Chief among the issues is the new two-tier system, known as the 22.4 driver classification. In this new agreement, UPS was allowed to classify one-fifth of the drivers as “combination drivers” who in theory work part-time inside the warehouse and part-time driving – and are paid less. But what happened instead is exactly what reformers and rank-and-file members said would happen. UPS used this new classification as a way to work 20% of their drivers for cheaper wages with no overtime protections, including mandatory six-day work weeks.

This issue has been a particular focus of Teamster presidential candidate Sean O’Brien of the O’Brien/Zuckerman (OZ) slate, who has called it a strike issue. How members have reacted is already being seen in the results of the delegate elections, where OZ-supporting slates have been tremendously successful, a sign of how the international elections will go. While the convention itself can’t do anything directly about the 22.4 issue, it’s possible that the delegates can pass resolutions to take action.

With a likely OZ slate victory looming in the future, the stage is set for the 2023 contract campaign. The 22.4 issue is an extremely charged one and has the potential to build to a strike.

#GrandRapidsMI #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #Hoffa #TeachersUnions #OBrienZuckerman

Unlike the national contract and other local supplements which were pushed through under an obscure two-thirds rule loophole, Teamsters voted well over 66.7% against these supplements. Taylor claims that the union simply cannot make greater demands of the company in negotiations and that they have no choice but to accept these offers.

To do this, Taylor and Hoffa are going before the General Executive Board of the Teamsters to amend the constitution. Members of the board, including candidate for Teamsters President in 2021 Sean O’Brien, are rallying to uphold the votes of the membership and to direct Taylor to continue negotiations.

Last October, the company attempted to blackmail UPS Teamsters by declaring that a rejection of their local supplement would lead to a weaker second offer. After UPSers in both places defiantly rejected it, Taylor cut off the bargaining process, granting UPS carte blanche to carry out its threats. This essentially punishes rank-and-file Teamsters who dared to stand up to a concession-riddled contract, pushed by the Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. arm-in-arm with the company.

Teamsters across the country will be hurt by this direct attack on their livelihood. At the same time, UPS and other companies that employ Teamsters can rest easy knowing that they can rely on leaders like Taylor and Hoffa to carry out their plans for increasing exploitation of their workforce. It’s up to the membership to hold leadership accountable, with the 2021 election for Teamsters General President as a key site of struggle.

#TampaFL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #Hoffa #UPS

Hoffa's complete rejection of democracy and member control might be music to the ears of UPS corporate leaders, but many Teamsters are calling this the last straw. Members at other national and regional companies look at Hoffa's actions and wonder if their contracts will be forced through as well. Teamster employers look at Hoffa's actions and prepare for negotiations knowing they no longer need a majority of Teamsters to vote yes. Hoffa's fight against Teamster democracy means concessions for members. In response, reformers in Teamsters United and Teamsters for a Democratic Union are planning to overturn this loophole at the next convention.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #Hoffa #UPS

“I'm supporting Teamsters United because I want our leadership to fight for our members and not the company's interests,” said Lena Molina, a nine-year UPS worker from Teamsters Local 63 in California.

The Teamsters have been under the leadership of General President James P. Hoffa, Jr. for 17 years. The son of Jimmy Hoffa, Sr. who ran the Teamsters from 1958 to 1971, Hoffa Jr. has overseen a rise in concessions to employers, the weakening of pensions and a decline in union democracy.

“Teamsters are uniting because of Hoffa’s 17 years of failed leadership. Teamsters are fed up with the corruption and betrayal,” Fred Zuckerman told Fight Back!. “This has resulted in contract concessions, losing our standard of living and for hundreds of thousands of Teamsters losing their pensions. Teamsters are looking for leadership that will stand with them, not with the employers.”

Fred Zuckerman, Hoffa Jr.'s challenger, is the president of Teamsters Local 89, one of the largest Teamster locals. Zuckerman has served the union at every level and rose to national prominence by opposing Hoffa's concessionary contract to UPS and by speaking out against Hoffa's lack of response to such things as the pension crisis and subcontracting.

