The Hoffa-Hall Concessions Stand

Posted on News by · January 08, 2015 10:06 AM

January 9, 2015: They’ve delivered contract givebacks, healthcare cuts, and a pension disaster in the Central States.

Join the rank-and-file movement to close the Hoffa-Hall concessions stand.

From UPS to YRC to retirees, Teamsters were hammered with concessions in 2014.

Now members and local leaders who opposed these concessions and fought for good contracts are building a coalition for change.

Click here to get involved if you want to see change in 2016.

Teamster Voice details the latest attack on our benefits and what it will take for members to close the Hoffa-Hall concessions stand for good.

Check out the Teamster Election Timeline and the steps we need to take to win.

Read about Teamsters Who are Organizing at the Bottom to Win at the Top in 2016.

Click here to get involved if you want to see change in 2016.

Sign up for email updates at www.tdu.org and like us on facebook.

Strikers Win at Waste Management

Posted on News by · January 08, 2015 9:34 AM

January 8, 2015: Hoffa administration VP Rome Aloise told Teamsters to cross the picket line. But Waste Management workers won a strike that will raise their pay from $12.50 to $20 an hour.

2014 Teamster Hall of Shame

Posted on News by · December 23, 2014 12:20 PM

December 23, 2014: Contract concessions, pension cuts and attacks on our rights. The 2014 Teamster Hall of Shame tells the facts and names the names.

Ken Hall: Imposes Contract Over 94% No Vote

An incredible 94 percent of UPS Teamsters in Louisville Local 89 Voted No to reject their supplement. Thousands more Teamsters in Western Pennsylvania and Philadelphia rejected theirs, too. A real union leader would have used this leverage to bargain improvements. Instead, Ken Hall and the General Executive Board imposed the contract and UPS’s concessions.

Hoffa: Tries to Steal the Right to Vote

With a legacy of siding with employers against Teamster members and negotiating weak contracts, maybe Hoffa determined that the only way he could win re-election in 2016 is to cancel the election itself. After his lawyers petitioned the courts to throw out the consent decree (which provides for independent supervision of Teamster elections), members rallied to defend our right to vote. More than 12,000 Teamsters signed TDU’s petitions to the federal judge demanding the right to vote in fair, supervised elections be protected.

Congress: Guts Retirees’ Pensions

In a sneak attack, Congress attached pension cut legislation to a budget bill. Hoffa waited until the bill’s passage was assured and then issued a series of press releases and statements to cover his tracks. While Hoffa was MIA, TDU built a grassroots campaign to protect Teamster pensions. We will continue to partner with the Pension Rights Center and AARP to fight for members’ pensions, from Capitol Hill to the Central States Fund.

George Miranda and Demos Demopoulos: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Merge ‘Em

In early 2014, Local 584 Members First campaigned to reform their by-laws and built a network of stewards and members ready for change in the New York City dairy local. Members First activists had organized against illegal firings and threats to dairy jobs for years. They were prepared to win the local election this Fall. That is, until Hoffa’s New York lieutenants George Miranda and Demos Demopolous stepped in, imposed emergency trusteeship, and then secretly merged Local 584 into the Demopolous-led Local 553 without vote of the membership. They claimed the local had hit hard financial times and emergency measures were warranted. But the real “emergency” to them was another group of rank-and-file reformers poised to take back their local.

Rome Aloise: Living Wages are “Crazy”, Tells Teamsters to Cross Picket Lines

When ILWU-represented Waste Management recycle workers went on strike in Oakland, International vice president Rome Aloise called their demands for a raise “crazy”, refused to extend solidarity to the strike, and had Local 70 Teamster officials instruct members to cross the picket lines. No thanks to Aloise, the “crazy” strikers won raises from $12.50 to over $20 an hour for 130 workers. Aloise said the workers were “pawns” of their union leadership—Aloise exposed himself as a pawn of corporate greed.

