Las Vegas, NV – El presidente del sindicato de Camioneros (Teamsters) logró su meta-ell aumento mas grande en la cuota sindical en la historia de este sindicato. El voto a favor del aumento en la convención de finanzas el 30 de Abril fue aplastante.

¿Como fue posible? ¿Que clase de Teamster votaría a favor de un aumento tan grande? Especialmente cuando se toma en cuenta el nivel de corrupción y desgaste presupuestuarial de parte de los burócratas de los Teamsters, ¿Como pudo haber pasado esto?

Las respuestas son sencillas. Hoffa no permitió ningun voto de parte de la membracía general sobre los aumentos.

En lugar de eso, organizó una convención de puros rutinarios del sindicato. La abrumadora mayoría de los delegados de esta convención son funcionarios que reciben mucho mas del sindicato en salarios y recursos que pagan en cuotas. Estos parásitas se regalaron dinero y obligan a los miembros de base a que paguen el costo.

A pesar de los mejores esfuerzos por parte de Hoffa de callar a la voz de la base en el sindicato, una oposición valiente se expresó en contra de los aumentos. Ashley McNeely, un miembro de local 2000 basado en Honolulu, expresó el punto de vista de las mayorías cuando dijo a la convención “Un voto para aumentar a las cuotas solo les da al liderato nacional dinero para gastar en 'carne de puerco'. En lugar de aumentar las cuotas para los Teamsters que trabajan duro, debemos votar para recortar la grasa para los funcionarios bien pagados del sindicato”. McNeely a continuación señaló los enormes salarios que muchos funcionarios de los Teamsters reciben. Dijo que si cortamos salarios de funcionarios por $100,000 anuales, y si se prohiba que un funcionario cobre multiples salarios, pudimos aumentar nuestro fondo de huelgas y quedar con enormes ganancias.

En algunos locales alrededor del país, se llevaron a cabo votos chuecos, fingiendo un impacto. A la convención delegado reformista Richard Berg del local 743 hizo un llamado para un voto auténtico. “Nosotros creemos que los miembros del sindicato deben tener el derecho de un voto sobre este asunto. No nos gusta el hecho de que los lideres del sindicato vayan sigilosamente a Las Vegas despues de una elección para aprobar estos aumentos” dijo.

Hoffa hizo todo lo posible para mantener secretos estos actos malos. En contraste con las convenciones del pasado, prohibió la presencia de la prensa, de invitados y hasta de la membracía sindical en el salón de la convención. No se permitieron ni observadores ni cámeras.

Pronto, Teamsters en todo el país se darán cuenta que Hoffa les está quitando un pedazo aun mayor de sus cheques de salario. En lugar de usar los fondos del sindicato para luchar para mejores condiciones para los trabajadores, Hoffa lo pretende usar para dar fondos a candidatos republicanos anti-obreros o a demócratas incumplidos.

¿Porque? Hoffa quiere que su amigo George Bush le quita la supervisión gubernmental de encima de los Teamsters. Esta supervisión ha sido bornochoso y costoso. Ultimamente el compañero de formula de Hoffa, Bill Hogan, y ayudante Dana Passo, ambos chicagoenses, fueron agarrados en el proceso de hacer un acuerdo sucio, anti-trabajador, con la industria de convenciones de Las Vegas. El pacto fue para que la industria pudiera sustituir a cientos de trabajadores sindicalizados con trabajadores no-sindicalizados, enriqueciendo a Hogan y Passo en el proceso.

Y a propósito, ¿quien es el dueño de la empresa no-sindicalizado que iba a proporcionar a los obreros substitutos? Pues, nada menos que el propio hermano de Hogan.

Mientras que Hoffa sigue cuidado sus intereses creados y los de sus amigotes, miembros de los Teamsters no podemos quedar con los brazos cruzados esperando que las cosas se mejoren por si solas. Pronto se vence el contrato del sindicato con United Parcel Service. UPS quiere un acuerdo rápido. El año que entra, se vence el cntrato maestro de los camioneros de cargo (Truck Drivers Master Freight Contract).

