Patronage or Teamster Power?
October 30, 2005: Study shows multiple salaries at heart of Hoffa patronage scheme.
Each year, the Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF) conducts a comprehensive analysis of Teamster financial documents and officer compensation.
Convoy Dispatch publishes the results in our annual $100,000 Club issue.
This year, the study focuses on the record number of super-compensated Teamster officials—making $150,000, $200,000 or more—who are on the International Union payroll.
Our $100,000 Club analyzes how the Hoffa administration is using members' dues money in a political patronage scheme—by guaranteeing multiple salaries to a network of political allies.
A total of 148 officials on Hoffa's payroll get multiple salaries. This figure has skyrocketed by 722 percent since Hoffa took office.
Our study also examines the growing salary gap between these super-compensated officials and the majority of local union principal officers who make $86,000 a year or less.
Is all of our dues money being used like it should to fight corporate greed and build union power? Or is some going for patronage and pork? We provide the data and let you decide.
Each year, the Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF) conducts a comprehensive analysis of Teamster financial documents and officer compensation.
Convoy Dispatch publishes the results in our annual $100,000 Club issue.
This year, the study focuses on the record number of super-compensated Teamster officials—making $150,000, $200,000 or more—who are on the International Union payroll.
Our $100,000 Club analyzes how the Hoffa administration is using members' dues money in a political patronage scheme—by guaranteeing multiple salaries to a network of political allies.
A total of 148 officials on Hoffa's payroll get multiple salaries. This figure has skyrocketed by 722 percent since Hoffa took office.
Our study also examines the growing salary gap between these super-compensated officials and the majority of local union principal officers who make $86,000 a year or less.
Is all of our dues money being used like it should to fight corporate greed and build union power? Or is some going for patronage and pork? We provide the data and let you decide.
Organizing Report Shows Need for New Strategies to Build Power
October 30, 2005: James Hoffa recently pulled the Teamsters out of the AFL-CIO, saying unions had to boost their bargaining power by organizing the nonunion competition in our core industries. But a special investigation of the most recently available organizing statistics reveals that Teamster organizing in 2004 continued to lag far behind the levels achieved a decade ago.
Researchers found that not only is Teamster organizing down in the Hoffa years, but that the IBT has failed to strategically focus on the targets that could boost the union’s bargaining power in key industries.
The study was conducted by the Teamster Rank and File Education and Legal Defense Foundation, which has analyzed NLRB organizing figures and Department of Labor statistics for years. Key report findings include:
• Teamster membership has fallen by over 100,000 since 1999 when Hoffa took office. The recent mergers of two rail unions and the graphic communication workers have recouped some of these losses, but mergers are not organizing. And you don’t spend millions on organizing to merge with other unions.
• Organizing under Hoffa continues to fall far behind what was achieved in the 1990s. In 2004 the IBT won 248 elections. This figure was slightly better than the 228 wins in 2003, but worse than the 278 wins in 2002, and far worse than the average of 380 new shops organized annually a decade ago.
• Teamster organizing under Hoffa has largely ignored the nonunion competition in our union’s core industries. Tucking and warehousing companies were targeted in just 19 percent of Teamster organizing drives.
In 2002, the Hoffa administration raised members’ dues by 25 percent, in part, he said, to boost organizing. Hoffa also reshuffled the organizing department and installed Jeff Farmer as Director of Organizing. The Hoffa administration promised then—just as they are promising now—that the IBT would focus on organizing the nonunion competition to boost Teamster membership and bargaining power in our core industries.
Not only has Teamster organizing dropped far below the levels achieved in the 1990s, but organizing is not directed at strategic targets. The IBT did not participate in a single NLRB organizing election at freight companies Overnite, Conway, Estes or Watkins in 2004.
Cintas, touted by the IBT as a big national campaign coordinated with the UNITE HERE union, does not appear at all in the NLRB statistics. How much of the $44 million was “poured” into this campaign?
Some Teamster organizing takes place outside the NLRB process, among public workers or rail and airline workers. However, most Teamster organizing, especially in our core industries, is covered by these NLRB statistics.
