December 21, 2007: With little support from their outgoing officers, Teamsters at the University of Chicago have won some improvements after voting down their tentative agreement twice.

On Friday, members voted to accept a new tentative agreement.

Local 743 members and students worked together to win a stronger contract.“The union and the company told us this was the best deal they could offer us, but each time we voted down the deal, they made improvements,” said Joe Sexauer, a member of Local 743 at the University. Local 743 represents 1,100 clerical and maintenance workers at UofC.

In September, members voted the first agreement down 533 to 47. They voted the second offer down by 58 percent. The union gave the members only a few days notice before each vote.

Members made the biggest improvement in wages. Management insisted they could only afford a 10 percent increase over the life of the contract. By holding out, members pushed their raise up to 10.5 percent.

Rank-and-file members held lunchtime meetings and picnics to push for a stronger agreement, and they reached out to SEIU and other unions on campus for support.

This vote comes just days before new officers take office on January 1. Long-time TDU member Richard Berg and the 743 New Leadership Slate won a narrow victory over the old officers after waging a hard-fought reform campaign.

“I’m proud of our members for holding out for a better deal,” said Sexauer. “We’re laying the foundation for having a stronger union at the University. We’ve built a new network, we’ve got momentum, and we have new officers.”

December 5, 2007: On Jan. 1, the 13,000 members of Chicago Local 743 will get a chance to build a stronger union as Richard Berg and the New Leadership Slate take office.

Richard BergThis election victory comes after a long history of corruption. In September the current president and three former BAs were indicted for stealing the 2004 election.

The old officers continue to try to obstruct democracy and block the winners from taking office, using union funds and every trick they can. Beyond that, the new leadership faces a big challenge—to turn the union around and build Teamster power. Convoy sat down with president-elect Richard Berg to discuss their plans.

Convoy: How does it feel to be the newly elected President of Local 743?

Richard Berg: It feels great. It was a great victory for all the members who’ve worked so hard and so long to get rid of the criminal element in our union and turn it over to the rank-and-file.

What can your new team do to increase representation for members?

Right now, the current officers are looting our dues money. We’re going to cut salaries and hire more people. BAs will visit all our worksites regularly—whether there’s a problem or not.

We’re going to launch an education campaign geared at all the members—so members can learn what the union does, how it works, and what is expected of all members. We want a union where the members call the shots.

We’ll focus on training stewards. Stewards are our first line of defense.

Our bylaws call for regular election of union stewards, but the current officers have completely ignored that. We won’t.

We’re going to train stewards so they can handle tough situations. And they’ll know that when they take on the boss, we’ll have their back.

What will you do to get rid of the corruption in the union?

We’re going to open the books, and make a real close accounting. Anyone who has been involved in any theft from the members will be removed from Local 743 forever.

The new executive board will have zero tolerance for corruption. We work for the members, not for ourselves.

Local 743 has over 100 contracts in a variety of industries. How did the old leadership handle contract negotiations? What will you do differently?

Workers were left in the dark. At the end of negotiations, the BA would emerge from the room with management and tell members that you can either accept this agreement, or go on strike. Members would know that with no preparation, a strike would be a disaster, so they had to accept some pretty bad contracts.

We’re going to run real contract campaigns. We’ll start early, talking to members, setting up one-on-one organizing networks, fully involving the workers in the negotiating process.

When we first take office, we inherit everything that our predecessors have left us—good and bad. They’re in the middle of several negotiations now.

Our plans will take time. We’ll make changes from day one, but to turn the ship around is going take a concerted effort of the leadership and the membership.

You’ve been active in the national movement for Teamster reform, and you ran with Tom Leedham last year. What role has the Teamster reform movement played in bringing reform to Local 743?

Many of our employers are national or multinational companies. Early on we realized that we can’t live in isolation, we need a national outlook and organization.

Through TDU, we’ve met the most talented Teamsters in the U.S.—and we’ve learned much from them. We couldn’t have done it without the support of people like Tom Leedham and TDU.

What advice do you have for Teamster members who are concerned about the future of our union?