Estos son verdaderos asuntos que impactan a gente de carne y hueso. La suerte de nuestros contratos y de nuestro sindicato tendrá repercusiones en el movimiento laboral mucho mas allá de los Teamsters. La battala de las bases del sinicato para crear un sindicato para todos los Teamsters de clase trabajadora, tendrá un impacto con todos los trabajadores.

#LasVegasNV #News #Teamsters #HoffaJr #TeamstersLocal743

Recently the powerful reform caucus Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) endorsed Tom Leedham for International president. Leedham came out of the gate quickly, leading many to believe that he may upset the media-savvy Hoffa. “The press love the ‘son of a dead mobster’ story,” said TDUer Maria Trevino, “But the truth is that he has done nothing but raise our union dues and the salaries of top officials. Leedham will win, because the working Teamsters know that it is time for a change.”

Leedham surprised many when his supporters swept an early election of delegates to the Teamsters convention in the huge Louisville, Tennessee local that includes the United Parcel Service’s air hub. TDU compared it to “winning the New Hampshire primary,” when Louisville’s Local 89 went for Leedham. Local 89 is the fourth largest local in the Teamsters and, as Fight Back! goes to press, the largest to hold a delegate election.

Delegate elections will continue in Teamster local unions across the country until the end of April. These delegates will then attend the Teamster convention this summer, which will nominate international officers, including president. “These elections are crucial,” said past convention delegate Richard Berg. “If you don’t get enough delegates, you don’t get nominated.”

Tom Leedham is preferred by many Teamsters because of his strong background. Unlike Hoffa, he joined the Teamsters as a rank-and-file worker, when he got a job at a grocery warehouse in Portland, Oregon. Leedham led the reform movement in his Local 206, to which he was eventually elected president. He is known for fighting concessions and negotiating industry-leading contracts. Leedham renegotiated retiree health benefits that his old-guard predecessor had given away.

Leedham was eventually elected International vice president on the Ron Carey Slate. Carey appointed Leedham to run the warehouse division where he negotiated agreements that substantially raised the wages and benefits for warehouse workers, especially in the grocery industry. These higher wages became the industry standard.

Leedham’s slate is called the ‘Strong Contract, Good Pensions Slate.’ His track record in his local and as International vice president indicate that his success in these areas is based on his reliance on rank-and-file mobilizations. “It is not surprising that rank-and-file activists are drawn to Tom Leedham,” said Chicago rank-and-file IBT leader Richard Berg. “He is one of us, he knows that a strong union means a strong, educated rank-and-file movement.”

In contrast, Hoffa and his gang cut pension benefits and raised union dues without a membership vote. “The Hoffa name means cronyism and corruption,” said Minnesota Teamster David Skeie. “It’s time for the deal making to end. It’s time for real Teamster leadership.”

The current delegate elections and summer convention will be followed by a mailed ballot vote in the fall. All Teamsters (in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, etc.) will be allowed to vote.

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Las Vegas, NV – Teamster President James P. Hoffa got what he wanted – the largest union dues increase in Teamster history. The vote at the April 30 convention on finances was not even close.

How could this be? What kind of Teamster would vote for this huge increase? Especially in the face of massive corruption and waste from Teamster bureaucrats – how could this happen?

The answers are simple. Hoffa did not let the rank-and-file members of the union vote on the dues increase.

Instead, he convened a convention dominated by union hacks. The overwhelming majority of the voting convention delegates were Teamsters who receive far more dues money in salaries and perks than they are required to pay in union dues. These parasites simply voted for money for themselves at the expense of working Teamsters.

Despite Hoffa's best efforts to silence the voice of the rank and file, a courageous opposition spoke out against the dues increase. Ashley McNeely, a Honolulu-based member of Local 2000, spoke for most Teamsters from the convention floor, stating, “A vote to raise dues is a vote to allow the International to spend even more money on pork. Instead of raising the dues for hard working Teamster members, we should vote to cut the fat for high-paid Teamster officials.”