On paper and in press releases the DHL record looks good. Behind the scenes, however, many local union officials are unhappy with the IBT’s handling of the drive. Some locals have organized the same DHL unit more than once, investing significant resources into the same organizing drive without any end in sight of a good contract that can be defended. Local 162 in Portland, Ore. finally struck the DHL contractor, effectively shutting down their airport operation. The local had leverage until the IBT stepped in and told them to call off the strike. The employer knew of the IBT’s decision before the local did.
We need to use the clout we have with thousands of Teamsters organized at DHL, including in many big cities and including the pilots, to put pressure on DHL to stop recycling the contractors as they are organized. The DHL drive has the potential to bring 10,000 new trucking Teamsters into our national contract and pension plans. We need to make it happen.
Click here: Study Reveals Cost of Hoffa's Broken "Cut and Cap" Promises
Click here: IBT Organizing Lags Again in 2004
Click here: NLRB Statistics on Teamster Organizing
Researchers found that not only is Teamster organizing down in the Hoffa years, but that the IBT has failed to strategically focus on the targets that could boost the union’s bargaining power in key industries.
The study was conducted by the Teamster Rank and File Education and Legal Defense Foundation, which has analyzed NLRB organizing figures and Department of Labor statistics for years. Key report findings include:
• Teamster membership has fallen by over 100,000 since 1999 when Hoffa took office. The recent mergers of two rail unions and the graphic communication workers have recouped some of these losses, but mergers are not organizing. And you don’t spend millions on organizing to merge with other unions.
• Organizing under Hoffa continues to fall far behind what was achieved in the 1990s. In 2004 the IBT won 248 elections. This figure was slightly better than the 228 wins in 2003, but worse than the 278 wins in 2002, and far worse than the average of 380 new shops organized annually a decade ago.
• Teamster organizing under Hoffa has largely ignored the nonunion competition in our union’s core industries. Tucking and warehousing companies were targeted in just 19 percent of Teamster organizing drives.
More Money, Less Organizing
General Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel recently reported that the Hoffa administration has “poured $44 million into organizing.” But even the largest dues hike in Teamster history failed to reverse the Hoffa administration’s record on organizing.In 2002, the Hoffa administration raised members’ dues by 25 percent, in part, he said, to boost organizing. Hoffa also reshuffled the organizing department and installed Jeff Farmer as Director of Organizing. The Hoffa administration promised then—just as they are promising now—that the IBT would focus on organizing the nonunion competition to boost Teamster membership and bargaining power in our core industries.
Not only has Teamster organizing dropped far below the levels achieved in the 1990s, but organizing is not directed at strategic targets. The IBT did not participate in a single NLRB organizing election at freight companies Overnite, Conway, Estes or Watkins in 2004.
Cintas, touted by the IBT as a big national campaign coordinated with the UNITE HERE union, does not appear at all in the NLRB statistics. How much of the $44 million was “poured” into this campaign?
Some Teamster organizing takes place outside the NLRB process, among public workers or rail and airline workers. However, most Teamster organizing, especially in our core industries, is covered by these NLRB statistics.
Making Gains in Waste
Trucking and warehousing recruitment brought a little over 2,000 workers into the union. Healthcare came in second, with a little over 1,000 workers organized The third largest group of workers organized in 2004 was in waste hauling. A number of local unions have worked with the IBT to organize BFI, Waste Management and Allied—the big players in this industry. In 2002 Waste Management accounted for the most IBT elections against any single employer (20 elections). In 2004 activity has lessened somewhat but continues to show some life. There were 16 elections (and nine wins) against BFI, Waste Management and Allied in 2004.Is DHL the Strategic Campaign We Are Looking For?
