Chicago, IL – Rank and file union members of Teamsters Local 743 say the corrupt officials of their union are stealing the election for local officers.

On Saturday, October 16, the result of the ballot count found Richard Berg, presidential candidate for the New Leadership Slate, was ahead of incumbent president Robert Walston 788 to 781. 188 additional ballots had been challenged, including all of the votes cast by the Silver Capital workers, who had spearheaded the movement for reform. The elections monitor declared that he would resolve the fate of the challenged votes on Tuesday, October 19.

Instead, the executive board of the union met in emergency session Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. They decided to end the election without counting the challenged ballots, and called for a new election.

The New Leadership Slate is accusing the officers of taking this action to avoid certain defeat.

“It’s clear they did this because they knew when the ballots were counted for the Silver Capital workers, they would lose,” said Marcela Garcia, vice presidential candidate for the New Leadership Slate and a leader of the Silver Capital workers.

The New Leadership Slate is accusing the officials of stealing the election. “We won this election. They are trying to steal it,” said Richard Berg, presidential candidate of the New Leadership Slate.

The reformers want the criminals removed from office. They are demanding that the challenges be resolved as had been agreed at the ballot count on Saturday.

“We caught them stealing votes, and we stopped them,” said Berg. “We won’t let them profit from their own theft.”

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