Congress, Hoffa Butcher Teamster Pensions

Posted on News by · December 12, 2014 9:26 AM

December 13, 2014: Congress has officially passed the spending bill that includes pension cut legislation that was attached as an amendment to the budget bill.

The legislation guts federal pension protections and will pave the way for pension cuts in the Central States Pension Fund.

Teamsters have questions and deserve answers. TDU lays out what the bill means for Teamsters in our Frequently Asked Questions.

The biggest question of all may be: how did Hoffa let this happen in the first place?

While Hoffa was MIA or worse, TDU fought a grassroots campaign to protect Teamster pensions.

We partnered with the Pension Rights Center and AARP and launched a coalition for pension protections, not cuts.

We sounded the alarm when a Congressional sneak attack attached the pension cut deal to the end-of-year spending bill. Growing number of unions spoke out in opposition. We even forced the Hoffa administration to make a show of opposition.

The Hoffa administration was worse than MIA. His allies at the Central States Pension Fund were leading proponents of the pension cut deal. Central States Executive Director

Thomas Nyhan was a leading proponent of the pension cut deal. He was paid $662,060 by our pension fund last year. How big of a cut will he take?

Hoffa waited until the day before the legislation passed, Hoffa issued a last-minute letter opposing the pension rip-off. The IBT emailed members calling on them to make phone calls. This wasn't even a matter of too-little-too-late. It was a cover-up.

Hoffa stayed quiet to signal politicians that he backed the pension cut bill; then when the bill's passage was secured, he put on a show of opposition to the membership to cover himself politically.

Teamsters expect Congress to play politics. But they deserve more from their own union leadership.

The Hoffa administration has spent the last year imposing contract concessions, healthcare cuts and pension cuts. It's time for change.

If you agree, get involved in the movement for change in our union.

Sign up for email updates at www.tdu.org and like us on facebook.

Send us a message and tell us what TDU should do next to fight for our union.

Join with Teamsters working to defend pensions, and change the leadership of the Teamster Union. Together, we can rebuild the Teamsters!

Is that a ghost employee?

Posted on News by · October 07, 2014 10:42 AM

A review of the IBT’s financial report – or the $150,000 Club Report posted on this website – shows that an International Organizer made a salary of $250,000 last year. Could this possibly be true?

Some members have asked that question, and the answer is No, it’s not true. But that’s what’s reported on the IBT financial report.

Former Teamster organizer Tim Lewis was fired by the Hoffa administration in 2010. He went to court against his unlawful termination and the IBT had to pay over $1 million to Lewis and his attorney’s fees and costs.

That was paid from members’ treasury, not by the officials who did the deed.

Apparently, the International union was still paying for this fiasco in 2013 and chose to list Lewis as an “employee” on the 2013 LM-2 financial report, three years after he was terminated.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) listed Lewis in our report, to conform with data on the LM-2 form filed by the IBT with the Department of Labor. But no, he was not an organizer in 2013 and certainly was not paid an annual salary of $250,000.

$150,000 Club Report

Posted on News by · September 25, 2014 7:38 AM

Each year the Teamster Rank and File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF) analyzes hundreds of LM-2 financial reports and IRS 990 tax forms, which have been filed by locals, joint councils, conferences, and the IBT.

Then we publish the 150,000 Club Report, an annual report of Teamster officers who make more than $150,000. This information is factual and nonpartisan, and includes complete listing of every officer we have salary data for.

Hoffa, Hall and top Teamster officials delivered concessions to members—but provided raises and multiple salaries for themselves.

Click here to get the most recent report.

Click here to get your Local's financial report.

James Hoffa and Ken Hall spent their time this year telling Teamsters to take concessions-wage cuts, longer wage progressions, healthcare, and pension cuts.

You've heard them, “Times are tough. We all have to tighten our belts.”

But the belt-tightening stops at Hoffa and Hall's door. And so do the big bucks.

Hoffa hiked his pay by more than $6 an hour last year—an increase of $13,539 in just one year. His total annual compensation is now a whopping $381,403.