Our union experienced an organizing opportunity when the express package delivery company DHL bought Airborne Express. In 2004 the IBT won elections at up to fifty DHL contractors around the country (the exact figure is hard to determine because DHL just drops organized contractors, forcing the locals to organize the same group under another company’s name). Large units of DHL workers were also won in New York and Miami. Overall the IBT organized over 1,500 DHL workers in 2004.On paper and in press releases the DHL record looks good. Behind the scenes, however, many local union officials are unhappy with the IBT’s handling of the drive. Some locals have organized the same DHL unit more than once, investing significant resources into the same organizing drive without any end in sight of a good contract that can be defended. Local 162 in Portland, Ore. finally struck the DHL contractor, effectively shutting down their airport operation. The local had leverage until the IBT stepped in and told them to call off the strike. The employer knew of the IBT’s decision before the local did.
We need to use the clout we have with thousands of Teamsters organized at DHL, including in many big cities and including the pilots, to put pressure on DHL to stop recycling the contractors as they are organized. The DHL drive has the potential to bring 10,000 new trucking Teamsters into our national contract and pension plans. We need to make it happen.
Click here: Study Reveals Cost of Hoffa's Broken "Cut and Cap" Promises
Click here: IBT Organizing Lags Again in 2004
Click here: NLRB Statistics on Teamster Organizing
IBT Organizing Lags Again in 2004
October 30, 2005: Teamster organizing figures have decreased for the second straight year, according to the latest figures available from the National Labor Relations Board. A new report on Teamster organizing reveals the Hoffa administration is lagging far behind the organizing levels achieved in the 1990s.
Hoffa recently pulled the Teamsters out of the AFL-CIO, supposedly to free up resources for organizing. But only one percent of Teamster dues were going to the AFL-CIO. Half that amount is now going to the Change to Win Coalition for a net savings of just $4 million per year.
In contrast, Hoffa’s broken campaign promises to "Cut and Cap" officers’ pay and to introduce other financial reforms have cost our union more than $15 million that could have been put toward organizing.
Click here: Organizing Report Shows Need for New Strategies to Build Power
Click here: Study Reveals Cost of Hoffa's Broken "Cut and Cap" Promises
Click here: NLRB Statistics on Teamster Organizing
Coli, Under FBI Investigation, To Be On Hoffa Slate
October 30, 2005: At $345,408 total compensation, John Coli is the top Teamster fat cat in this year’s $100,000 Club. He is also the newest member of the Hoffa Slate. Coli has announced that news to various Teamster officials.
Coli is best known for his prominent role in the scandal that led Hoffa’s anti-corruption czar Ed Stier to resign last year, along with the entire staff of Project RISE, Hoffa’s anti-corruption program. Coli was accused of using his influence in the General President’s office to shut down Stier’s investigations into organized crime influence and corruption in Chicago. Hoffa pulled the plug on Stier’s investigations—and Stier resigned in protest—before these allegations against Coli could be proven. But here is what is definitely known about Hoffa’s newest running mate.
Coli is the head of the powerful Chicago Joint Council and of Local 727. He inherited the leadership of Local 727 in 1992 after his father retired and his brother was removed from the Teamsters by the Independent Review Board (IRB). Coli’s father was a member of the Chicago mafia, according to the Stier Report of 2004, but he himself has never been identified as a mob associate.
Coli’s local is being investigated by the FBI, and a Grand Jury has issued subpoenas regarding alleged kickbacks and fraud involving the members’ dental plan. A report by Stier details a scheme where money from the plan travels to an “insurer” owned by a Florida dentist, then to an account in Illinois, before a lesser amount is deposited in the dental service providers’ authorized account.
What It Means
Why would James Hoffa name this man to his slate, hoping to make him a top leader of the Teamsters Union? This is a man who inherited his power, is under FBI investigation, helped kill-off the Teamster anti-corruption program, and whose first love is the members’ money.
He is doing it because Coli is a Teamster power broker: he has personal influence in high places inside our union.
This is the same reason Hoffa put another Chicago power broker, Billy Hogan, on his slate ten years ago, until investigations of his operations got too hot. Eventually Hogan was removed from the union for trying to implement a sweetheart contract with a company that his family had an interest in.
This is the opposite of the way power should flow in our union. It should flow upward, from the members, stewards and local organizers. Leadership should be earned, not inherited or extorted. Leaders should be selected for their integrity and their ability to win strong contracts.
In 2006 Teamster members will have a choice between those two kinds of leadership.