UPS feeder drivers are in a real struggle to stop the company from undermining their work by using cheaper, nonunion subcontractors.

Andrew May, a feeder driver out of Teamsters Local 344 explained why he favors Zuckerman.

“I am supporting Zuckerman because we need a leader who has fought subcontracting and is willing to fight for stronger language in our contract. Zuckerman fought subcontracting at Holland and was in process of fighting it in UPS before Hoffa forced the contract onto the members.”

While some of the latest news in the Teamsters has been the dramatic cuts to 400,000 Teamsters in the Central States Pension Fund, fresh on the minds of UPS workers has been the concessionary contract Hoffa handed UPS at a time when UPS was making record profits.

Mark Timlin, a UPS package driver and leader of the Vote No movement at UPS, decided to get involved with the Teamsters United campaign. He pointed out that Hoffa Jr. was never a worker and doesn't understand worker issues.

“Hoffa Jr. was once a corporate lawyer while Fred Zuckerman came up from the rank and file and listens and understands Teamsters. Zuckerman and his Teamsters United slate will put an end to contracts being negotiated on corporate terms,” Timlin commented.

Part-time Teamsters are also campaigning for the Teamsters United slate hoping for more full-time jobs and better working conditions in the warehouses.

“I want to know that when I organize on the shop floor that my union will listen to us. But instead we have this culture brought by Hoffa to accept the conditions we work under and discourage change,” said Gabriella Killpack, a part-time UPS worker in Utah.

The campaign is heating up as Teamsters from around the country are organizing to stop Hoffa's concessions. In a time of growing economic uncertainty and disparity, Fred Zuckerman and the Teamsters United slate will bring a new era that Teamsters can be proud of and will also bring a significant contribution to the entire working class in their fight against corporate greed.

“Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. has been running this union since 1999, the entire time I've been working at UPS,” said Benjamin Cline, a ten-year Teamster volunteering for the Teamsters United campaign. “I continue to watch companies like UPS reach record profits year after year while our contracts have gotten worse. We want is a leadership with as much fight as the members. This should be inspiring for all workers, not just Teamsters.”

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #Hoffa #FredZuckerman #TeachersUnions

Delegates supporting current President James P. Hoffa and Secretary Treasurer Ken Hall’s slate were ruthless. They shouted profanities and boos at the top of their lungs in an attempt to keep the reform Teamsters United slate’s nominations from being heard by the delegates.

During the nominations, the behavior of the Hoffa supporters was meekly checked by the independent election officer. He quietly banged the gavel asking for order. Despite having the authority, he disciplined none of the Hoffa delegates for their outrageous behavior.

Despite this, hundreds of reform minded Teamsters supporting Fred Zuckerman of Louisville Local 89 for president and the Teamster United Slate held tough. They stood out in front of the hall amid a flow of union officials wearing the red vest which indicates allegiance to Hoffa.

Later in the day, a series of noncontroversial resolutions were passed with no opposition. These included supporting organizing drives in various companies such as FedEx, XPO/Conway and others.

The Teamsters United Slate provides the convention with a much needed reality check. These Teamsters know that their union has been in a free fall. They are ready to fight take control from the ineffective leadership of Hoffa/Hall.

Without the Teamsters United Slate’s sober vision, the Hoffa scripted convention’s fictional account of the Teamsters union and the labor movement would go unchallenged. Out of touch International vice presidents had nothing to say about key contract negotiations in industries like carhaul and freight. They had nothing to say about the Teamster pension crisis at the Central States Pension Fund. Or the last UPS contract, which was ultimately forced upon members who never voted for it.

What could the leadership say? That the strategy of complete collaboration with the employers has led to huge losses for the members of our union? That things are terrible because of us, but we are not going to change a thing? Fiction is much, much better to these guys.

The reality of the rank and file is not discussed by those on stage in suits. Concessions, cutbacks, retirement losses, harassment and the rapid growth of right to work legislation are felt by the working members of this union. These battles will be fought out on the shop floor across the country, and not in the Teamster marble palace in Washington DC or at its convention in the middle of a desert.

