January 28, 2005: The incumbents determine whether it will be a walk-in or mail-in. They set the dates. They make all the rules. They run the nominations meeting. They rule on who is eligible. They have access to all the shops. They control the printing, mailing, balloting and counting. They run the whole shebang.

Then they lose, and claim the election was stolen! 

Sounds weird, but IBT President James Hoffa buys it, whenever he feels like it. He did it in Milwaukee Local 200 (reformers won bigger the second time). He did it in Washington D.C. Local 639 (his running mate lost the second time, in a sweep). He’s done it in other cases, and will no doubt do it again, until he is stopped.

The last IBT president to use this dirty tactic was racketeer Jackie Presser. But Hoffa seems to want to outdo him.

Fortunately, reformers who take office on Jan. 1 inevitably win by a bigger margin in the “vote till you get it right” rerun. That trick has never worked when reformers were allowed to take office. Teamsters resent having their vote stolen, and react accordingly.

Will Hoffa try it once again in Georgia Local 728? (The incumbent BAs ran the show, then cry-babied after they lost.)  Will Hoffa try it in Georgia Local 528? (His appointed Trustee Doug Norris ran the election, and then whined after he lost.)

In 12,000-member Local 743 in Chicago, those who believe they “own” the union used a special trick. They stopped the count with reformer Richard Berg seven votes ahead of the incumbent, and ordered a quickie re-vote.

They then used even more dirty tricks, and spent an estimated $100,000 on their campaign to keep their $100,000 salaries, and won. The Local 743 New Leadership Slate is going to deal with the issue legally.

All Teamsters believe in democracy. We respect the fact that Hoffa was elected our Teamster president, and that our local union officers were elected—not in stolen elections, but in fair elections; not “vote till you get it right,” but “respect the right of members to decide.”

All Teamsters, regardless of viewpoint, need to unite to protect our right to vote. We fought too hard to win that right to let anyone undermine it.

January 28, 2005:The Graphic Communications International Union’s (GCIU) 60,000 U.S. members voted by a narrow margin to merge into the Teamsters.  Most Canadian locals, which voted separately, have rejected the proposal.  One local inToronto and all three locals in Quebec have decided to affiliate with the IBT.

TDU welcomes our new brothers and sisters across North America into the Teamsters. GCIU will now be an autonomous printing trades conference within our union.

Those in favor of the merger have expressed hope that the Teamsters will help them in their fight against the giant antiunion corporation Quebecor World, and will provide political clout. Support came especially from GCIU members who work alongside Teamsters at newspapers. In addition, one large California district council voted heavily for the merger.  In the other regions of the country, the vote was fairly evenly split. Overall, 35,000 members voted, with 52% voting yes.

Throughout the process many leaders at all levels of the GCIU voiced strong opposition to the merger, citing concerns about the Teamsters’ ability to protect pensions or help the GCIU stabilize its membership.  The Committee to Save GCIU, a union-wide group of members and leaders, also noted that the Teamster structure is more centralized and “top-down” than what they have now in the GCIU.

The GCIU carries a proud tradition of standing up to employers. Moreover, the members traditionally have a distaste for closed-door meetings and backroom deals.  We invite all GCIU members to meet like-minded Teamsters by joining TDU to work for democracy and the very highest trade union principles within the IBT. 

January 30,2005: As an employee of Allied Systems in Windsor, Ont., and a member of Teamsters Local 938, I would like to address the issue of the fast card program [for crossing the U.S./Canada border]. I, like many others, am in the process of obtaining a fast card to hold my job. At this point I do not have my fast card and therefore I am unable to work until I obtain one. 

I have applied for this card twice now, but due to the fact that the Canadian government is 12 weeks behind in issuing these cards I am unemployed by Allied until I receive the card.  There are some employees that will never be able to obtain a fast card, therefore they will never be able to cross the border hauling cars. I have contacted the Teamsters and to no avail. They do not seem to show any interest in the issue that their fellow brother is out of work and some could possibly lose everything without the backing of the Teamsters. 

I myself will eventually receive my card, but what I question is what about the guy who cannot obtain his card? When we were hired on at Allied the only stipulation for employment was to be bondable. How can the union just sit back and allow the company and big three [auto makers] to dictate our future employment. What am I paying union dues for? I thought it was to protect us from unfair labor practice. Far too many Teamsters are looking outside of the union for representation, some by hiring private lawyers.

Troy Bernhardt
Local 938, Allied
Windsor, Ont.

“Herman Benson launched the union democracy movement almost single-handedly, nearly 50 years ago,” says Ken Paff, TDU national organizer. Now Benson has written a book about the history of the union reform movement he  took part in: Rebels, Reformers and Racketeers: How Insurgents Transformed the Labor Movement.