McNeely went on to point out the huge salaries that many Teamster union officials receive. She said that by cutting salaries to $100,000 a year and limiting officials to only one salary each, Teamsters could strengthen the strike fund and have huge sums of money left over.

Some locals around the country conducted phony votes, pretending that they had an impact. From the convention floor, Chicago Local 743 reform delegate Richard Berg called for a real vote. “We believe that the rank and file should have the right to vote on this issue. The rank and file do not like the fact that union leaders sneak off to Las Vegas after an election is over to raise their dues,” said Berg.

Hoffa did his best to keep his misdeeds a secret. Unlike past conventions, he barred all press, all guests and even Teamster members from the convention hall. No observers, and certainly no cameras, were allowed onto the convention floor.

Soon Teamsters across the country will realize that Hoffa is taking an even larger chunk of their pay. Instead of strengthening the fight for better working conditions, Hoffa wants to spend even more money supporting anti-union Republican Party candidates and marshmallow-soft Democratic Party candidates.

Why? Hoffa wants his buddy George Bush to remove government oversight from the Teamsters. This oversight has been embarrassing and costly. Just recently, former Hoffa running mate Bill Hogan and top Hoffa aide Dane Passo, both from Chicago, were caught making a sweetheart deal with the Las Vegas convention industry. The deal was designed to enrich both Passo and Hogan in return for allowing hundreds of low-wage non-union workers to replace union workers on the job.

And, by the way, who owned the non-union company where the subcontracted workers would come from? None other than Bill Hogan's brother.

As Hoffa looks after himself and his buddies, working Teamsters cannot stand idly by hoping that things will get better. The union contract between the Teamsters and United Parcel Service (UPS) is expiring. UPS is pushing for a quick settlement. Next year, the truck drivers' National Master Freight contract will expire.

These real issues affect real people. The fate of our contracts and our union will have repercussions in the labor movement beyond the Teamsters. The battle of rank-and-file Teamsters to create a union that fights in the interest of its working class members will have an impact on the future of all workers.

#LasVegasNV #News #Teamsters #HoffaJr #TeamstersLocal743 #unionDuesIncrease

Because corrupt Hoffa forces controlled the previous 743 executive board, they were able to hire an election officer to do their work for them. They chose Julie Hamos, a “liberal” Democrat from the Chicago Suburbs, to run the election.

Hamos was happy to look the other way while ballots disappeared. She challenged and refused to count over 600 ballots, most of them from Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center. In fact, she refused to count a single ballot from Rush, which was a New Leadership Slate strong hold, and key to winning this election.

In every election protest filed, Hamos ruled in favor of the HTB. In one case, former 743 boss Robert Simpson wrote a letter supporting the HTB. Simpson was barred from the Teamsters for life because of his relationship to the La Cosa Nostra crime family. In the letter, Simpson admitted that he was paying for the pro-HTB letter with his own money.

This violates the election rules. Incredibly, rather than believe Simpson's own words, Hamos ruled that the HTB had paid for the production and distribution of Simpson's campaign letter.

In the face of a rigged vote, supporters of the 743 NLS ran a valiant campaign. They hammered away at the corruption of the past. They told workers that they had the power to make a difference.

NLS Presidential candidate Donnie Von Moore said, “743 members working in nursing homes, hospitals, universities, factories and warehouses often can barely get by on the sub-par wages and benefits negotiated by corrupt, lazy, or inept union business agents.”

Von Moore continued, “Our campaign focused on uniting workers, the real power, in the fight for Teamster wages and Teamster benefits for all 743 members.”

Richard Berg, NLS Secretary Treasurer candidate and a worker at the University of Chicago Hospitals, echoed Von Moore's words, “They make enormous super-profits from our labor. We believe working people can overthrow a corrupt union. We believe that when we are united we can force management to act fairly.”

The 743 NLS is part of a nationwide movement in the Teamsters to rid the union of corruption. This movement, led nationally by Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), seeks to end the days of mobsters skimming union dues money while making deals with management.

