Working at United Parcel Service (UPS) is a backbreaking, grueling job. Few people last even one year. Most who work there for a long period of time have back and/or joint pain. The main jobs, loading the trucks or delivering packages in the boxy brown trucks, are especially taxing. The loading jobs are so rough that UPS only wants part-timers to do them, figuring no one can handle the job for a full eight hours.

Oregon Teamster Tom Leedham came up short in his bid to unseat Jimmy Hoffa for the top spot in the union. Leedham ran the kind of campaign that Fight Back! readers like to see. His basic theme was that trade union power comes from the workers, not the officials. Leedham said that we need to organize that power to confront management to win better contracts and protect our Teamster pensions.

Chicago, IL – As Fight Back! goes to press Teamsters are getting ready to count the ballots in the showdown between the slates of incumbent International President Hoffa and the reform challenger, Local 206 President Tom Leedham. The Tom Leedham Strong Contracts, Good Pensions slate, with extremely limited resources, took out a message of rank-and-file power to challenge employer greed.

Los Angeles, CA – Students, teachers and parents demonstrated here with Latinos Against War on March 20, the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, marching from Roosevelt High School to the building that houses a military recruiting center and the Eastside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center.

Minneapolis, MN – 16 demonstrators were arrested here, March 27, after shutting down the offices of the Army National Guard Recruiting Office and protesting five years of war and occupation in Iraq.

New Brunswick, NJ – A large anti-war demonstration is set to take place March 27 at Rutgers University.

Minneapolis, MN – Standing in front of the Federal Building here, March 24, leaders of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War and their lawyers announced they are seeking a preliminary injunction requiring the City of Saint Paul to grant the permits for their September 1 anti-war march. The attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint in federal district court later that day.

Cincinnati, OH – Police attempt to suppress African American uprising following the police murder of Timothy Thomas, April 7. Thomas was the fourth Black man killed by Cincinnati police since November. Cincinnati police have killed 15 African Americans since 1995.

New York, NY – On February 25, people were outraged at the verdict of “not guilty” in the case of the four undercover police officers who shot and killed an unarmed African man. Four cops fired 41 bullets, hitting Amadou Diallo 19 times. They were acquitted.

Fight Back! interviewed Richard Berg, a candidate for vice-president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on the Tom Leedham Strong Contracts, Good Pensions Slate. Berg is also a key rank-and-file leader who has spearheaded the fight against corruption in Chicago’s Teamster Local 743. The outcome of the Teamsters election is vital for all working Teamsters and will impact the direction of the labor movement as a whole.

Chicago Worker Richard Berg Assaulted by Mobster

Las Vegas, NV – Richard Berg, a long-time leader in the Teamster reform movement in Chicago, was assaulted at the International Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Teamster International president Jimmy Hoffa has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. He will probably raise millions in an attempt to fend off a largely rank and file effort to unseat him. Why is he afraid of the Teamster members? Because under his watch workers have lost ground, pension benefits have been cut, widespread corruption continues and working Teamsters are mad as hell.

Chicago, IL – Richard Berg stood with workers who are members of Teamsters Local 743 in front of the Russian Turkish Bathhouse on Division Street. “This place is run by the mob. Everyone knows it,” stated Berg, presidential candidate for the Teamsters Local 743 reform group, the New Leadership Slate (NLS). “Our local is run by gangsters as well. We want it back.”

Chicago, IL – Are Jimmy Hoffa’s days numbered as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters? Many rank-and-file activists think it is time for a new leader. Chicago Teamster activist Adrian Esquivel said, “Hoffa broke every promise he made, it’s time we elect a real Teamster with the strength and courage to turn this union around.”

Chicago, IL – Robert Walston and his gang stole the election in Teamsters Local 743 in October 2004. The members of Local 743 knew this at the time. Now, the U.S. Department of Labor is backing up the charges brought by the reform candidates of the 743 New Leadership Slate.

Chicago, IL – The company and the union officials agreed: The workers would get nothing. These workers that had made the company owners rich by making lamps to be sold to wealthy people around the world, these workers, would now get nothing. The company was being sold and their jobs would be eliminated. Most had worked in this factory for more than 25 years and now they would get nothing.

Minneapolis, MN – On June 29, members of the Welfare Rights Committee (WRC) rallied in front of the Hennepin County Government Center to demand an end to the policy of sanctioning homeless mothers.

International Teamster President James P. Hoffa is in trouble. He is discredited because of his lies and his complete inability to deliver for rank-and-file Teamsters. During his last run for president of the union, Hoffa claimed that he would not raise union dues. Hoffa lied. After he won he said he had to raise dues to negotiate strong contracts. His slogan was, “Five cents an hour for Teamster power.”

Chicago, IL – It wasn’t the usual lunch hour. Everyone that walked past the University of Chicago administration building saw it. Students, community activists, members of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 73, the Illinois Nurses Association and the Teamsters Local 743 marching together, all united to fight for reform Teamster, Richard Berg.

Chicago, IL – As Fight Back! goes to press, the gangsters in Teamsters Local 743 have succeeded in stealing another election. When votes were counted on Dec. 4, the old guard emerged with 1,651 votes. 1,257 votes went to the opposition 743 New Leadership Slate.