Hoffa’s salary is limited by language in the Teamster constitution, but he gets around that by taking a “housing allowance” of $60,000.

Hoffa paid an extra salary to 99 of his appointees—each of whom had other full-time salary and job. The cost of those multiple salaries:

$3 million.

In all, 44 Teamster officials made over $200,000 last year, an 8 percent increase.

The Teamster Hypocrisy Award goes to …

The fattest hogs in the Teamsters were among the biggest promoters of concessions.

Pat Flynn and Mike Sweeney of Chicago Local 710 took home nearly $1 million last year from one local union. Flynn’s compensation was $503,435 and Sweeney's was $387,349. They each took a raise of well over $100,000.

During the same year, they tried to convince most of their members to take concessions, at YRC, ABF, Holland, UPS Freight, and UPS. In every case, the Local 710 members voted No.

Flynn’s Teamster career is now over thanks to embezzlement charges by the Independent Review Board (IRB). Sweeney faces charges too. They won't be missed.

But many other Teamster officials sold contract concessions to working Teamsters while taking pay increases themselves. Take a look at the $150,000 Club and you'll see them.

Teamster Perks or Teamster Power?

Many Teamster officials work long hours and they deserve to be fairly compensated. Union leadership is not easy.

Teamster members work hard too. Our dues money should be used to build Teamster Power—not perks for select officers.

When Hoffa first ran for office, he promised to “cut n cap” overly high salaries. But since he’s been in office, Hoffa has jacked his pay up again and again.

He promised to cut multiple salaries. But when he took office, the International paid only a halfdozen salaries to appointees who had other full time jobs. That number has ballooned to 99.

The Teamster officials who get multiple salaries read like a who's who of Hoffa campaign donor list. That’s no coincidence.

TDU believes our dues money should be used to organize, fight concessions and win good contracts.

Hoffa and Hall use our dues to promote concessions and buy support from local officials.

It’s up to Teamster members to take back our union—and put our dues to work for us.

Is there a ghost employee at the IBT?

They Don’t Have a Clue

“When I look over this list, I see Ken Hall and so many other officers that negotiated the UPS contract and supplements. It’s true they got part timers a raise but with their salaries and benefits, most of these officers don’t have a clue as to what it’s like to work for $11/hour. They’re out of touch with the membership and it shows in how little they fought for us.”

Kurt Marchetta, UPS Part-time

Local 542, San Diego

Put Dues to Work for the Members

“When we elected new officers in my local, they cut their salaries by $300,000 and put that money into contract campaigns and new organizing. The Teamsters should be putting our dues to work for the members.”

Armando Brasil, Rhode Island Hospital

Local 251, Providence

Click here to get the 2012 Report.

Click here to get the 2011 Report.

Teamsters & The Right to Vote

Posted on News by · September 25, 2014 6:40 AM

September 25, 2014: Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975 and the Teamster leadership, already heavily penetrated by the mob, became more and more a tool of employers.

In response, members started to demand the Right to Vote on International officers. Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) took up the challenge, and in 1989 Teamster members beat the mob and won the Right to Vote in International Union elections.

How did a grassroots movement of working Teamster beat the odds and make history? First, we had a plan.

In 1985, TDU members launched a national Right to Vote petition to put pressure on the Teamster leadership to hold elections for national officers.

Volunteers collected signatures at worksites across the country. The petition, with tens of thousands of signatures, was presented to the 1986 Teamster convention.

“The Funeral of TDU”

At the convention, TDU delegates supported an amendment to the IBT constitution for direct election of IBT officials. Old guard officials voted it down overwhelmingly. Jackie Presser was elected at that convention over challenger Sam Theodus by a vote of 1792 to 24, or nearly 99%. Presser announced from the podium that it was “the funeral of TDU.”

TDU was planning ahead. The fact that the most hated president in Teamster history could get 99% support from local union officials only showed how rotten the system was.

Five years later, Sam Theodus was elected as part of the Carey slate.