We’re always looking for the Teamster members who want to fight. We found inspiration from places we didn’t expect.

Having a local organization made all the difference, to keep the fight going and lick our wounds when we lost. That inspiration and organization kept us going, no matter what management and our corrupt officials threw at us.

November 20, 2007: The Chicago Tribune reports on sham contracts and nepotism in a new article detailing the corruption in Chicago Local 714.

Teamster Probe Finds “Sham” Pacts, Abuses
By Stephen Franklin

The books show that workers at Granja & Sons, a small printing company in Chicago, joined Teamsters Union Local 714, one of the union's most influential locals, in January 1998.

But the reality is a bit more complex.

The company's four union members, as of a year ago, were the owner's daughter, two sons and another worker, and it paid their union dues, which violates U.S. labor law, according to union investigators.

Click here to read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

November 21, 2007: Georgia Teamsters on November 17 reelected Randy Brown and the Members First Slate in a race hotly contested by an old guard slate.

The 7,000 members of Local 728 have a strong reform history. The local, which represents UPS and freight Teamsters, as well as Allied Waste and a number of other shops, supported Tom Leedham last year by a 2-1 margin.

Local 728, working with International organizers, has added 1,000 new members in three years, including waste drivers and school bus drivers.

The opposition slate was headed by Robert Duncan, who put posed pictures of himself with James Hoffa and Tom Keegel on his campaign website. Duncan was on the UPS National Negotiating Committee and hoped to use that to boost his campaign. But, after gauging the reaction of stewards and active members, Duncan backtracked and told members that if he worked at UPS he would vote No on the deal. He told his supporters he would raise officials' salaries and reduce the number of business agents to pay for it.

Members First ran on their record, and pledged to continue to organize and aggressively represent the members. Elected with Brown were Jimi Richards as secretary treasurer, Scott Webber as vice president, Leonard Stoehr as recording secretary, and Tim Chaney, Donnie Dixon, and George Higgins as trustees.

October 29, 2007: The Independent Review Board (IRB) has recommended that Chicago Local 714 be placed into trusteeship. The move is an opportunity to root out corruption and allow the 8,000 members to have a local run for the members, and not for the Hogan family. The 250 page investigative report was sent to James Hoffa for action to be taken.

The scathing report states that secretary treasurer Robert Hogan and president James Hogan allowed Billy Hogan (Robert Hogan’s father, James Hogan’s brother) to continue to have contact with the local through a business representative and family friend, Robert Riley. Billy Hogan was banned from the Teamsters Union in 2002, after he was found guilty of trying to execute a sweetheart trade show contract in Las Vegas with a company partially owned by a family member.

The report also alleges that Local 714 maintained sham contracts with some employers, and allowed non-union workers at others, and refused to police contracts so that Local 714 members were denied wages guaranteed by contract. The report asserts that some contracts provided for wages less than the minimum wage, dues were illegally paid by the employer, and no contract votes were taken.

The report finally charges that the movie division of Local 714 routinely places relatives of officials on lucrative movie jobs ahead of more senior union members.

Local 714, long a Hogan family dynasty, was placed in trusteeship in 1996 by then Teamster president Ron Carey, and reforms were made, including in the movie referral system. But the local came back under control of the Hogans, and old ways returned.

The IRB’s report calls on Hoffa to act, and report back to the IRB on actions taken. The IRB is the three-person panel charged with cleaning up corruption in our union. IRB members are jointly appointed by the union leadership and the U.S. Justice Department.

The IRB also brought a charge dated Oct. 23 against Chicago International Organizer John Clancy for associating with Dane Passo, who was banned from the Teamsters in 2002 along with Billy Hogan. Clancy maintained contact with Passo, and held at least two meetings with him. Clancy told the IRB in his deposition that International Reps William Cooper and William Moore were present, and that Moore planned the meetings. No charges have yet issued against Cooper or Moore.

October 28, 2007: He was out of work. So he took the $7-an-hour janitor's job figuring that something else was sure to come along. This was back in 1988.

"There was no plan," Richard Berg explained with a broad smile and chuckle.

