July 15, 2010: Teamsters at the University of Chicago are united and mobilized for a decent contract.

So why is their local trying to pull the plug on their contract campaign?

In February, the contract representing nearly 1,000 members of Teamsters Local 743 expired at the University of Chicago—and members were ready.

They talked to other Teamsters about contract demands, held rallies, and reached out to the community.

Then a new set of officers seized power in the local, fired their union rep, and pulled the plug on the campaign.

But members are not giving up.

Grassroots Campaign

“Before this contract, negotiations happened quietly. We usually didn’t hear any details until the union was ready to recommend an offer,” said Melanie Cloghessy, a Local 743 member at UofC. “They didn’t press hard. They usually just took what the university offered and then told us it was the best they could get.”

All that changed three years ago when members elected a reform team, the New Leadership Slate, to lead the union.

The New Leadership team cut officer salaries, put their reps out in the field, and stopped backroom deals.

They hired UoC Teamster Joe Sexauer as a union rep, and he helped members launch a grassroots contract campaign.

Members put up mini picket signs on their desks. They organized rallies and a big picnic with 300 people. They started to reach out to clergy and community supporters.

Members talked member-to-member about the need for job security, better raises, and expedited grievance procedure in the new contract.

Power Grab

Then in May of this year, the reform leaders were ousted from office in a power grab by staff who wanted to raise their salaries and avoid accountability to the membership.

The new officers fired Sexauer and four other reform-minded union staff—including the lead negotiator for the UofC contract.

But that didn’t stop Local 743 members at UofC—or Sexauer. He kept working with members to keep their contract campaign going.

“If the new officers think we’ll go back to those old days of backroom deals, they’re in for a big surprise,” said Cloghessy. “We won’t go back.”

This power grab might be short-lived. This fall, Local 743 Teamsters will get a chance to elect new reform officers to head their local. The 743 New Leadership Team has just announced a new reform team to run in the election.

We Won’t Go Back

“The old guard just took what the university offered and then told us it was the best they could get.

“If the new officials think we’ll go back to those old days of backroom deals, they’re in for a big surprise.”

Melanie Cloghessy, Local 743 University of Chicago

June 28, 2010: Disgruntled members of Philadelphia Teamsters Local 107 briefly picketed a union meeting Saturday morning to protest a plan that would shift highly lucrative work in the movie industry to a New York local.

About a dozen protesters wore placards that declared "Don't sell out our jobs" and "Keep it local" as they stood in front of a union hall in Bridesburg where a trustee with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and representatives of New York Local 817 were to meet with union members.

Read the full story from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

June 1, 2010: Teamster solidarity and legal action by TDU take on Coca-Cola and corrupt Teamster officials—and win.

When Local 901 members at Coca- Cola in Puerto Rico went on strike, the company retaliated and so did their own union officers. More than three dozen Teamsters were fired.

Three reform leaders, who did not even work at Coke, were expelled from the union on trumped up charges of organizing an illegal strike.

Now Teamster solidarity and legal action by TDU has beaten Coca-Cola and Teamster officials who sided with the company against the rank and file.

Strikers Win Jobs Back

More than 34 Teamsters in Puerto Rico have won their jobs back after they were illegally fired for striking to defend their union rights at Coca-Cola.

The National Labor Relations Board ruled that Coca-Cola fired the workers for participating in a strike that was “caused by the unfair labor practices of the employer.” The company has been ordered to purge all discipline and pay these Teamsters full back pay.

In a setback, the terminations of four shop stewards at Coke were upheld by the judge. A fifth steward won his job back with full back pay.

The NLRB also ordered Teamsters Local 901 to reinstate the three reform leaders who were tossed out of their union after they supported their striking brothers and sisters at Coke.

NLRB Blasts Officials

The NLRB administrative law judge blasted Local 901 officials for expelling Migdalia Magriz, Mara Quiara, and Silvia Rivera “because they comprised a slate of candidates that opposed the slate favored by Local 901” in the last union election.

Local 901 was ordered to immediately rescind $10,000 fines levied against the reform candidates and to “reinstate them to full membership in the Union including their Shop Steward positions.”

In a related case, the Department of Labor is suing Local 901 officials for rigging the local union election in their favor. The DOL is seeking a supervised rerun election.

The decision is an embarrassment to the Hoffa administration, which refused to issue a stay of effectiveness on the expulsions while they were being appealed. When the NLRB delivers Teamsters more justice than we get from our own union, there’s a problem.