TDU International Steering Committee member and NLS executive board candidate Homer Lambert said it best, “We in TDU are on the side of the working class. We do not apologize for that because it is right.”

#ChicagoIL #News #Teamsters #HoffaJr #TeamstersLocal743 #NewLeadershipSlate #RichardBerg

There are only 2 slates of candidates running and the difference between them is great. The difference is basically between a member-driven, fight-for-workers kind of union or the kind of union where leaders just get rich off of members' dues and cozy up to management.

Tom Leedham is running for president and is heading up the progressive, rank-and-file slate. Leedham has made it very clear why he's running for president: he wants to involve and move members to action to win better contracts, stop giving union money to politicians, organize the unorganized, defend union democracy and limit the salaries of union officers.

In the working people's struggle to build good, strong organizations in the U.S., a victory for the Leedham slate would be a historical event. The Leedham slate stands to be the most representative group of union leaders in U.S. history. It would include the most people of color and women in top union leadership ever.

The other slate is led by Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., a millionaire lawyer who has never had a job like you and me but is riding on the legend of his father and the idea that a blow-hard like himself, no matter how corrupt and lazy he may be, will somehow “take care of the members.”

Hoffa has appeal to those who don't understand that power comes from a united, organized and mobilized membership and who believe there is an easy way to win better pay, benefits and rights on the job without members being active and leading the union's agenda.

As this paper goes to print, Teamster members are expected to start getting their ballots in the mail on November 3rd. Counting of the ballots is planned for December 3rd.

Kathy Kleckner is Former President of AFSCME Local 3800, University of Minnesota Clerical Workers.

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Christine Royster ran for vice president of the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters (IBT) last year on the Tom Leedham Rank & File Power Slate. Unfortunately, she lost, denying the Teamsters their first African American woman vice president. Royster, running as a rank-and-file member, would have been a dynamic addition to the Teamsters national executive board.

Royster recently retired from Blue Cross/Blue Shield where she worked for 28 years as a clerical employee. She also served IBT Local 743 members as union steward and business agent.

In 1998, Royster ran for recording secretary of Local 743 on the 743 New Leadership Slate. She is active in the Teamsters National Black Caucus. She recently joined and became involved in Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) the primary reform organization in the Teamsters.

Fight Back!: Why did you become involved in your union?

Royster: I did not like or have confidence in the people that were representing us. We were not getting the proper service at Blue Cross for the dues that we were paying. Clerical workers, nursing home and hospital workers also were not being treated right by the Teamsters and I wanted to do something about it.

To tell the truth, at first I did not see the big picture. Later, I was elected as a delegate to the 1991 Teamster convention. I saw future IBT president Ron Carey was nominated by an energetic group of rank-and-file activists. Then I saw the government remove him after he led the historic strike at United Parcel Service (UPS).

Fight Back!: Do you think African Americans are treated differently from other members in the Teamsters?

Royster: Sure I do! Hoffa and his cronies don't acknowledge us as leaders. We make up a huge section of this union, yet we are ignored, or, worse yet, treated as tokens. Women get this treatment too. Sometimes I think being ignored by Hoffa is worse than his negative treatment.

One of the most blatant examples happened at the IBT 2001 Convention in Las Vegas. Hoffa had started a scholarship fund in his usual self-promoting way. He named it the James R. Hoffa Scholarship after his father.

At the convention, they flashed the pictures of those Teamster children who had won the $10,000 scholarships. The first ten kids were all white. The next ten kids were all white. We could not believe it! When they were finished, zero African American and zero Latino children received a $10,000 scholarship from the James R. Hoffa fund.

Of course, our 743 New Leadership Slate delegation, led by Debra Simmons, rushed to the microphones to protest. When we got there, they turned off the microphones. They refused to acknowledge us. Dozens of Hoffa thugs were sent to surround and to try to intimidate Debra. They then turned out the lights and started to show us a video about trucks that we had already seen.