Coli is best known for his prominent role in the scandal that led Hoffa’s anti-corruption czar Ed Stier to resign last year, along with the entire staff of Project RISE, Hoffa’s anti-corruption program. Coli was accused of using his influence in the General President’s office to shut down Stier’s investigations into organized crime influence and corruption in Chicago. Hoffa pulled the plug on Stier’s investigations—and Stier resigned in protest—before these allegations against Coli could be proven. But here is what is definitely known about Hoffa’s newest running mate.
Coli is the head of the powerful Chicago Joint Council and of Local 727. He inherited the leadership of Local 727 in 1992 after his father retired and his brother was removed from the Teamsters by the Independent Review Board (IRB). Coli’s father was a member of the Chicago mafia, according to the Stier Report of 2004, but he himself has never been identified as a mob associate.
Coli’s local is being investigated by the FBI, and a Grand Jury has issued subpoenas regarding alleged kickbacks and fraud involving the members’ dental plan. A report by Stier details a scheme where money from the plan travels to an “insurer” owned by a Florida dentist, then to an account in Illinois, before a lesser amount is deposited in the dental service providers’ authorized account.
What It Means
Why would James Hoffa name this man to his slate, hoping to make him a top leader of the Teamsters Union? This is a man who inherited his power, is under FBI investigation, helped kill-off the Teamster anti-corruption program, and whose first love is the members’ money.
He is doing it because Coli is a Teamster power broker: he has personal influence in high places inside our union.
This is the same reason Hoffa put another Chicago power broker, Billy Hogan, on his slate ten years ago, until investigations of his operations got too hot. Eventually Hogan was removed from the union for trying to implement a sweetheart contract with a company that his family had an interest in.
This is the opposite of the way power should flow in our union. It should flow upward, from the members, stewards and local organizers. Leadership should be earned, not inherited or extorted. Leaders should be selected for their integrity and their ability to win strong contracts.
In 2006 Teamster members will have a choice between those two kinds of leadership.
Officers’ Salaries: A Wide Range
October 30, 3005: Our study looked at the salaries paid by almost all Teamster locals. The data revealed a wide range of officer compensation:
• The median salary for a local union principal officer is $86,000. Half of all local principal officers make less than that.
• About one-third of local union principal officers make more than $100,000 in total salaries.
• Just 51 local union principal officers, or about 11 percent of those covered by the report, make total salaries of more than $150,000. Most Teamsters would agree that is excessive. Thirty-five of these 51 officials are on the Hoffa administration payroll.
• Twenty-two local union principal officers, or about 4 percent, get salaries of more than $200,000—and 18 of them are on the Hoffa administration payroll.
Each year, the Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF) compiles and analyzes hundreds of Teamster financial documents filed with the Department of Labor. Convoy Dispatch publishes the results in the “$100,000 Club.”
At one time, the “$100,000 Club” was basically a list of Teamster fat cats. Over the years, inflation has pushed a growing number of officials who just slightly make six-figures into the club. In all, 368 officials make more than $100,000. Seventy-three of these officials make $150,000 or more. And 131 make $125,000 or more.
How much is too much? Should multiple salaries be banned? We give you the facts and lets you decide.
This study is non-partisan, and includes all Teamster officials, whether elected or appointed, reform or old guard.
• The median salary for a local union principal officer is $86,000. Half of all local principal officers make less than that.
• About one-third of local union principal officers make more than $100,000 in total salaries.
• Just 51 local union principal officers, or about 11 percent of those covered by the report, make total salaries of more than $150,000. Most Teamsters would agree that is excessive. Thirty-five of these 51 officials are on the Hoffa administration payroll.
• Twenty-two local union principal officers, or about 4 percent, get salaries of more than $200,000—and 18 of them are on the Hoffa administration payroll.
Each year, the Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF) compiles and analyzes hundreds of Teamster financial documents filed with the Department of Labor. Convoy Dispatch publishes the results in the “$100,000 Club.”
At one time, the “$100,000 Club” was basically a list of Teamster fat cats. Over the years, inflation has pushed a growing number of officials who just slightly make six-figures into the club. In all, 368 officials make more than $100,000. Seventy-three of these officials make $150,000 or more. And 131 make $125,000 or more.