The members in the case are represented by attorneys Linda Backiel of Puerto Rico and TDU legal counsel Barbara Harvey. In a move to delay justice, Coke and Local 901 leaders filed a joint motion to the NLRB asking for more time to file an appeal.

June 1, 2010: “We ran for office on a platform of making our union work for the members. But now we’ve been run out of office by staff who thought change was just a campaign slogan.

“This fall, members will get to vote for new Local 743 officers. They have the power to stop the power grab.

“The New Leadership Team will be running a reform slate of candidates this fall. We’ll be behind them and the fight for Teamster reform 100%.”

Richard Berg and Gina Alvarez

In May, Hoffa signed off on a power grab that ousts President Richard Berg and Secretary-Treasurer Gina Alvarez from office in Chicago Local 743.

Local 743 members are already meeting to launch a reform campaign in this fall’s local union election.

How This Happened

Three years ago, Local 743 members voted for change. The New Leadership slate won the election and ended decades of corruption in the local.

When he took office, Richard Berg cut his salary by $70,000 and reduced bloated salaries and staff. Local 743 hired professional negotiators, put an end to backroom deals, and led a successful strike at SK Hand Tool.

But some of the officers who ran with the reform ticket complained when the New Leadership slate cut officer salaries and insisted on holding staff accountable.

They defended union reps who missed grievance meetings, forgot arbitration deadlines, and came to meetings unprepared.

Unhappy at the salary cuts and demands for accountability of union staff, some Local 743 officers teamed up with Berg’s opponents in the Teamster hierarchy, and made a power grab.

The disgruntled officers filed internal union charges. Hoffa approved Berg’s removal on a charge that he had improperly settled a discharged employee’s dispute with the union about his discharge. Hoffa admitted that Alvarez had nothing to do with the settlement, but affirmed her removal because she endorsed the settlement check, as secretary-treasurer.

The real issue is union politics. Now that Hoffa has upheld the charges, Berg and Alvarez are suspended from membership and ineligible to run for re-election in Local 743 this fall.

“We Won’t Go Back”

“The old officials ran the union to benefit themselves—not the members,” said James Cook, a member at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “We’re not going to go back to those days. We’ve made change before and we’ll do it again.”

Local 743 members are preparing now to launch a campaign to keep their union in the hands of the members and elect a reform team this fall when there will be another Local 743 election.

“The New Leadership Team is a team fighting for a union that fights for every member,” said Jean Moore, a member at the UofC Medical Center. “That’s what the members of this local want, and our team will make sure they get it this fall.”

May 18, 2010: The international Teamsters board has ousted two of its critics from the helm of a large local in Chicago.

Teamsters Local 743 represents about 11,000 workers.

Two years ago, Richard Berg and Gina Alvarez helped unseat local leaders eventually jailed on corruption charges. That made Berg president and lifted his profile as an opponent of Teamsters leader James P. Hoffa.

May 18, 2010: CHICAGO—The General Executive Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters upheld charges of official misconduct by the two top officers of Local 743 in Chicago and imposed penalties removing the pair from office, sources told BNA May 17.

In a decision dated May 6, the GEB sustained a single charge of misconduct against former Local 743 president Richard Berg and former secretary-treasurer Eugenia Alvarez. Berg was removed from office and suspended from union membership for two years. Alvarez was also removed from office, but her suspension from union membership will last only one year.

Berg was charged with entering into a $21,000 severance agreement with a former business agent named Antonio Caldera without gaining the approval of the local's executive board. Alvarez was faulted for authorizing the payment to Caldera and failing to question Berg's authority to enter into such a transaction without executive board approval. The GEB dismissed a separate charge alleging that the pair prevented a group of business agents from paying their dues to the union.

The GEB decision found that Berg and Alvarez exercised poor judgment and misinterpreted their authorities under the IBT bylaws. The GEB noted, however, that Berg's conduct is mitigated by the fact that he did not personally profit from the improper $21,000 expenditure.

“None of the contentions raised in his (Berg's) defense has merit,’’ the GEB wrote. “The record does not reflect any great emergency that might have justified issuing a check to Caldera before bringing the matter before the Executive Board for approval.’’

Setback for Reformers

The GEB decision represents a setback for Berg, a reformer affiliated with Teamsters for a Democratic Union who waged a lengthy battle with corrupt elements within Local 743.

Local 743, which represents approximately 11,000 warehouse, office, maintenance, and medical services workers in Chicago, has had a colorful and controversial history. In 2004, Berg and his “New Leadership’’ slate of candidates ran for election at the local and lost. At Berg's request, the Labor Department investigated various election irregularities and then filed suit against the local under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.