Benson writes the account of union reformers in the United Mine Workers, the Laborers, the Longshore Workers, the Teamsters, and other unions—all “independent-minded unionists who are loyal to unions because they cherish the values of decency, democracy and dignity, and who resent injustice.”

Benson has been a toolmaker and machinist, and a member of the UAW, the Rubber Workers, the United Electrical Workers, and the International Union of Electrical Workers. He is a cofounder of the Association for Union Democracy, and Rebels, Reformers and Racketeers is also the story of AUD.

One of the first reformers with whom Benson worked closely was Frank Schonfeld. In the early 1960s Schonfeld took on corrupt officials in New York Painters District Council 9. At that time almost no one inside or outside the union was willing to say out loud that its officers were corrupt.

Using New Rights
When those officials tried to silence Schonfeld with internal union charges, Benson found attorneys who successfully defended the reformer using the newly enacted Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. To forestall an election, the Painters International imposed a trusteeship. But the reformers won a court order lifting the trusteeship and mandating independently supervised elections. Schonfeld proceeded to win two terms as Painters DC 9 secretary-treasurer, and won wage and benefit gains unheard of under the old regime. (Schonfeld also hired Benson as part-time newsletter editor for the District Council.)

Benson writes that it was us, the Teamsters, who took reform to a higher level in 1991:
“It was the proliferation of these insurgent movements that validated dissent in unions. It was the 1991 Teamster reform victory that tipped the balance in the AFL-CIO. Forty years of broad rank and file reform activity provided both the moral legitimacy and the power that made possible Sweeney’s insurgent quest for the AFL-CIO presidency in 1995.”

Benson paints a sweeping picture of changes in the labor movement, but some of his most interesting material is from the trenches in unions that didn’t see major national reform. In many of those struggles, AUD has acted as reformers’ attorneys. So be prepared to read plenty of everyday-English descriptions of legal battles won and lost.

Herman Benson’s Rebels, Reformers and Racketeers is available from the Association for Union Democracy. Paperback, 200 pages, $18. Phone 718-564-1114 or visit www.uniondemocracy.org.

February 6, 2006


Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Since joining the IBLE in 1974, I have devoted my entire career to improving the lives of locomotive engineers and their families. I have always put the best interests of the membership first. Regrettably, President Hahs and I have too many fundamental differences about how the organization should represent the members’ best interests. In my opinion, his views and decisions are adversely impacting the survival of our craft and organization. Consequently, I do not believe it is possible for me to continue to serve the members’ best interests while working on the Executive Staff supporting his decisions.

After many weeks of careful deliberation, I have decided I must resign my position as Staff Counsel for the National Division. I have begun closing my office and will complete as many assignments as possible in the next few weeks and reassign others. You will be advised of the status of any pending legal matters affecting your respective committees. Thereafter, I will be available to assist the National Division with any transition matters and other issues as needed—including preparation for a possible Presidential Emergency Board.

I greatly appreciate the opportunity I have had to serve you and the membership and look forward to continuing to fight to preserve our craft and organization as I return to engine service on the Norfolk Southern.

Finally, since it is improper and illegal to support the campaign of any candidate for union office with union resources of any kind, I will have to respond later—using personal resources—to the many expressions of support and encouragement I have received to pursue elective office. One thing is certain, I will work relentlessly to preserve our craft. Moreover, I will challenge anyone who does not respect the highly skilled and demanding work performed by our members; and, I will expose those who are willing to accept carrier demands that will eliminate our craft.

Fraternally,
Tom Brennan
Staff Counsel – National Division

When the mob wanted IBT anti-corruption investigations in Chicago shut down, they turned to three Hoffa allies to make it happen, intelligence sources told investigators.

Three Teamsters were identified as “the key figures” behind the shutdown of organized crime investigations in Chicago, including John Coli, the president of the 100,000-member Joint Council 25.Coli also heads Teamsters Local 727, one of the locals targeted by Stier’s investigators for organized crime influence and corruption, including:

• Allegations of kickbacks and other improper payments in the Local 727 benefit fund;

• Allegations that benefit plan vendors and fund employees were tied to organized crime;

Reports that a business agent has organized crime associations and received improper payments from the local’s benefit fund.

Coli’s family past is riddled with organized crime associations. His father, James E. Coli, headed the local and was as a member of organized crime outfits, according to law enforcement officials. Coli’s brother James L. took over the local, but was barred in connection with an investigation of a business agent who was an organized crime figure.

Hoffa’s shutdown put an end to RISE investigations of organized crime influence in Coli’s local. He is now reportedly under investigation by the FBI.