How much is too much? Should multiple salaries be banned? We give you the facts and lets you decide.
This study is non-partisan, and includes all Teamster officials, whether elected or appointed, reform or old guard.
Study Reveals Cost of Hoffa’s Broken “Cut and Cap” Promises
October 30, 2005: When Hoffa launched his candidacy for General President, he pledged to implement a series of financial reforms at the IBT. Instead, bloated IBT salaries and perks are at an all-time high.
Our $100,000 Club study reveals that Hoffa’s broken “Cut and Cap” pledge has cost our union more than $15 million since he took office in 1999. That’s $15 million that could have been spent to organize new members and increase our bargaining power—nearly four times what
Hoffa saved by pulling the Teamsters out of the AFL-CIO, a move that was supposedly made to free up resources for organizing.
Hoffa made his promises to “Cut and Cap” and “Eliminate Expensive International Union Perks” in an official Hoffa Slate platform. These broken promises include:
Hoffa promised to cap the General President and Secretary-Treasurer’s salaries at $150,000 a year. Hoffa’s salary in 2004 was $251,529; Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel’s was $228,277. This broken promise drained $179,806 from the treasury in 2004.
Hoffa promised to cap the aggregate salaries of everyone on the IBT payroll at $150,000. Our $100,000 Club data reveals that 44 officials on the Hoffa payroll are in violation of this cap. The cost of this broken promise for 2004 alone was more than $1.66 million.
Hoffa promised to “Eliminate expensive International Union perks,” including the IBT’s practice of paying the employee portion of social security taxes. This amounts to a 7.65 percent tax on Teamster members and hidden extra compensation for International officials. For the 119 International officials listed here, this is costing Teamsters $628,000 every year.
Hoffa also broke his promise to prohibit payment of housing expenses for officials in Washington, D.C. He pays himself and Keegel about $66,000 a year to live in a fancy Washington hotel. Hoffa and Keegel signed checks of $2,000 a month for a phony housing allowance to Carlow Scalf until the IRB caught wind of it and forced Scalf to pay the money back.
TDU members intend to give Hoffa a second chance to implement his abandoned reforms by submitting them to a binding vote at the 2006 IBT Convention in Las Vegas.
Click here: Organizing Report Shows Need for New Strategies to Build Power
Click here: IBT Organizing Lags Again in 2004
Click here: NLRB Statistics on Teamster Organizing
Our $100,000 Club study reveals that Hoffa’s broken “Cut and Cap” pledge has cost our union more than $15 million since he took office in 1999. That’s $15 million that could have been spent to organize new members and increase our bargaining power—nearly four times what
Hoffa saved by pulling the Teamsters out of the AFL-CIO, a move that was supposedly made to free up resources for organizing.
Hoffa made his promises to “Cut and Cap” and “Eliminate Expensive International Union Perks” in an official Hoffa Slate platform. These broken promises include:
Hoffa promised to cap the General President and Secretary-Treasurer’s salaries at $150,000 a year. Hoffa’s salary in 2004 was $251,529; Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel’s was $228,277. This broken promise drained $179,806 from the treasury in 2004.
Hoffa promised to cap the aggregate salaries of everyone on the IBT payroll at $150,000. Our $100,000 Club data reveals that 44 officials on the Hoffa payroll are in violation of this cap. The cost of this broken promise for 2004 alone was more than $1.66 million.
Hoffa promised to “Eliminate expensive International Union perks,” including the IBT’s practice of paying the employee portion of social security taxes. This amounts to a 7.65 percent tax on Teamster members and hidden extra compensation for International officials. For the 119 International officials listed here, this is costing Teamsters $628,000 every year.
Hoffa also broke his promise to prohibit payment of housing expenses for officials in Washington, D.C. He pays himself and Keegel about $66,000 a year to live in a fancy Washington hotel. Hoffa and Keegel signed checks of $2,000 a month for a phony housing allowance to Carlow Scalf until the IRB caught wind of it and forced Scalf to pay the money back.
