Denver, CO — On Tuesday, February 10, over 50 Denver community members showed their public support for the Denver Art Museum Workers United (DAMWU) as they prepare for another round of negotiations with the company later this month. Contract negotiations have continued for the past year and a half since the initial vote for union recognition.

Supporting DAMWU were Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), Denver Public Libraries Workers United (DPLWU), and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

DAMWU won their union election in March of 2024 and since then has made great strides in achieving better working conditions for museum employees.

The fight, however, is not over and negotiations surrounding livable wages, health and safety standards, and immigration protection are still ongoing.

Sarah Darlene, an artist and union supporter, spoke at the event about the importance of union presence saying, “When workers are paid well, admissions go up, and the quality of the museum increases.”

Many Denver Art Museum employees hold two or more jobs despite working 40 hours a week providing a valuable public service in spreading awareness and knowledge through access to art.

Health and safety issues are also of critical importance to the union. The museum has refused to allow their gallery attendants to sit without a doctor’s note during their eight-hour shifts. One union member mentioned her father’s lifelong career as a construction worker, saying “One thing management never required of him was standing for the sake of standing.” Along with this basic request are demands for an extension of maternity leave and additional annual sick time.

Denver citizens showed their support through chants like, “Exploitation ain’t the way, workers gotta get their pay,” and “When livable wage is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” Denver workers and community members feel the cost of living weighing down on them, and they will fight to earn a livable wage.

DAMWU will return to the table on Thursday, February 26 to continue negotiating their first contract. Whether the company will agree to come to a resolution remains to be seen.

#DenverCO #CO #Labor #DAMWU #TDU #Teamsters #DPLWU #FRSO

Sylvester and Teamsters United Slate VP candidate Fred Zuckerman, have been the main opponents of Hoffa’s concessionary contract with its largest employer, United Parcel Service (UPS). While UPS made $3.92 billion in profits last year, the Hoffa Team negotiated a national master contract with major givebacks. Despite strong opposition from rank and file workers across the country, “Hoffa rammed it down our throats in repeated votes,” said Local 344 UPS Feeder Driver Andrew May. Some local supplemental agreements still have not been ratified by the Teamster members, but Hoffa signed that sellout agreement anyway. “After the contract was forced onto the last three remaining locals, I knew it was time for change,” May said. “That is why I am supporting Tim Sylvester and the Teamsters United Slate. Hoffa and the current leaders are not fighting for what Teamsters want.”

In New York, Tim Sylvester negotiated the Local 804 supplemental agreement. He led his members in a struggle that resulted in the best UPS contract in the country. This included a $400 pension increase, more full-time jobs and grievance procedure reform. In Louisville, Fred Zuckerman mobilized Local 89 members to vote against contract givebacks at UPS, UPS Freight and elsewhere in the freight industry.

Tim Sylvester and Fred Zuckerman represent the unity of two different opposition slates that both ran against Hoffa in 2011. Sylvester is seen as part the reform movement that includes the influential group Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). TDU fought for, and in 1991 won, the right of Teamster members to directly elect their International President and International Executive Board. TDU endorsed and help elect Ron Carey in the first such election. Sylvester has been a regular speaker at recent TDU conventions.

Sylvester and Carey were both elected president of the same Teamsters Local 804 in Queens, New York. As a UPS driver, Sylvester supported Carey, who led the historic 1997 nationwide strike against UPS. Carey was reelected when he ran against Hoffa in 1996. After the strike the federal government removed Carey from office, paving the way for Hoffa to be elected in 1999.

Zuckerman, in contrast, was a former Hoffa supporter. He served as the Carhaul Division Director under Hoffa, but broke with Hoffa in the last election to run for VP along with other former Hoffa supporters.

Gina Alvarez thinks that the Sylvester/Zuckerman Teamster United Slate is the best chance that working Teamsters have had to take control of their union in almost 20 years, since Ron Carey was General President. “We have strong candidates, but more importantly, we have the organization and enthusiasm to defeat the Hoffa machine.”

Alvarez should know. She has been involved with the Teamsters for more than 35 years. “I started working at the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund in 1980. That is how I became a member of Teamsters Local 743.” She rose to become Secretary Treasurer of the 13,000 member local union. Presumably because she was a strong voice for rank-and-file power in the Teamsters, she was forced out of office by Hoffa and his executive board in 2010. Since then she has served on the International Steering Committee of TDU.