The other “key figures” named by sources were Billy Hogan, Jr. Hoffa’s one-time running mate, and Carlow Scalf, who at that time served as Hoffa’s Executive Assistant and chief of staff.

Scalf was fired last month after TDU urged Judge Loretta Preska to reject Scalf’s 60-day suspension as an insufficient penalty for embezzling nearly $69,000 from the IBT.

A recent suit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) charged Local 743 President Robert Walston and the other officers of Local 743 with election fraud and other violations. This comes as the result of a local election challenged by longtime TDUer Richard Berg and the New Leadership Slate.

The complaint in federal court states Local 743 officials, “denied members the right to vote when Defendant mailed members’ ballots to incorrect addresses, the ballots were marked by individuals other than the designated recipients, and the ballots were returned and counted in the election tally.”

Local 743 members were not surprised by the ruling. “We know this because we have caught them—several times!” said Esmeralda Cuevas of the 743 New Leadership Slate. “Finally the government is doing something about it.”

The Department of Labor suit calls for a new election that the agency would run instead of Local 743 officers. In the impartially-supervised 2001 IBT delegate race in Local 743, the New Leadership Slate won the majority of the spots.

It is time for justice for the 12,000 Teamsters in Local 743: the rightful winners of the election should be installed, and the Walston group removed.

Walston and his executive board actually stopped counting the votes last fall when Richard Berg, leader of the New Leadership Slate, was ahead in the count with just the challenged ballots remaining. Berg, Antonio Caldera, and other New Leadership reformers knew that bogus ballots were being counted, but won the election anyway. So Walston stopped the count, conducted a second election, and made sure the count would go just right that time. After the Hoffa administration took no action to correct the injustice, the New Leadership Slate implored the Labor Department to act.

James Hoffa has been getting a lot of press these days for being part of a group of labor leaders who formed the Change to Win Coalition. What does this new group stand for, and what does it mean for Teamsters?

The Change to Win Coalition, led by the Service Employees (SEIU) and joined by the Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers, UNITE-HERE, the Laborers, Farm Workers, and Carpenters says its purpose is to make organizing the unorganized in each union's "core industries" a major priority. The theme they are putting forward is that current union members can't win good contracts, preserve jobs, or save health benefits or pensions as long as the labor movement keeps shrinking.

As we go to press, James Hoffa is on the verge of taking the Teamsters out of the AFL-CIO. With almost no discussion beyond Hoffa's own staff, on July 20 the General Executive Board gave Hoffa and Tom Keegel the unilateral power to split from the labor federation.

What does this mean for Teamsters?
In the short term, the big split among top labor leaders could lead to more weakness and division, but possibly to new strategies. It may lead to unions trying to lure members from each other (raiding) instead of organizing new members.

Is there anything positive for working Teamsters in this split at the top?

In the bigger picture, the question is whether Hoffa is prepared to apply the principles that he has signed onto by joining the Change to Win Coalition inside the Teamsters union.

After all, only 1 percent of every Teamster dues dollar has gone to help support the AFL-CIO; just $9 million out of $700 million in annual Teamster dues. Hoffa tried to get about $4 million of that rebated back to the Teamsters.

So the real question is, is the $700 million in dues going to protect the future of Teamster members?

With that in mind, Teamsters should take a look at the Change to Win Coalition program, endorsed by James Hoffa and Tom Keegel, and see if we can apply it to the Teamsters union. Here are the key Change to Win planks:

Organize in core industries to build power

This is a central Change to Win theme. The Teamsters union must take on Overnite, DHL, FedEx, and other major targets in our core industries. Some of this has started, but much more needs to be done in trucking, construction, warehousing and food processing. In a July 13 letter to the General Executive Board, Local 805 President Sandy Pope pointed out that the 2002 dues increase added $65 million to the international union’s annual budget, only a small fraction of which is being used for organizing. If we are to Change to Win in the Teamsters, we need to redirect resources now spent on multiple salaries, golf matches and PR into core industry organizing.

Stop the “race to the bottom”

Change to Win says that “affiliates undercutting bargaining standards should suffer penalties.”

This is a good principle for our union. For an important example, see “Carhaul Deals Endanger Contract” on page 7. Local 120 has just signed substandard contracts in direct violation of the national carhaul contract. We could apply the Change to Win program right now to help save the carhaul contract.

Rebates to affiliates that are putting resources into organizing

“Half of what unions now pay to the AFL-CIO should be rebated to unions that have a strategic plan and commitment to organizing in their core industries,” Change to Win says. This model can be applied to the Teamsters union: Locals spending significant money on organizing in Teamster core industries could get a rebate of half the per capita paid to the International. This would enhance the ability of locals to organize as part of a coordinated program to build Teamster power.