#LasVegasNV #Teamsters #Hoffa

Las Vegas, Nev. – Teamster President James P. Hoffa has decided to spend millions of dollars in union members’ dues money to showcase himself at the International convention which opened June 27 in Las Vegas. Hoffa demands that delegates wear red vests to show loyalty to his presidency as he seeks another five-year term in office.

“I’m not wearing a red vest,” said Teamsters Local 705 member Benjamin Cline. Cline is a United Parcel Service (UPS) warehouse worker in Chicago. “Hoffa likes to project a spectacle of ‘Teamster Power’ when in reality he has delivered concessionary giveback contracts, more corruption and suppression of the voice of rank and file Teamsters.”

Cline belongs to a coalition of courageous workers and officials from around the county who chose the Black vest of reformer Fred Zuckerman from the Teamsters United slate. Zuckerman, along with a full slate of candidates, plans to be nominated and to run against Hoffa and his cronies. Louisville Local 89 President Fred Zuckerman led the fight against the sellout agreement negotiated by James Hoffa and his Secretary Treasurer Ken Hall with the United Parcel Service.

“I have been working for UPS for ten years. That is long enough to see that with Hoffa we keep going backward,” said Cline, “Teamsters United represents workers willing to fight back. I like to think that I am one of those guys.”

Hoffa is a spin doctor. The millions spent at the convention is meant to convey power in the face of huge losses for the union. There will be no real debate or discussion about the problems facing the American working class, but plenty of free drinks for those wearing red vests.

Fight Back! will be covering the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Convention this week live from Las Vegas, Nevada.

#LasVegasNV #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #Hoffa

Hacer acuerdos que desbaratan a los obreros ya es una cosa tradicional para Jimmy Hoffa Jr., Presidente internacional de los Teamsters. Por lo tanto no es nada sorprendiente que el intervino para ayudar a sus amigotes en el local 556 que pretendían aplastar a María Martinez y al movimiento de base en este local.

Para comenzar, trataron de sacarla del puesto de delegada principal de los obreros. Cuándo eso fracasó, Hoffa y el liderato internacional del sindicato se apoderaron del local por medio de síndicos (es decir, que le quitaron la autonomía del local).

Estos intentos de aplastar a María y a los trabajadores del local 556 han fracasado totalmente. Recientemente los obreros eligieron a María Martinez al puesto mas importante en el local, “Oficial Principal”, por un márgen aplastante de 3 a 1 de los votos. Ahora Martinez se ha postulado por el puesto de vicepresidente internacional en la planilla reformista de las bases de Tom Leedham.

Desde el este del estado de Washington, María Martinez ya emerge como una inspiración a los miembros del sindicato de camioneros, a los inmigrantes, y a la gente oprimida en todo el país.

Aquí hay una entrevista que el periódico ¡Lucha y Resiste! hizo con María Martinez:

¡Lucha y Resiste! ¿Por que motivo se pusieron de huelga los trabajadores de IPB?

Maria Martinez: “Llegamos a quedar hartos de no ser respetados por la gerencia. Las controversias fueron salarios, pensiones y sobretodo la velocidad de la cadena de producción. Ellos negociaban el nivel en que nos iban a explotar a nosotros. Pero a fin de cuentas, nosotros demandamos que nos respetaran.”

LyR: ¿Recibieron apoyo de afuera de su propio sindicato? ¿Que tan importante era aquel apoyo?

MM: “Muy importante. Derivamos mucha inspiración del apoyo de la comunidad y de los hermanos locales 206 y 174 de los Teamsters, quienes también nos abastecieron con comida. Antes de la huelga, jamás sabíamos que era posible conseguir apoyo. Sin lugar a dudas, este apoyo nos dio el valor de levantarnos. Nos comprobió que tuvimos razón.”

LyR: ¿Puede usted decirnos como trataban a los latinos en IBP? ¿Y cuál ha sido la relación entre el sindicato y los trabajadores?”

MM: “A los trabajadores latinos siempre nos impujaban a hacer mas trabajo que nos era seguro. Luego nos lastimábamos, y la gerencia intentaba deshacerse de nosotros.