I guess this was Hoffa's response to affirmative action demands.

Fight Back!: How can working Teamsters turn their union into one that fights in their interest?

Royster: Solidarity is the only way. We cannot wait for someone else to do it for us. To transform our union into an organization that fights for workers, everyone has to get involved. Sometimes it looks like a David and Goliath battle. Solidarity, worker involvement and organizations like Teamsters for a Democratic Union and the 743 New Leadership Slate are our sling shot. And, as I remember, David won that battle.

#ChicagoIL #Interview #AfricanAmerican #Teamsters #TDU #HoffaJr #ChristineRoyster #TeamstersLocal743

Members of Local 743, like other Teamsters across the country, have struggled to turn the union around. This year, I was honored to be asked to join Tom Leedham as one of the regional vice-presidential candidates on the Rank and File Power Slate. Together with the New Leadership Slate in Local 743, it was a rank and file slate committed to ending the graft of the old-guard, hiring more union representatives, mobilizing the members, and cutting union officials' huge salaries and perks.

As you may know from reading Fight Back!, Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., succeeded in buying his re-election – using money from his backers, the management in companies whose employees he represents, and from those corrupt hacks in locals around the country. And as you probably know, in Local 743, the president, Bob Walston, stole the election from the New Leadership Slate. The 743 New Leadership Slate has filed charges with the Teamsters Joint Council and is preparing to go to the Department of Labor and to the courts. So, it's not over in 743.

For now, we have Jimmy Hoffa back as our international president. But the struggle continues in the International as well.

For myself, I am honored to report that I received 40,663 votes for regional vice president, which was the highest vote of any regional vice presidential candidate on our slate. When we campaigned, I said that too many Black and Latino workers are ignored and treated like second-class union members in the Teamsters. The Tom Leedham Rank and File Power Slate was dedicated to changing all that.

For example, what I saw at the Teamsters convention last spring was obscene! 30 scholarships, $10,000 each, were passed out to children of Teamsters. All of the recipients were white. Now the membership of the union is close to 50% Black and Latino.

Here's the latest news: after lying during his campaign, saying he had no plan to raise dues, Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. has called for an emergency national convention with only one issue: to raise dues. The members are fighting mad about this. We know that we get lousy representation, and we know how our dues are getting used. We have to go back to Las Vegas and confront the sell-outs and the gangsters – we don't want one more dime to go into their pockets, supporting their millionaire lifestyles, while they sell us down the drain.

We also have to get ready to support our brothers and sisters at UPS. The great strike in 1997 was fought with the demands that thousands of part-time workers be made permanent, with all of the benefits and pay that full timers receive. Many of these part-timers are Black. UPS has made only a small number permanent. We should be gearing up for a fight for the jobs that they agreed to in the last contract. We should again “Shut down big brown.” But Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. is preparing to sell us out even further.

So we have a fight on two fronts – against our bosses, and against the sell-outs in our unions. If we have the strength that comes from the vision for a real union, a class struggle union, we know that we will win.

#ChicagoIL #News #Teamsters #Hoffa #TDU #HoffaJr #ChristineRoyster #TeamstersLocal743

Hoffa made this proposal through a hand-picked “blue ribbon committee” right after he was elected to a five-year term. Before the election, the hypocrite Hoffa Jr. accused his opponents inside the union of wanting to increase dues. He campaigned on a pledge to hold dues down. In his first two elections, he went so far as to name his electoral slate the “Hoffa No Dues Increase Slate.”

Hoffa's lies came as no surprise to the reform movement within the Teamsters. At the 2001 Teamsters convention, the reform candidate for International President, Tom Leedham, told Hoffa from the floor, “Be honest with the members. You have a secret plan. If you are lucky enough to win this election, your secret plan is to convene another convention and raise dues.”

As he was making those charges, Leedham was shoved away from the microphone by pro-Hoffa Jr. thugs. Now it is evident that Leedham and the reform movement were right when they charged that Hoffa was lying to working Teamsters.

