More than 50,000 workers have joined the Teamsters since the new O’Brien-Zuckerman administration took office in 2022.

That’s about the same number of new members organized in the previous ten years under the Hoffa administration.

What’s Driving the Turnaround?

First, the Teamsters are devoting major resources to target large units in core Teamster industries, including grocery and food distribution (UNFI, Sysco, Costco), package delivery (DHL, UPS), and passenger transportation. Organizing the nonunion competition in our core industries doesn’t just increase our numbers, it increases our bargaining power.

Second, the IBT is unleashing a new generation of Teamster organizers. Our union is hiring shop stewards and rank-and-file leaders who cut their teeth in contract campaigns and shop-floor fights, putting them to work building our union.

Third, Teamsters are leveraging the power of the members we have to organize the unorganized, with innovative tactics like recognition strikes, neutrality agreements, and bargaining to organize.

Seventy percent of Americans say they support labor unions – that’s the highest approval in nearly 60 years. Growing numbers of workers want to be union.

A revitalized Teamster organizing program is starting to build union density and grow our union. We’ve got a long way to go. Only 10 percent of workers in the U.S. belong to a union. To have power at the bargaining table and on Capitol Hill, the labor movement needs to grow.

Our union needs more locals with dedicated organizers and organizing programs. We need more members to be trained and put to work organizing the unorganized.

TDU is doing our part to help make it happen.