“Para la mayoría de los latinos, el sindicato era simplemente in lugar al cual uno tenía que pagar una cuóta. Pero hemos aprendido que es mas. Es participación. Es el asunto de tener voz y voto en el sindicato local e internacional. Cuándo luchábamos de tomar control del sindicato, eso reflejó el poder de los obreros.

“Las diferencias pueden notarse en las elecciones que se acercan, para el liderato de los Teamsters. Jimmy Hoffa siempre ha pretendido manipular y utilizar a los latinos. Su contrincante, Tom Leedham, tiene un historial de apoyar y cooperar con los latinos. Nos quiere dar poder, no dividirnos.

LyR: ¿Porque se ha postulado como candidata de vicepresidente internacional en la planilla “Poder para La Base” de Tom Leedham?

MM: “Me postulé porque estoy a favor de que el sindicato sea fuerte. Para mi eso significa logrando mas participación de los miembros. Especialmente, opino que los latinos debemos participar en esta campaña y en este sindicato internacional.

“Tom es una persona como nosotros, viene de donde nosotros venimos. Tom era un obrero común y corriente, de modo que sabe como es cuándo el patrón te está presionando”

LyR: ¿Hay algo mas que usted quisiera agregar?

MM: “Nosotros como obreros inmigrantes necesitamos participar en nuestro sindicato para que tengamos una voz. No conviene que otros nos quiten esto.

“Por medio de nuestra participación nos vamos educando y fortaleciendo nuestra voz. La gerencia, los políticos y los lideres del sindicato no nos pueden dar la espalda si estamos organizados y si participamos”.

#Iowa #IA #Interview #WomensMovement #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Teamsters #MariaMartinez #IowaBeefProcessing #Hoffa

Instead, Hoffa failed to negotiate even enough from employers to maintain the pensions of workers covered by the Teamster’s pension plan. The lies about a dues increase and the sudden cutbacks in Teamster pensions have led to an explosion of anti-Hoffa sentiment across the union.

While Hoffa’s huge PR machine still dazzles the corporate media, Teamsters across the country are looking for alternatives to their famous president who prefers the company of mobsters, bosses and republican politicians to the workers who are fighting to maintain their standard of living. Teamsters in Georgia recently voted out Hoffa allies in favor of reformers who promised to organize workers to fight in their own interests. Rather than stand with the new leaders, Hoffa’s allies on Joint Council 75 ordered a second election to give his cronies another chance. The workers saw through this sham and again voted for the reformers who were running on the Members First Slate.

Hoffa ally Robert Walston, in Chicago’s Local 743, didn’t even bother to include the joint council in the decision to stop an election he was losing. He just called for a ‘do over.’ Hoffa upheld the right of his crony in Local 743 to block the election of the reform 743 New Leadership Slate. Not surprisingly, the second election was fraught with irregularities.

Since this ‘election,’ Walston’s connections to the Chicago underworld have surfaced. Walston has run a video poker business and associated with known mobsters. In a dying confession, former Local 743 President Chester Glanton told a Teamster anti-corruption committee about how Walston had made deals to give free health insurance to the relatives and friends of mob businesses. Walston has also had secret meetings with former Local 743 boss Robert Simpson at the mob-run Russian Turkish Bathhouse.

Hoffa has had troubles closer to home. Hoffa was forced to fire his top assistant, Carlow Scalf. Scalf had embezzled $69,000 in housing funds to which he was not entitled. Hoffa first suspended him, but was later forced to fire him when Teamsters for a Democratic Union protested the mere slap on the wrist.

Mounting corruption while workers’ standard of living continues to fall has led local Teamster leaders to form the New Leadership Committee. The committee is exploring what it will take to defeat Jimmy Hoffa in next year’s election.

The Teamsters for a Democratic Union website (tdu.org) quotes Jack Reardon, vice president of Local 170 in Massachusetts, “Right now, we’re at the stage of reaching out and building the alliances and campaign infrastructure we’ll need, not just to win this election but to successfully lead this union on a new course. Our job is to build a grassroots army for change.”