TDU members intend to give Hoffa a second chance to implement his abandoned reforms by submitting them to a binding vote at the 2006 IBT Convention in Las Vegas.
Click here: Organizing Report Shows Need for New Strategies to Build Power
Click here: IBT Organizing Lags Again in 2004
Click here: NLRB Statistics on Teamster Organizing
Coalition Launches Rival Federation
September 30, 2005: The Teamsters officially left the AFL-CIO on July 25. One day earlier, James Hoffa announced the IBT would boycott the Convention where the AFL-CIO was marking its founding 50 years ago as a united labor federation. On Sept. 27, the Teamsters and seven other unions who are currently part of the Change to Win coalition will formally launch a rival labor federation at a founding convention.
The other Change to Win unions include the SEIU (service employees), UNITE HERE (hotel and garment workers), UFCW (food and commercial workers), the Carpenters, Laborers, and the United Farmworkers.
The Laborers and Farm Workers remained in the AFL-CIO and will participate in both organizations.
This gives the Laborers the right to continue to participate in union structures in the Building Trades. What the Teamster pullout will mean for Teamsters in construction is uncertain. Our construction locals rely on these structures to coordinate and settle disputes with other unions in the building trades
The IBT will save about $9 million a year in per capita dues payments to the AFL-CIO. Half of this will now be spent on dues payments to the new Change to Win federation. The Hoffa administration says the other $4.5 million will be spent on new organizing in our union’s core jurisdictions.
Do you have comments on the Change to Win Coalition? Send you thoughts to:
Teamster Viewpoint
Convoy Dispatch
PO Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210
Click here: Changing to Win at Overnite?
Click here: AFL-CIO Split? No One Asked Rank and File Teamsters!
Click here: Teamster Viewpoint: Leaving AFL-CIO Threatens Union Solidarity
The other Change to Win unions include the SEIU (service employees), UNITE HERE (hotel and garment workers), UFCW (food and commercial workers), the Carpenters, Laborers, and the United Farmworkers.
The Laborers and Farm Workers remained in the AFL-CIO and will participate in both organizations.
This gives the Laborers the right to continue to participate in union structures in the Building Trades. What the Teamster pullout will mean for Teamsters in construction is uncertain. Our construction locals rely on these structures to coordinate and settle disputes with other unions in the building trades
The IBT will save about $9 million a year in per capita dues payments to the AFL-CIO. Half of this will now be spent on dues payments to the new Change to Win federation. The Hoffa administration says the other $4.5 million will be spent on new organizing in our union’s core jurisdictions.
Do you have comments on the Change to Win Coalition? Send you thoughts to:
Teamster Viewpoint
Convoy Dispatch
PO Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210
Click here: Changing to Win at Overnite?
Click here: AFL-CIO Split? No One Asked Rank and File Teamsters!
Click here: Teamster Viewpoint: Leaving AFL-CIO Threatens Union Solidarity
Who Is Running the Teamsters Union?
September 25, 2005: Do you know Greg Tarpinian? If you care about your union, you should. He’s practically running it. And you are paying him millions of dollars to do it.
Tarpinian is a labor consultant in New York. He attached himself to Hoffa back in 1996 when he campaigned for him, along with another consultant, Richard Leebove of Detroit. He’s wiggled upward ever since.
His long time close associates have eased into key positions of power. Leo Deaner, a Tarpinian associate for many years, is Hoffa’s new Executive Assistant.
Another Tarpinian partner for decades is Dan Kane, an International rep with three sons on the payroll. Another is Jeff Farmer, who came from the SEIU to take over the Teamster Organizing Department. Farmer is the brother-in-law of Sue Mauren, director of the Central Region Public Employees Division. Ron Carver of IBT Strategic Campaigns is another decades-long member of the Tarpinian club.
This crew, who were buddies before they ever met a Teamster, have made quite a home for themselves at the top of the Teamster power structure. They move others out of the way when it suits them.
Mary Hardiman, Director of the Teamster Education Department, with the IBT for 28 years, was summarily fired in August as part of a Tarpinian restructure plan.