TDU worked with the President’s Commission on Organized Crime. We documented how mobsters and corrupt officials were ripping off Teamster members. And we put forward a detailed plan for Teamster elections.

In 1988 the U.S. Justice Department sued the Teamster leadership under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The government’s suit called for the Teamsters to come under federal trusteeship to “reorganize” the union.

TDU fought the trusteeship, and proposed the Right to Vote as a positive alternative. A public campaign by TDU won the support of major newspapers, as well as members of the President's Commission.

TDU National Organizer Ken Paff wrote the U.S. Attorney General saying “there is only one ‘reorganization’ under RICO that the government can effectively take: namely, to direct the IBT to hold rank-and-file elections.”

Our amicus briefs in court, and our public campaign were getting traction.

The Right to Vote is Won

On March 13, 1989, one day before the trial was to begin, the Teamster officials threw in the towel to head off the trial.

The consent order established a court supervised Independent Review Board to clean out corruption. Most important, it provided for the direct election of Teamster officers.

The Wall Street Journal reported the next day that “the terms of the settlement were greatly influenced by the concerns and platform of Teamsters for a Democratic Union.”

TDU’s position against government trusteeship and for the right to vote had prevailed.

Winning Fair Rules

Once we won the Right to Vote, TDU focused on winning fair rules that leveled the playing field. The Right to Vote isn’t worth much if the incumbents control the rules and the election.

TDU filed briefs in federal court to strengthen the independent Election Supervisor—and we won. In an important change, the Election Supervisor took charge of delegate elections. Members who run for Convention Delegate won the right to run in a fair election that was not controlled by their local officers.

We fought for numerous changes in the Election Rules. For example, we proposed an Accredited Candidate Petition Procedure so candidates with proven membership support could get their message out to the members by having access to the Teamster membership list.

We proposed that candidates be given worksite lists for all locals so Teamsters could campaign member-to-member. We won that too and a whole lot more.

The Teamster leadership fought every single improvement in the rules. In fact, they opposed the whole idea of having Election Rules.

What’s at Stake in the Current Fight?

Today, elections are a part of the Teamsters Union.

Hoffa would not dare come flat-out for abolishing the Right to Vote. Instead, he is trying to gut members’ voting rights through the back door—by getting rid of the independent election supervisor and eliminating fair election rules.

The Hoffa administration already successfully passed an amendment to the Teamster Constitution that would give Hoffa’s GEB the power to handpick the election supervisor and write their own election rules. (See Article III, Section 5(a)(2))

The consent order agreement with the Justice Department is the only thing standing in the way of an election with sham rules and a phony election supervisor controlled by Hoffa.

The biggest rule change the Hoffa administration wants governs nominations.

Right now, candidates get on the ballot if they have the support of 5% of the delegates to the Teamster Convention.

The Hoffa administration wants to change this rule to make it harder or impossible for opposition candidates to get on the ballot.

Then Hoffa’s real goal will be achieved: the elimination of International Union elections altogether.

That’s what’s at stake. We cannot and will not let that happen.

Organizing Under Hoffa

Posted on News by · September 24, 2014 10:56 AM

September 25, 2014: Teamster membership loss is outpacing organizing efforts since Hoffa took office. A new report looks at Teamster organizing and what can be done to turn it around.

Teamster organizing dropped precipitously the first year that Hoffa took office—and with a few notable exceptions, it has slumped since.

Those are the findings of a new report by the Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF).

To prepare the study, TRF reviewed all available organizing data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from 1999 when Hoffa took office through 2013, the most recent year for which data is available.

TRF also analyzed organizing results among public employees and airline workers who are not covered by the NLRB, as well as card-check agreements like UPS Freight.

Teamster membership dropped from 1.41 million in 1999 to 1.25 million in 2013—a loss of 160,000 members.

But even these numbers hide the full story because some 110,000 members were added by affiliations with four other unions: the BLET and the BMWE (two formerly independent rail unions), the Graphic Communications International Union and the Coalition of University Employees.

