members about the plan for organizing UPS Freight. Concerned Teamsters jumped at the opportunity to take on Overnite before—and we’ll do it again given the chance.

 

Ø Amount collected in new money from the July 2002 dues hike in four years: $638 million

Ø Amount of that money spent on organizing by the International Union per year: $14 million

Ø Percentage increase in the International Union's income because of the dues hike (most of the dues hike went to the International): 75% increase

Ø Percentage increase in amount paid by International for multiple salaries to officials: 764% increase in pay to multiple salaries

Ø Amount of dues money saved if top officials accepted $150,000, and multiple salaries paid to International appointees were eliminated: $8.7 million per year

Ø Number of new Teamster organizers that would pay: 124 new organizers

Ø Net loss of Teamster members since Hoffa took office, not counting mergers: 150,000 members lost

Ø Number of multiple salaries paid by the International in 1998, just prior to Hoffa taking office: 16

Ø Number of multiple salaries paid by the International Union in 2005: 164

Ø Amount that the International paid in multiple salaries in 2005: $8.4 million

Ø Amount of Teamster dues paid to Hoffa consultants Richard Leebove and Greg Tarpinian in 2005: $773,000

Ø Days that Tarpinian and Leebove ever worked as Teamsters: 0

Ø Amount that International Vice President Chuck Mack, his brother Steve Mack, and brother-in-law Rome Aloise received in multiple union salaries in 2005: $618,444

Ø Amount that Rome Aloise was caught by the Election Supervisor in August laundering from dues money into the Hoffa-Mack campaign: $15,720

Ø Amount of the daily International staff meal allowance, after it was raised in June: $100/day

Ø Number of Big Macs that daily meal allowance will buy: 37

Click here for the 2006 $100,000 Club

Click here for Bloated Salaries Again on the Rise

Click here for How the $100,000 Club and TDU Have Changed Teamster History

 

TDU, Members Beat Dues Waste, Build Power

October 18, 2006. TDU began publishing the “$100,000 Club” 27 years ago. Armed with this information, and the Right to Vote, Teamsters have demanded financial reforms and won them.

In 1987, Teamster President Jackie presser bagged $609,984 in multiple salaries. In today’s dollars (adjusted for inflation), that would be over $1 million. International Vice President Arnie Weinmeister made $443,612 that year. Others, like Weldon Mathis, took home $305,914. They used union-owned jets to go to golf resorts.

In 1989, Teamsters won the Right to Vote after TDU’s plan was adopted as part of the consent order to settle the racketeering suit against top Teamster leaders. Thanks to TDU, Teamsters had a tool for holding top Teamster officers accountable for their outrageous dues waste. That changed everything. Incumbents like Mathis and Weinmeister were forced to drop out of the race for International Office. Members were not going to elect those millionaires.

The incumbent slate, in an attempt to win the election, even adopted part of TDU’s platform! At the 1991 IBT Convention, they capped the General President’s salary at $225,000 plus an unlimited cost of living clause. No International officer or rep is allowed to use multiple salaries to make more than the General President.

Fat cats Were On the Run.

TDU’s platform was gaining ground. Then it took a leap forward.

In December 1991, Ron Carey won the General President position and took decisive action to change the fat cat life style. The union limo and jet planes were sold. He lowered his own salary to $150,000 and began to phase out multiple salaries. TDU continued to publish the $100,000 Club and press for more reforms.

In 1993, Ron Carey abolished the “Area Conferences” which were a useless layer of bureaucracy. In one day, 65 multiple salaries were eliminated, and millions of dues dollars returned to local unions.

By 1996, even James Hoffa had to support TDU’s financial reforms—at least in his campaign platform. Hoffa promised to “cut n cap” with no International officer allowed to make over $150,000 by using multiple salaries.

When Hoffa won office in late 1998, he abandoned the platform. He raised his own salary, brought back multiple salaries, and pays himself and Tom Keegel a lucrative “housing allowance” to pad their income more.

Despite the setbacks and renewed waste under Hoffa, TDU’s hard-won reforms still have staying power.

Look at the $150,000 Club today. No one is bagging the kind of money they used to get – the members just won’t tolerate it. Our union is more democratic, thanks to the Right to Vote and the fact that TDU is there to get the facts out.

The result is less financial waste and more money for strike benefits and organizing. Can we do better? You bet. But where would our Teamsters Union be without TDU and the $100,000 Club?

Click here for the 2006 $100,000 Club

Click here for Teamster Spending by the Numbers

Click here for Bloated Salaries Again on the Rise

After Reformers Curbed the Worst Excesses...

October 18, 2006. Reform Teamsters, spearheaded by TDU, have succeeded in directing members’ dues money away from fat-cat salaries and into programs that build union power.

But millions of dollars in members’ dues are still wasted every year on bloated salaries and a patronage scheme of multiple salaries that the Hoffa administration pays to buy political loyalty.

Those are the findings of this year’s analysis of Teamster financial reports by the Teamster Rank and File Education and Legal Defense Foundation. For 27 years, TDU has published these findings in our annual $100,000 Club.

TDU publishes the facts. No sugar-coating and no partisanship: we publish the name of every Teamster official who makes over the limit, regardless of whether they are a friend or foe of TDU, committed Teamster or do-nothing fat-cat.

As a direct result of TDU’s work to cut dues waste and cap outrageous salaries, millions of dues dollars have been saved. Last year, Hoffa’s total compensation was $297,772. At one time, the Teamster General President’s multiple salaries, adjusted for inflation, added up to more than $1 million. (To find out who that president was, see page 7.)

While the salaries of our union’s fat-cats have fallen, 78 Teamster officials still make more than $150,000 a year, and 24 make more than $200,000 a year. Nineteen people on the Hoffa Slate are already in the $150,000 Club and 13 have salaries over $200,000.