Tarpinian gets big bucks to do dog-and-pony shows at the IBT Convention and Unity Conferences, and he’ll get a lot more PR and “education” money now. In return, he holds banquets in New York to give awards to Hoffa and Tom Keegel, who sign the checks to his consulting company. What goes around comes around. What’s going around is your money.
Tarpinian wrote the plan and the script for the Teamsters to leave the AFL-CIO and join Change to Win, which also pays Tarpinian big bucks.
Most importantly, he is guiding the direction of the Teamsters Union. Remember when Jim Hoffa charged that Ron Carey had outsiders (“SEIU”, “mineworkers,” etc.) in positions of power?
Now we have a New York consultant running our union, who only bothers to speak to Teamsters when he has his hand out for money.
Submitted by a Teamster official who prefers to remain anonymous.
Tarpinian is a labor consultant in New York. He attached himself to Hoffa back in 1996 when he campaigned for him, along with another consultant, Richard Leebove of Detroit. He’s wiggled upward ever since.
His long time close associates have eased into key positions of power. Leo Deaner, a Tarpinian associate for many years, is Hoffa’s new Executive Assistant.
Another Tarpinian partner for decades is Dan Kane, an International rep with three sons on the payroll. Another is Jeff Farmer, who came from the SEIU to take over the Teamster Organizing Department. Farmer is the brother-in-law of Sue Mauren, director of the Central Region Public Employees Division. Ron Carver of IBT Strategic Campaigns is another decades-long member of the Tarpinian club.
This crew, who were buddies before they ever met a Teamster, have made quite a home for themselves at the top of the Teamster power structure. They move others out of the way when it suits them.
Mary Hardiman, Director of the Teamster Education Department, with the IBT for 28 years, was summarily fired in August as part of a Tarpinian restructure plan.
Tarpinian gets big bucks to do dog-and-pony shows at the IBT Convention and Unity Conferences, and he’ll get a lot more PR and “education” money now. In return, he holds banquets in New York to give awards to Hoffa and Tom Keegel, who sign the checks to his consulting company. What goes around comes around. What’s going around is your money.
Tarpinian wrote the plan and the script for the Teamsters to leave the AFL-CIO and join Change to Win, which also pays Tarpinian big bucks.
Most importantly, he is guiding the direction of the Teamsters Union. Remember when Jim Hoffa charged that Ron Carey had outsiders (“SEIU”, “mineworkers,” etc.) in positions of power?
Now we have a New York consultant running our union, who only bothers to speak to Teamsters when he has his hand out for money.
Submitted by a Teamster official who prefers to remain anonymous.
TDU Wins Changes in Election Rules
September 25, 2005: The Election Rules, which govern our election for International officers and delegate elections in every local, have been improved, thanks to a strong set of proposals from Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
On Aug. 31, U.S. Attorney David Kelley submitted revised Rules to federal judge Loretta Preska for approval, with four changes from the proposed rules issued in May.
All four were proposed by TDU and submitted to the U.S. Attorney by TDU counsel Barbara Harvey.
These improvements are:
• Candidates will now have the right to distribute campaign materials by email, under guidelines to be established by the Election Supervisor. This means that Accredited Candidates can send materials to Teamsters using email addresses held by the union.
• Campaign literature from candidates that appears in the Teamster magazine, in the “battle pages” that TDU originally proposed and won in 1991, will now also appear on the Teamster website.
• To Protect privacy, members will not have to sign their full social security or social insurance number on petitions and other forms, but only the last four digits. This victory was announced earlier.
• Election protests can be filed by email, as well as by fax or regular mail.
TDU’s submission, made on June 2, contained other proposals as well. Most notably, TDU called for a debate between the candidates for General President, to be recorded on a DVD and mailed to all Teamsters. Hoffa successfully defeated this positive proposal, which would certainly increase the percentage of members who vote.
TDU counsel received permission in early September to submit additional Rules proposals to Judge Preska.
We urge all Teamsters to get informed, get involved, and participate in the upcoming democratic process that will shape the future of our union.