Local Teamster officials are sick of Hoffa’s patronage army that does nothing to assist them when the boss asks for even more concessions. Worse yet, when the International Union does show up, it is usually to punish reformers for putting the members’ interests before those of the Hoffa machine.

This was the case in Pasco, Washington, where Tyson Foods was able to use Teamster documents to end its relationship with Local 556 and its militant Latina leader Maria Martinez. “Maria Martinez was an inspiration to all immigrant Teamsters,” said Chicago Teamster Tony Caldera, “she organized the workers, she used militant contract campaigns to fight for dignity and respect for all workers. That is why the company went after her and that is why Hoffa went after her.”

Hoffa has also failed miserably at organizing new members. This is especially important to the Teamsters working in the delivery of freight, which is where the union got its historic truck driving strength. Reformers, under the leadership of Ron Carey, organized almost half of the freight industry’s largest non-union trucking company, Overnight. When Hoffa took office, rather than finish the job, he ordered them out on a disastrous, ill-conceived strike. The strike failed miserably, destroying the livelihoods of many courageous Overnight workers and ending the Teamster’s last serious attempt to organize the freight industry.

Now Hoffa wants to join with the leaders of SEIU, UNITE HERE, the Carpenters Union and others – but not to rebuild the labor movement. Under the Hoffa Plan, he would be able to keep a larger portion of the union dues. “I was at the last Teamster convention,” said Local 743 delegate Esmerelda Cuevas, “Hoffa just wants the money for himself and his patronage army.”

“Teamsters are ready for a change,” said TDU International Steering Committee member Richard Berg, “The Hoffa name has not done anything but divert us from fighting for better wages and benefits. We are ready to focus on the future. We can leave Hoffa and his failed legacy in the past.”

#UnitedStates #News #Teamsters #Hoffa #TDU #theMob

With rank and file power and very little money, Tom Leedham pulled close in the final months of the campaign, but time ran out. Junior Hoffa campaigned for 4 years, had the famous family name and 6 million dollars. Leedham was unknown to most members and entered the race only last spring. He beat Hoffa Jr., in Minnesota.

Junior Hoffa won largely because of the support of old-guard, hack union leaders, many of them earning over $100,000 per year. They have far more in common with the bosses than the members.

Hoffa is a millionaire lawyer who has never held an elected office or a real job, he does not know how to fight even if he wanted to. Much of his vote totals came from lop-sided turnouts in large locals where his cronies were able to mobilize paid union staff to turn out votes for him.

Tom Leedham's campaign suffered a couple of major hits. First, Leedham was abandoned by so-called allies in the Teamster reform movement. Many officials who were the first to suck up to Ron Carey and the reform movement when it was in power, showed their true colors when the chips where down and refused to lift a finger for the Leedham campaign. For example, Sue Maurn and the other misleaders of Minnesota's Local 320.

On top of that, many Teamsters who voted for Carey just did not vote this time, apparently disgusted with the whole process. Overall, nearly one million ballots were never sent in.

The loss points to the need for the reform movement to get back to the basics of organizing to build the grassroots movement that it will take to truly reform the Teamsters union.

Much of Hoffa Junior's campaign beat the drum for unity and pride. His record shows that these cliches will mean little more than repressing the call from union members who are fighting to the end against the entrenched business unionism that has suffocated the Teamsters for decades now.

It will be key to watch how Junior relates to the AFL-CIO leadership, many of whom supported Ron Carey in the 1996 election. Hoffa's conservative influence will likely hold back the changes that AFL-CIO leader, John Sweeney, has promoted to move the labor movement in a more progressive direction.

Leedham and TDU have pledged to hold Junior Hoffa's feet to the fire, forcing him to live up to campaign promises to fight for good contracts, promote a militant Teamsters union, and preserve union democracy. Teamster reformers have been very successful in pushing Hoffa to talk the reform talk. He has even promised to cut the salaries of his lackeys. Now all Teamsters can push Hoffa Junior to walk the walk.