“It is not just UPS. Under Hoffa’s watch, hardworking Teamsters in manufacturing, freight and other industries have seen their wages and benefits shrink or disappear without a fight,” said Alvarez. “Hoffa sees himself as a deal maker. His deals keep taking us backwards. Tim Sylvester understands that we need to mobilize the rank-and-file workers to fight for better wages, health insurance, pensions and working conditions. That is the legacy of Ron Carey that he enthusiastically embraces.”

The signatures that Sylvester and Zuckerman turned in are just the start of their difficult journey to unseat an incumbent Teamster General President. They need to elect at least 5% of the delegates to the Teamster Convention next summer. If successful, they will then need to get a majority of the votes cast in the autumn 2016 election. The Hoffa slate promises to be well financed. Teamsters United will need to respond with people power. All Teamsters are eligible to vote.

“Hoffa thinks this is his union that he inherited from his father. He runs off to capitol hill and makes deals that are in the interests of his friends,” said Teamster Local 705 activist Benjamin Cline, “but this is our union. We are the Teamsters! Sylvester and Zuckerman are not our saviors, we are our saviors. After we elect the Teamster United Slate we are going to hold them accountable.”

It promises to be an interesting year in the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters!

#ChicagoIL #Teamsters #TDU #RonCarey #TeamstersForADemocraticUnion #TimSylvester #JamesHoffa

Do I remember when I met Pete Camarata? Yeah, I remember. It was in Pittsburgh in the late 1980s before the national convention of our reform caucus, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). All the Teamster reformers were there.

We were excited because we had just won the right for rank-and-file Teamster members to elect the top national officers of our union. Many TDU leaders were busy trying to build a consensus around Ron Carey’s candidacy for General President of the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters (IBT). But Pete Camarata had some tough questions that needed answering before he would support Carey or anyone else.

Pete Camarata was always the guy in the Teamsters with the tough questions. If this guy Carey is really a reformer why isn’t he in TDU? How do we know that he won’t turn into the same as the rest of our so called leaders? He is a UPS [United Parcel Service] guy, what’s he going to do to stop the erosion of the Master Freight Agreement? Is he going to put TDU members on his slate? What about those who have been excluded from leadership like Blacks, Latinos or women? Eventually the questions got answered and in 1991 Ron Carey was elected with Pete’s support, the only reform International President in Teamster history.

Pete always had the tough questions, whether it was in the TDU caucus, his local union or just hanging out. Everyone at the convention knew Pete. How could you not know him? Pete was a founding member and one the co-chairs of TDU. He saw the need for a strong national caucus that could challenge the mob controlled IBT that was selling out its members. And the night before the TDU convention his hotel room was always buzzing with debate.

As a young Teamster I looked up to Pete. In 1976, as the lone reform delegate at the Las Vegas Teamster convention he spoke out against preposterously high salaries for officers. Pete was the lone voice from the convention floor objecting to the election of International President Frank Fitzimmons by unanimous consent. He then went on to remind the delegates of the mob hit on Jimmy Hoffa less than one year earlier. Trying to run him out of Las Vegas, the mob beat him up and left him for dead.

Pete had the courage of ten thousand Teamsters. Unafraid, after the 1976 convention he testified about mob control in the Teamsters before the U.S. Senate. He then ran for president of the IBT at their next convention in 1981.

Like most Teamsters, Pete was a worker. He worked on the dock and then later he drove a truck. He also worked as staff at Teamsters Local 722 and my old Local 743. But unlike most, he could talk to any worker like he grew up next door to them. He was a real leader.

Once I asked Pete if he could talk to some of my coworkers about TDU. The housekeepers and food service workers from the University of Chicago Hospitals, overwhelmingly African American, at first wondered about the big Italian American truck driver from Detroit. But, in no time Pete had them discussing plans for petitions, rallies and other activities to fight their oppression on the job.

Pete was always there when you needed him. He didn’t care what neighborhood or what time of day. If there were workers fighting the boss, Pete wanted to be there.

Peter Camarata was a great friend, but also he inspired me to fight for justice. Pete understood that unions are the organizations of the working class. His life continues to be an example for those who believe in class struggle unionism.

Pete was this year’s recipient of the Big Bill Haywood Award at Fight Back!’s annual People’s Thanksgiving in Chicago.

Richard Berg is the past President of Teamsters Local 743 and currently works as a staff representative for AFSCME Council 31.

#ChicagoIL #Remembrances #Teamsters #TDU #TeamstersForADemocraticUnion #PeterCamarata