Diversity

“The AFL-CIO must make diversity at all levels of the labor movement a central strategic objective, with standards and timetables, including ensuring that the diversity of the membership is reflected in elected leadership,” says Change to Win.
Presently there is one African American, one woman, and no Latinos among the 24 voting members of the General Executive Board.

Clearly, we do need to Change to Win in this area.
The Teamster leadership has embraced the Change to Win program. The next step is a thorough discussion about applying these principles inside our own union, and then using them to build a more powerful and democratic Teamsters union.

All quotes and platform planks are from www.changetowin.org under “Restoring the American Dream.”

Click Here to Read a letter from Sandy Pope, the President of New York Local 805 on this issue

Frank Halstead
Local 572, Ralphs Grocery
Los Angeles

The Hoffa Unity Slate is cracking into two. More and more members are seeing that we won’t stop the decline of Teamster power until we change our union’s leadership at the top. Now, even members of Hoffa’s own team are realizing the same thing.Hoffa, the candidate, promised to restore Teamster power.

But when the Hoffa train left the station, his platform stayed behind. Instead of restoring the power, Hoffa has focused on managing the decline of Teamster power. Under this approach, we’re always on the defensive, always making contract givebacks or accepting benefit cuts, never mounting a fight. As Tom Leedham said in a recent speech, “Hoffa isn’t about power, he’s about the illusion of power.” But after seven years, the PR and press releases aren’t cutting it anymore.There’s a lesson to be learned from the unmasking of the weak corporate lawyer behind the Hoffa celebrity mystique. In choosing our next General Executive Board, we can’t make our decision based on promises or personalities. We need to elect leaders with clear plans for building our union’s strength.

In Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), we’re not about personalities or just getting someone different into power. We are about a new direction for the Teamsters. And we’re not alone. Many Teamsters are looking for a new direction, including local officers who supported Hoffa in the past—and former members of Hoffa’s own slate.

The fake Hoffa “unity” of recent years has muzzled any serious discussion about what we need to do to revitalize our union. That discussion is wide open now. We should be looking for common ground with all Teamsters regardless of who they have supported in the past—provided that we can agree on a common vision and plan for the future.

As we chart our course going into the coming election, we should be flexible about alliances but firm on our principles. Those principles include:

• Opposition to the pension and health cuts that the employers pushed on our benefit plans. We will support a leadership with a record and plan to fight to restore and protect Teamster pensions.

• Accountability of pension fund trustees to Teamster members and retirees. Full disclosure to the members, not closed-door deals with employers.

• Leadership to win strong contracts, by tapping rank and file power and using smart strategies to combat union-busting. In 1997 the Teamsters Union mobilized UPS members in a year-long campaign and we won. In 2002-2003 the Hoffa administration never mobilized the ranks. Hoffa claimed to bargain the “best contracts ever” and lied about the benefit cuts those contracts made inevitable.

• Organizing the nonunion competition in Teamster industries. The IBT should provide financial help to local unions that put in place real organizing programs. And we should build on the successful organizing strategies of the 1990s when Teamster members, hired as organizers, reversed the decline in Teamster membership and started to grow our union again.

• End the financial waste and multiple salaries and political patronage. Put funds into programs that build Teamster power, not perks. And put in place a real plan to root out Teamster corruption.

• Promote Teamster membership involvement, through accountability, democracy and respect for all members. Promote a diverse leadership, and involve members of all races and backgrounds in our union structure.

Those of us in TDU will look at leaders who come forward with an open mind. We’ll evaluate leaders based on their commitment to a clear program to build Teamster power. The leaders who will stand and fight for such a program are the right leaders for the future of the union.

Click here: Tom Leedham Campaign for Teamster Presidency Moves Ahead!
Click here: Members Back Tom Leedham Candidacy
Click here: Hoffa 'Dis-Unity' Slate Splits
Click here: Teamster Candidates Will Debate

Under Hoffa, multiple salaries and political
patronage are at an all-time high.

• Hoffa pays multiple salaries to 148 political allies.
• Multiple salaries are up 722 percent under Hoffa.
• A record 119 officials on the International payroll
make $100,000 or more—80 percent get multiple
salaries.

The salary gap is widening between the majority
of local union leaders and a layer of
super-compensated officials—most of whom are on Hoffa's payroll.

• Half of all local union principal officers
make less than $86,000
• Just over 10 percent of principal officers make total
salaries of more than $150,000. Just four percent make
$200,000 or more—80 percent are on Hoffa's payroll


Click here: Patronage or Teamster Power
Click here: $100,000 Club 2005 (Acrobat Reader Required)
Click here: Report Reveals Need for Financial Reform
Click here: Officers' Salaries: A Wide Range