Without these mergers and affiliations, Teamster membership would be just 1.1 million today. In other words, the Teamsters has lost some 270,000 members since Hoffa took office.

Organizing Nose Dive

Teamster organizing numbers nosedived the year Hoffa took the wheel of our union.

Over 20,000 workers voted to join the Teamsters in NLRB elections in 1998. Hoffa took office the next year and new member organizing dropped by 30 percent.

Under Hoffa, new members organized in NLRB votes has never topped 14,000 in any year, let alone 20,000.

The high water mark for organizing in the Hoffa years was 2007-10, a four-year period in which 48,680 workers joined the Teamsters in NLRB votes—an average of 12,170 a year.

The organizing numbers have dropped every year since. Since 2011, the average number of workers voting to join the Teamsters in NLRB elections has dropped to just 5,827.

School Bus Drivers Successes

What drove up the Teamsters organizing numbers from 2007-2010?

The Driving Up Standards campaign—a coordinated national organizing effort aimed at organizing school bus drivers.

In 2007, school bus industry giant First Student, based in Britain, negotiated a “neutrality agreement” with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) requiring management to stay neutral in union organizing drives.

Absent the usual anti-union management campaign, our union’s win rates in First Student organizing drives soared.

Twenty-five thousand school bus drivers joined the Teamsters from 2007-2010.

School bus drivers account for nearly two out of every three workers who joined the Teamsters in NLRB elections during the four-year span when Teamster organizing was on the rise.

Without the SEIU’s help, the Teamsters was unable to secure a neutrality agreement with another school bus giant Durham School Services. When First Student organizing targets started to dry up, so did membership growth.

Last year, the number of workers that voted to join the Teamsters in NLRB elections sunk to 4,733—an all-time low in the Hoffa years.

Organizing Outside the NLRB

The NLRB accounts for a lot, but not all, Teamster organizing.

The Union scored three significant organizing victories in the airline industry—America West customer service representatives in 2004 and United and Continental mechanics and ramp workers in 2008 and 2010. Some were nonunion; the United Mechanics were in the AMFA, an independent union, which the Teamsters displaced.

Just this month, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the IBT joined forces to successfully win representation of the customer agents at American Airlines, following the merger with US Air.

The IBT gained about 1,500 members. In all, some 24,000 airline and rail workers have joined the Teamsters in union elections conducted by the National Mediation Board.

Public sector workers also don’t vote in NLRB elections—but their organizing numbers have been even more modest than airline. The big exception is 2010 when the IBT says it organized over 16,000 public sector workers.

But that claim is misleading. It includes 12,000 employees at the University of California who became Teamsters when their union, CUE, affiliated with the IBT as the newlyformed Local 2010.

Organizing and Union Bargaining Power

Organizing new members is supposed to build our union’s bargaining power and help us win better contracts for all workers.

The Hoffa administration’s signature organizing drive of the past decade was supposed to do just this, at UPS Freight.

In 2006, Hoffa and Ken Hall cut a deal with UPS to bring UPS Freight workers into the Teamsters under a card check agreement that allowed workers to join the union without having to go through the NLRB.

Wherever the majority of workers signed union cards, UPS Freight recognized the union. It went easily. But there was a catch.

In exchange for card check at UPS Freight, Hoffa and Hall agreed to concessions in the 2007 UPS agreement. Then they inked a substandard contract with UPS Freight—with no Teamster pension, a first for a national trucking company.

Instead of organizing UPS Freight to strengthen Teamster contracts at UPS and in freight, Hoffa and Hall did something very different. They cut a deal that traded concessions in a coreindustry contract for the right to sign up 12,000 more dues-paying members.

Organizing for Change

Organizing isn’t easy—especially in a tough economy. Employers who won’t give workers a nickel routinely open their pocket books to hire highpriced union-busting consultants.

Throw in anti-union labor laws and a weak NLRB and any union has its work cut out for it when it comes to organizing.