DOL's litigation was resolved in July 2007, when a federal judge approved a settlement and order authorizing the department to supervise a rerun election (Chao v. Local 743, N.D. Ill., No. 05 C 4642, 7/17/07). Berg and his New Leadership slate won that election later that year (206 DLR A-14, 10/25/07).

The Labor Department's investigation formed the basis for criminal indictments against six Local 743 officials. In 2007, the Justice Department accused the union officials of rigging the 2004 election in order to benefit incumbent officers. Last year, the defendants were sentenced to prison terms on a range of fraud, embezzlement, and theft of union property charges. On Sept. 3, 2009, former Local 743 president Robert Walston was sentenced to 57 months in prison and was ordered to pay $900,000 in restitution for his role in the fraud, and on charges that he attempted to distribute five kilograms of cocaine (United States v. Lopez, N.D. Ill., No. 1:07 CR 580, 9/3/09).

Berg could not be reached for comment. But members of his New Leadership coalition have vehemently argued that “old guard’’ elements within the local manufactured charges against Berg and Alvarez to oust them from office.

Brian Rainville, executive director of Joint Council 25, dismissed such assertions as “preposterous.’’ Rainville said Berg has never taken responsibility for acting outside of his official authorities.

“Richard is a political animal,’’ Rainville told BNA in an interview May 17. “The fact is he spent the money. He tried to get approval from a board he had run with approximately a year before and he couldn't get it. You're not allowed to do that. He simply isn't taking responsibility for the action he took.’’

Rainville, who also serves as Teamsters President James Hoffa's personal representative for Local 743, said the executive board of the local elected new officers on May 14. Larry Davis was elected president and Donnie Von Moore was elected secretary-treasurer of the local. He said a new general election of officers will be held in November.

By Michael Bologna

May 14, 2010: Hoffa has signed off on a power grab that ousts reformers Richard Berg and Gina Alvarez from office in Teamsters Local 743. But members continue to fight for their local.

Local 743 members are already meeting to launch a reform campaign in this fall’s local union election.

“We’re going to use our voice and our vote to make sure Local 743 is a union that puts members first,” said Jean Moore, a member at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Power Grab

For years, Local 743 officials treated the local like a piggy-bank. Several former Local 743 officials were convicted of stealing a union vote to block the election of the 743 New Leadership Slate.

In 2007, the 11,000 members of Local 743 voted the New Leadership Slate into office in on a reform platform. Berg cut his salary by $70,000, reduced bloated salaries and staff, hired professional negotiators, and held union staff to high standards of representation.

Unhappy at the salary cuts and demands for accountability of union staff, some Local 743 officers teamed up with Berg’s opponents in the Teamster hierarchy, and made a power grab.

The disgruntled officers filed internal union charges. Hoffa approved Berg’s removal on a charge that he had improperly settled a discharged employee’s dispute with the union about his discharge. Hoffa admitted that Alvarez had nothing to do with the settlement, but affirmed her removal because she endorsed the settlement check, as secretary-treasurer.

The real issue is union politics. Now that Hoffa has upheld the charges, Berg and Alvarez are suspended from membership and ineligible to run for re-election in Local 743 this fall.

Maxine Norris says Local 743 members won’t go back to the days when union officials just looked out for themselves.In his decision, Hoffa admitted that neither Berg nor Alvarez acted for any personal benefit. He did not cite a single specific violation of the Constitution or Bylaws.

“When the New Leadership Team cut officer salaries and insisted on holding our union staff accountable, this new crew that is making the power grab complained,” said Maxine Norris, a member at Blue Cross Blue Shield. “They’re in it for themselves—not the members. That’s not what we voted for.”

“We Won’t Go Back”

“The old officials ran the union to benefit themselves—not the members,” said James Cook, a member at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “We’re not going to go back to those days. We’ve made change before and we’ll do it again.”

Local 743 members are preparing now to launch a campaign to keep their union in the hands of the members and elect a reform team this fall when there will be another Local 743 election.

“True unionism means service to the members. These ideas don’t just go away. The New Leadership Team is here today and will be here tomorrow to get the job done,” said Melanie Cloghessy, a member at the University of Chicago.

April 28, 2010: More than 34 Teamsters in Puerto Rico have won justice after they were illegally fired for striking to defend their union rights at Coca Cola. And Teamsters Local 901 has been ordered to reinstate three reform leaders who were illegally banned from union membership.

When Local 901 members at Coca Cola in Puerto Rico went on strike, the company retaliated and so did their own union officers. More than three dozen Teamsters were fired.