Click here: Cracks in Hoffa Unity
Click here: Prepare Now for Winter Delegate Races
Click here: Committee for New Leadership Lays Groundwork for Campaign
On Aug. 31, U.S. Attorney David Kelley submitted revised Rules to federal judge Loretta Preska for approval, with four changes from the proposed rules issued in May.
All four were proposed by TDU and submitted to the U.S. Attorney by TDU counsel Barbara Harvey.
These improvements are:
• Candidates will now have the right to distribute campaign materials by email, under guidelines to be established by the Election Supervisor. This means that Accredited Candidates can send materials to Teamsters using email addresses held by the union.
• Campaign literature from candidates that appears in the Teamster magazine, in the “battle pages” that TDU originally proposed and won in 1991, will now also appear on the Teamster website.
• To Protect privacy, members will not have to sign their full social security or social insurance number on petitions and other forms, but only the last four digits. This victory was announced earlier.
• Election protests can be filed by email, as well as by fax or regular mail.
TDU’s submission, made on June 2, contained other proposals as well. Most notably, TDU called for a debate between the candidates for General President, to be recorded on a DVD and mailed to all Teamsters. Hoffa successfully defeated this positive proposal, which would certainly increase the percentage of members who vote.
TDU counsel received permission in early September to submit additional Rules proposals to Judge Preska.
We urge all Teamsters to get informed, get involved, and participate in the upcoming democratic process that will shape the future of our union.
Click here: Cracks in Hoffa Unity
Click here: Prepare Now for Winter Delegate Races
Click here: Committee for New Leadership Lays Groundwork for Campaign
Changing to Win at Overnite?
September 25, 2005: In a recent interview with the Associated Press, James Hoffa said that leaving the AFL-CIO would make the Teamsters more successful at organizing the nonunion competition because “we’re more nimble and we don’t have the big bloated bureaucracy.”
Skeptics might wonder if it’s really John Sweeney and his AFL-CIO bureaucracy that has held back Hoffa’s organizing ambitions. Four months have passed since UPS announced it was buying Overnite and the nimble, bureaucracy-free Hoffa administration still hasn’t unveiled its “comprehensive plan to both organize and win a good contract at Overnite.”
It took Hoffa two months just to issue a press release promising a plan. Two more months have passed and local leaders as well as UPS and freight Teamsters have been unable to discover this plan. The IBT billed a special meeting in Chicago as the place where officers would hear the Hoffa administration’s strategy for Overnite—but officers came away empty-handed. In fact, Overnite got just ten minutes on the agenda.
A month later, Parcel Division Director Ken Hall came to a meeting of all the New York state joint councils to brief local officers on the IBT’s Overnite strategy—but the plan, if there is one, remained a secret.
“All Ken Hall told us was that the IBT was really going to need the support of the locals to be successful. No details. No specific requests. Just a general plea for support.” said Sandy Pope, President of Local 805 who attended the meeting. “There were 100 local officers in that room and every one of us understands that UPS-Overnite is a fight that will determine the fate of our union. But we can’t beat America’s number one union buster without direction or leadership from the IBT.”
Core Industries
At the Eastern Region meeting this month, General Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel boasted the IBT was “restructuring to become an organizing machine” that would focus on our core industries. Keegel mentioned parking garages and janitorial services—but never trucking.
Asked about organizing targets, Hoffa told the AP, “We want to identify jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.”
Overnite is hardly the only trucking company that won’t be moving its operations to China, but it may be the most important. The fate of Teamster members’ bargaining power in the 2008 UPS and freight negotiations—and the future health of our pension plans—depend in no small measure on the IBT’s ability to put a successful organizing plan into action at Overnite.
Thankfully, some locals are starting to take the lead. In Seattle, Local 174 is forming an Overnite Task Force of UPS and freight Teamsters. The local distributed leaflets to area Overnite workers to give them a union welcome to UPS. Chicago Local 705 is organizing UPS feeder drivers to do outreach to Overnite workers about the importance of having a union behind you when UPS is your employer.
Other locals are organizing similar activities. But it will take more than good local initiatives to organize UPS-Overnite. We need a national plan.