The reform movement, led by Teamsters for a Democratic Union (T.D.U.), is demanding no dues increase without a vote of the members. They have launched a petition drive and are coordinating the national campaign.

As Leedham predicted, Hoffa Jr. is calling a special convention in Las Vegas to vote for the dues increase. While there will be some reform rank-and-file delegates there, the convention will be dominated by union bureaucrats. The special convention is to be held in conjunction with two golf tournaments where Teamster officials will be golfing with Teamster employers.

“The biggest problem is the gross waste of the money that they are getting now,” said reform delegate Richard Berg. Berg, a union steward and housekeeper at the University of Chicago Hospitals, pointed out, “Over 200 union officers currently make over $100,000 a year. That's our money, and now they want more.”

Berg continued, “In the 1990's the reform movement forced old-guard Teamster officials to sell their private airplanes and give up the most blatant perks. Now these fat cats want them all back. At the last convention in 2001, they increased their daily meal allowance to $75 a day. They want us, working Teamsters, to pay for their corruption.”

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Hoffa, Jr. Fails

A key topic at the convention was how do we grade Junior Hoffa as Teamster president? The answers were telling. He earned an “F” at Anheuser-Busch after disarming the workers and shutting down the unions corporate campaign. To top it off, he then rammed a sub-par contract down their throats.

At Northwest Airlines he tried the same thing, but so far, a rank and file network of activists have rebuffed his pro-management efforts. At United Parcel Service (UPS), he allowed the employer to renege on providing the fulltime jobs won in the historic strike of 1996.

Highlighted at the convention was the largest wildcat strike since the 1970s, against Iowa Beef Products (IBP), an international meat packing company. The strike in Pasco, Washington, lead by Latina/o workers, was an example of true rank and file struggle against the bosses.

In response to this upsurge, Junior Hoffa had the IBP local put into trusteeship, in fear that the old guard leadership would lose the upcoming election to the new leaders. “Our eyes have been opened, and we won't stop fighting,” said a convention participant.

“In short order, Hoffa has made it his priority to undermine rank and file power,” said another convention attendee.

The 1998 TDU-endorsed candidate for International President of the Teamsters, Tom Leedham, summed it up: “The Hoffa people do the same thing over and over again. First they talk tough...then they settle short...and finally they declare victory.” And their sellout of the workers is complete.

Leedham's own history, as a union leader who will fight all-out on behalf of workers, stands in stark contrast to Hoffa's pro-boss tactics. Because of this, TDU members view Tom Leedham as one of their own. Many at the convention were encouraging Leedham to run against Hoffa in 2001.

Vital Role of TDU

Like a magnet, TDU has drawn the best fighters from the rank and file of this important union for the past 25 years.

At the TDU convention, organizing techniques are learned and networks of union activists are formed. New strategies are hatched, debated, and implemented by workers demanding justice from their employers. TDU is always at the center of the class struggle. This convention was no different in that respect.

TDU does not just complain and run candidates. Convention workshops taught Teamsters how to organize their co-workers and fight attacks from the boss as well as the sellouts in the union. Rank and file Teamsters discussed and debated what a reform union should look like.

Showdown Ahead

The next big struggle will be at the union's International Convention, in 2001. The fight to elect reform delegates will occur in every local union of the Teamsters. “This will be an important chance to elect rank and file members instead of fat cats,” said Mike Turnure, TDU activist.

Most people at the TDU convention are convinced that Hoffa is in the process of trying to take away the Rank and File Teamster's right to vote for International Union President and Executive Board. This, no doubt, will be a major fight at the International Convention.

The International Convention will also nominate officers for International President and the Executive Board. The convention can make sweeping changes in the constitution. This could move us forward, or take away gains that have taken decades to win.

The TDU convention voted to initiate delegate campaigns with a reform platform that includes giving local unions the right to change their bylaws to allow elected business agents.

The TDU convention was successful, a rank and file gathering of nearly 500 teamster activists. Any teamster member who wants to fight for a strong and democratic union should plan on attending next year.

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