Three reform leaders, who did not even work at Coke, were expelled from the union on trumped up charges of organizing an illegal strike.

Now Teamster solidarity and legal action by TDU has delivered justice in Puerto Rico.

The National Labor Relations Board ruled that Coca-Cola illegally fired 34 workers for participating in a strike that was “caused by the unfair labor practices of the employer.” The company has been ordered to purge all discipline and pay these Teamsters full backpay.

The decision also delivered justice for three reform leaders who were tossed out of their union after they supported their striking brothers and sisters at Coke.

The NLRB administrative law judge blasted Local 901 officials for expelling Migdalia Magriz, Mara Quiara, and Silvia Rivera, ruling that the sanctions against them were retaliatory and occurred “because they comprised a slate of candidates that opposed the slate favored by Local 901” in the last union election.

In a related case, the Department of Labor is suing Local 901 officials for rigging the local union election in their favor. The DOL is seeking a supervised rerun election.

The NLRB ordered Local 901 to immediately rescind $10,000 fines levied against the reform candidates and to “reinstate them to full membership in the Union including their Shop Steward positions.”

The decision is an embarrassment to the Hoffa administration which refused to issue a stay of effectiveness on the expulsions while they were being appealed. When the NLRB delivers Teamsters more justice than we get from our own union, there’s a problem.

In a setback, the terminations of four shop stewards at Coke were upheld by the judge. A fifth steward won his job back with full back pay.

The members in the case are represented by attorneys Linda Backiel of Puerto Rico and TDU legal counsel Barbara Harvey. Coca Cola and Local 901 officials may appeal the decision, to delay justice.

“We dedicate this victory to the members who always believed in us and who stood with us,” said Migdalia Magriz. “We will keep organizing to return Local 901 to the members.”

April 5, 2010: Board of Ed administrators told Ann Arbor school bus drivers to take pay cuts or face privatization.

Ann Arbor bus drivers reached out to the community and voted No to stop privatization and steep cuts.Here’s what happened when members called their bluff.

In Ann Arbor, Mich., Teamster bus drivers and monitors in Local 214 have been working under an extended contract since July 1, 2008.

Talks are in mediation and have been progressing at a slow pace. But this March, the situation heated up. Board of Ed administrators told the union that if they did not take cuts of $800,000, they would privatize the service to get those savings.

First Student and Durham School Services were at the ready to take over the transportation operation.

The board proposed a 10 percent pay cut, and increased healthcare payments.

Members took action and reached out to the community. “The custodians were also being threatened with privatization, and when they started picketing Board of Education meetings, we got a flyer together and joined them” said Chai Montgomery, Teamsters 214 unit steward.

“When we got the word out to the community about how dangerously these companies operate, parents, teachers and coworkers came out to support us by speaking at Board of Education meetings,” said Montgomery. “We didn’t wait for local officials to act, because we’d still be waiting if we had—we did it independently.”

Members voted down the concession proposal 98 to 31.

The No vote sent a strong message back to school administrators. At the bi-weekly Board of Education meeting the following day, the superintendent did not include privatization as part of his proposed budget recommendation to the board. “We called their bluff, and we kept 10 percent of our wages,” said Montgomery.

The solid opposition to the proposed cuts and threat of privatization shows Teamster members are ready to defend their contract and expect much more from bargaining.

“They were using strong-arm tactics,” said Richard Miller, a bus driver who spoke out at several Board of Education meetings and helped organize his coworkers. “But we stuck up for ourselves and we aren’t going to let up now.”

Local 214 drivers and monitors are going back to the bargaining table hoping to preserve their wages and benefits and stop the disproportionate concession demands.

April 9, 2010: One year ago the officers of Colorado Local 17 announced that they were all taking a 10 percent pay cut, in solidarity with the freight Teamsters who had just taken that cut. The Local 17 leaders supported those concessions, so they said they should share in the sacrifice.

But a funny thing happened on the road to sacrifice. The officers took a detour to a big raise instead.

According to the 2009 LM-2 financial report recently filed with the Department of Labor, principal officer Mike Simeone hiked his local salary from $107,642 to $122,946. Other officers and business reps got a similar increase. (The BAs made around $110,000 in 2009.) That’s no 10 percent cut, that’s a 14 percent raise!

This is what they posted a year ago: “We want all Local 17 members to know we share the benefits and sacrifices together with you.” TDU.org reprinted that comment last April, as an example of positive leadership.

What happened? We called Local 17 for an explanation, but they didn’t return the call.