But our union can and must do better. Here’s a few places to start:

Cut Dues Waste & Put Money into Organizing: The Hoffa administration wastes $3 million every year on multiple salaries for union officials who already have another full-time union job and salary. That money and other dues waste should be put into organizing.

Strategic Campaigns: To organize nonunion competitors and build Teamster bargaining power, our union needs to make a long-term commitment to strategic organizing efforts in our core industries.

Fight for Strong Contracts: Concessionary contracts undermine Teamster organizing. Fighting for good contracts—and good first contracts—is a must if we want to grow our union. In industries targeted for organizing, we need to work toward coordinated national bargaining and contract language that builds our bargaining leverage by allowing workers to respect picket lines.

Support Local Union Organizing Efforts: When local unions are organizing nonunion competitors, the IBT needs to be there with organizers, resources and strategic support.

Build an Organizing Army: There are many skilled, highly dedicated organizers in the Teamsters—at the International and in the locals. The IBT needs a strategic plan to grow an even bigger army of staff and volunteer organizers. To win against the union busters, we need organizers who are trained in proven tactics and best practices.

If we want to protect and improve our contracts and benefits—and bring more workers into the middle class—we need to organize the nonunion competition, grow the union and build our bargaining power.

An analysis of the Hoffa record on organizing shows we are coming up short. It’s time for a new direction.

What are your ideas for boosting Teamster organizing. Send your idea to organizing [at] tdu.org

Organizing in Waste

Private sanitation is a growth industry—and as demand for a green economy expands, recycling is a growth industry too.

The Teamsters represent 30,000 members in the waste industry. But most private sanitation workers are nonunion.

The two top companies in the industry, Waste Management and Republic, are among the largest Teamster employers and control the majority of the waste and recycle industry.

Organizing drives in waste—and strategic campaigns to win strong sanitation contracts—can grow our union’s membership and strengthen our bargaining power in this core industry.

The IBT Organizing Department has scored some wins in waste. We need to build on this organizing and coordinate bargaining against these corporate giants. The goal can’t just be more members, but winning strong contracts that raise standards across the industry.

Port Organizing

One area where our union has made a long-term strategic commitment is the Port Worker organizing campaign.

In a global economy, workers have leverage at key points in the logistics and distribution chain-trucking, warehousing and ports—but only if we’re organized. Port workers are at a critical chokepoint in that logistics chain.

As part of the Port Organizing campaign, the union has built alliances with environmental groups and community organizations. Because almost all port drivers are wrongly classified as independent contractors, organizing is a long term project that requires a political strategy as well as organizing.

Locals Start Freight Organizing. Where's the International?

One hundred thirteen Con-way workers at the Laredo Texas terminal voted to join Teamster Local 657 on Sept 11. It’s a first-time win for our union.

The same month, Southern California Joint Council 42 filed for organizing elections at three Con-way terminals, in Los Angeles, Santa Fe Springs, and San Fernando.

And, Philadelphia Local 107 filed for organizing elections at FedEx Freight.

Is this the start of movement to organize in freight and trucking? We hope so! It’s certainly a good first step, and it should spread. But there are serious challenges.

FedEx and Con-way are national trucking outfits and corporate giants. They will have nationally coordinated efforts to resist and discourage organizing—including trying to retaliate against terminals that vote for the union.

The IBT has to be fully prepared to support local union efforts. When Columbus Local 413 and other locals started organizing at Conway in 2011-12, the International dropped the ball.

This time around, as locals take the initiative, the IBT organizing department needs to be on call with ready resources and personnel. No local union’s resources can compare to the International Union. Local unions and freight workers are stepping up to take action. The IBT needs to get behind this movement and help drive it to victory.

“It’s great that we’re finally making some gains in organizing FedEx Freight and Con-way. It’s a long time coming. But if we’re going to win on a wide scale, we need to shore up Teamster pride in freight. That starts with much better contract enforcement.”

Troy Justus, ABF

Local 413, Columbus, Ohio