The results of this election deliver one clear message: the tasks of the reform movement in the Teamsters are more important than ever. The lesson of this election is that only a large, active, well-organized reform movement can defeat old-guard Teamsters and rebuild a strong, democratic and militant Teamsters union. The fight goes on

#UnitedStates #News #Teamsters #Hoffa #TDU #TomLeedham

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

Now Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. will negotiate with UPS. What can the 200,000 Teamsters at UPS expect from Junior? If given the chance, he will talk tough and settle short. This is the most important contract he will negotiate this year, and he has no experience with UPS. They are a rich company. If the Teamsters had a campaign that mobilized the members like in '97, they could win a strong contract.

Hoffa is more interested in cuddling up to George Bush than building a fighting contract campaign. He wants Bush to remove the Independent Review Board that was imposed on the union 10 years ago. The reform movement is challenging Hoffa's power. He'll never get the members to stop fighting for change. He hopes he can get the Independent Review Board to back off, leaving him a free hand to turn back the tide of rank and file opposition.

The workers at UPS will have to rally around the leadership of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union, to stop Hoffa Junior from selling out at the bargaining table.

#UnitedStates #Commentary #Teamsters #Hoffa #RonCarey

Settling short has become a way of life for old-guard International Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa. It was not surprising that he stepped in to help his friends try to squash Martinez and the workers' movement in Local 556. First, they tried to remove her as chief steward. When this effort failed, Jimmy Hoffa had the International Union take over Local 556 through a trusteeship.

These efforts to keep down Martinez and members of Local 556 all failed miserably. Recently the trusteeship ended with members of Local 556 electing Maria Martinez Principle Officer (the top spot) of Local 556 by three to one margin. Now Martinez is running for International Vice President on the Tom Leedham Rank and File Power Slate.

Maria Martinez has emerged as an inspiration to Teamsters, immigrant workers, and oppressed peoples across the country.

The following is an interview Fight Back! conducted with Maria Martinez.

Fight Back!: Why did Iowa Beef Processing workers go on strike?

Maria Martinez: “We got sick and tired of not being respected by management. The issues were wages, pension, and especially the speed of the chain. They were negotiating our level of exploitation. But when it came down to it we demanded respect.”

Fight Back!: Did you receive support from outside your local union? How important was this support?

Maria Martinez: “Very important! We were truly inspired by the support from the community, as well as Teamsters Local 206 and Local 174, which also gave us food. Before this strike, we never knew that we could get support. There is no question that this support gave us the courage to stand up. It proved to us that we were right.”

Fight Back!: Could you speak to how Latinos were treated at I.B.P.? What has been the relationship between the union and the workers?

Maria Martinez: “Latinos at I.B.P. were constantly being pushed to do more work than was safe for them. Eventually, many would get hurt. The company would then try to terminate them.”

“For most Latinos, the union was just the place that you paid dues money. But we learned that it is more than that. It is getting involved. Having a voice in the Local Union and the International Union. When we fought to make the union ours, it reflected the power of the workers.”

“The differences can be seen in the upcoming International Union elections in the Teamsters. Jimmy Hoffa has always sought to manipulate and use hispanics. His opponent, Tom Leedham, has a history of supporting Latino and hispanic people. He wants to empower us, not divide us.”

Fight Back!: Why are you currently running for Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on the Tom Leedham Rank and File Power Slate?

Maria Martinez: “I am running because I believe in a strong union. For me that means getting members involved. I especially think Latinos need to be involved in this campaign and in this International Union.”

“Tom is like us, he comes from where we do. Tom was a rank and file worker, so he knows what it is like to have the boss on your back.”

Fight Back!: Is there anything that you would like to add?

Maria Martinez:“We as immigrant workers need to get involved in our union so that we can have a voice. We don't want others to take this from us.”

“Through our involvement we become educated and our voice becomes strong. Management, politicians, and union officials cannot ignore us if we are organized and involved.”

#UnitedStates #Interview #WomensMovement #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Teamsters #MariaMartinez #IowaBeefProcessing #Hoffa