Hoffa Buying Votes With Your Dues?

This year’s $100,000 Club raises serious questions about whether Hoffa is using members’ dues to try to buy this fall’s election.

Last year, your dues paid $773,000 to two political consultants, Greg Tarpinian and Richard Leebove, both key Hoffa Campaign consultants.

Hoffa doled out an incredible $8.4 million last year to 164 Teamster officials who already earn at least one other union salary. Multiple salaries have skyrocketed by 764 percent since Hoffa took office. These salaries function as a patronage system to officers who are expected to turn out the vote for Hoffa in return.

Mobilizing for Change

For three decades, TDU has pushed for financial reforms to cut dues waste and build union power. How has the $100,000 Club changed our Teamsters Union? What progress has been made? What remains to be done?

Click here for the complete $150,000 and $100,000 Club listings. (adobe acrobat required)

Click here for Teamster Spending by the Numbers

Click here for How the $100K Club and TDU Have Changed Teamster History

July 28, 2006: On July 14 the Independent Review Board (IRB) charged John Kikes with a long period of purposeful association with Billy Hogan after Hogan was banned from the Teamsters in 2002. Kikes has been a Hoffa International Rep for six years and is the president of Oakland, Calif., Local 78. His boss is Local 78 Secretary-Treasurer Steve Mack, the brother of International Vice President Chuck Mack.

Kikes testified under oath to the IRB that he never reads the Teamster magazine; that he didn’t know Hogan had been kicked out of the Teamsters (only that Hogan was “out of the loop”); and that he had no idea why Hogan would just happen to show up at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas while Kikes was there for a Teamster Golf Committee meeting. He also testified that Steve Mack invited Billy Hogan to visit their table during a meeting of the Golf Committee. Mack denied it under oath.

Hogan, Hoffa’s former running mate, was banned from the Teamsters Union in May 2002 for attempting to implement a sweetheart contract in Las Vegas with a company in which the Hogan family had an interest.

Kikes did not return a call to comment.

July 17, 2006: Hoffa is playing politics with UPS Bargaining and Overnite/UPS Freight.

“We won it—card check, neutrality. UPS Freight. Wow!”

Hoffa kicked off his reelection drive at the Teamster Convention by announcing that our union had won a card check agreement to organize UPS Freight (Overnite).

Hoffa waved a document to the crowd and declared, “This agreement between the Teamsters and UPS Freight is a letter for card check and neutrality at Overnite.”

The delegates at the Convention cheered, and rightly so. Organizing UPS Freight must be a top priority of our union. An agreement that protects the right of UPS Freight employees to freely join the Teamsters without union-busting harassment would be something to celebrate.

Hoffa wasn’t telling the full story about his deal with UPS management.

Hoffa did not reveal that the card check and neutrality agreement applies to only one out of more than 200 UPS Freight terminals.

That is not what most Teamsters understood when Hoffa stood on the Convention podium and puffed, “We won it—card check, neutrality. UPS Freight. Wow!”

Our union must win this organizing battle. It is critical to the future of Teamster bargaining power at UPS and in the freight industry. Failure is not an option. Every Teamster must pledge full support to this effort.

But to win, our leadership has to level with the membership. When it comes to organizing Overnite, Teamster members don’t need spin. We need the truth and a plan to win.

The 2005 financial reports for Teamster affiliates, including the International, are finally public. These LM-2 reports reveal for the first time the astonishing high cost of Hoffa’s PR.

Three consultants alone were paid nearly two million in members’ dues money—not bad money for non-Teamsters who didn’t bargain a single contract, settle a single grievance, or organize a single member into our union.

Two of the richest PR fatcats are Greg Tarpinian and Richard Leebove. Tarpinian got $471,636 in members’ dues.

Leebove made off with $301,379. Both worked for numerous local unions as well as the International. As the LM-2 filings for more locals become available, these figures will likely rise even higher.

Tarpinian gets big money for writing Hoffa’s speeches and producing PR videos. Leebove is Hoffa’s long-time designated attack dog and media man. In 2005 he was paid big money to attack members who were organizing against pension and benefit cuts. He’s also on the payroll of—you guessed it—the Hoffa Campaign.

Tarpinian and Leebove have been on the Hoffa payroll for years. Their Teamster income is available for the first time because of changes in Department of Labor report filing requirements.

$1 Million for One Press Release

But as much dues skim as these guys get, Ed McDonald did them one better. McDonald took in a whopping $727,299. McDonald’s assignment? To attack Ed Stier, the former Teamster anti-corruption director.

Hoffa hired Stier for five years to run the RISE program—but then pulled the plug on Stier’s activities when he started to investigate organized crime influence in Hoffa’s Chicago power base. After Stier and the RISE staff resigned from their jobs in protest, McDonald was hired to do a job on Stier.

McDonald was also on the IBT payroll in 2004, but those consultant fees were never disclosed. He almost certainly made more than $1 million in all.

McDonald doesn’t just make money from members’ dues. His website lists his clients, including “…a member of the Saudi Royal family, the former chairman and deputy chairman of the Russian Securities Commission, the Mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., and many other businesses and individuals throughout the world. He has regularly represented one of the nation’s largest waste management companies [major Teamster employers!]”

So nearly $2 million in Teamster dues money went to these there non-Teamsters in just one year.

That $2 million a year would put 20 full-time organizers in the field working to organize UPS Freight and other threats to our union.

But then who would puff up Hoffa or run smear campaigns against members who are fighting pension cuts or investigators who blow the whistle on corruption in the Hoffa camp?


Click here: Hoffa Rep Gives Members' Money to Wal-Mart
Click here: Membership Declines