When he started working at the University of Chicago Hospitals, friends of his wife, a physician, would ask in wonder why a 28-year-old college graduate who had been a union organizer was mopping floors and cleaning hospital operating rooms.

Click here to read Stephen Franklin's full article in the Chicago Tribune.

October 22, 2007: The 12,000 Teamsters in Chicago Local 743 have reason to feel proud, with the victory of the New Leadership Slate in today's election. Long suffering under old guard leadership that overpaid themselves and underrepresented their members, Local 743 members can start the hard work of building a strong, democratic union.

The 743 New Leadership Slate"The members did it!" exclaimed Richard Berg, the president-elect. "We got a fair election, fought hard against their money and lies, and narrowly won it for the members."

The election itself was a victory. It was supervised by the U.S. Department of Labor, after the incumbents stuffed the ballot box with hundreds of bogus votes three years ago. Four of them were indicted in August for that theft of the members' right to vote, after New Leadership and their attorney, Tom Geoghegan, exposed the corruption.

The victory belongs to the members, who work hard in hospitals, offices, factories and nursing homes. New Leadership built a diverse coalition of leaders and activists, uniting Teamsters across lines of race and language, to build solidarity.

The incumbents tried every trick in the book to stay in office. They put out literature in Spanish that Richard Berg had caused the government to raid shops looking for immigrants, that Berg is a Republican, and every other lie that they and Hoffa's PR man Richard Leebove could dream up.

Fortunately, just enough Teamsters voted their hopes for a union that's about the members.

Teamsters attending the TDU Convention on November 2-4 in Chicago will get a chance to meet the New Leadership Slate.

October 17, 2007: On Oct. 5, Local 726 Teamsters working for the City of Chicago ratified their contract overwhelmingly after pressing hard to get what they deserved. The 2,100 members rejected two earlier proposals before the union and city addressed concerns regarding job classifications, layoff procedures, and subcontracting provisions.

The Fighting for the Future Slate, currently running to unseat the incumbent slate in Local 726, led the campaign to win changes in the proposed contract.

Vince Tenuto, candidate for Local 726 Secretary Treasurer explained, “Members knew the issues and what they needed. It helped to have a network in place to spread the word. It shows what a united membership can do when they put it in gear. We didn’t get everything we wanted and ten years is a long time, but we did make a real difference in the outcome.”

Following the earlier contract rejections, Fighting for the Future leaders offered to meet with Local 726 officials to explain what members needed to get the ten-year contract passed. Local 726 officers refused to meet directly, claimed they negotiated the necessary improvements, then argued that nothing had been changed from the initial proposal.

“Now we need to roll this membership concern into a strong turnout for change when it comes to our election in Local 726,” said Duke Clark, candidate for vice president on the Fighting for the Future Slate.

Ballots in the Local 726 election were mailed in mid-October and will be counted in early November.

You can learn more about the movement at www.fightingforthefuture.com

September 21, 2007: For the second time in three weeks, the 2,100 Teamsters who move the City of Chicago have rejected their contract.

On Sept. 20, they voted 560-519 to reject a ten-year contract that would put their future at risk.

"The members are getting it-they're informed. That makes this battle a lot easier," Vince Tenuto explained. Tenuto is a leader in the Fighting for the Future movement in Local 726. Fighting for the Future is calling for job security, and protection against privatization of Teamster jobs. Tenuto summed it up: "If we don't get that, how many jobs will be left in ten years!"

The contract was rejected on Aug. 29, but the Local 726 leadership negotiated only very minimal changes after that, including the right for trash haulers to wear shorts in the summer. On the big issue of job protection, a very weak letter was offered.

After the close vote was announced, members celebrated. Fighting for the Future leaders offered to meet with the union officials to convey membership needs to them, in hopes of getting an acceptable contract for the members.

Other city unions have agreed to ten-year contracts that Mayor Richard Daley claims will deliver "labor peace" as part of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

On Oct. 1, Fighting for the Future will nominate a slate of candidates to replace officials who have lost the confidence of working Teamsters.

You can learn more about this movement at www.fightingforthefurture.com