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On
Jan. 1 two New York City Teamsters Locals will be headed by new reform
leaderships. The two locals, Local 804 and 814,
have voted in officers pledging to stop the concessions, corruption,
and roll-over approach to bargaining that was the norm under the incumbents
and is far too common in other locals and the International leadership
of the Teamsters Union. They have both called for a new fightback approach based around mobilizing the rank
and file, democratizing the union, and doing away with the bloated
salaries and perks enjoyed by the old guard incumbents.
Both
reform slates were inspired by rank-and-file organizing efforts against
concessions negotiated by the incumbent leadership.
In
Local 804, a 7000-member local of mostly UPS employees, workers
organized a successful “Vote No” campaign against the UPS contract and
local rider agreement, which included significant pension cuts and
work-rule changes. When the ranks voted down their local rider, holding
up the implementation of the entire national contract, the old guard
was forced to return to the bargaining table and remove the worst of
the concessions in order to secure passage.
Leaders
of the “Vote No” campaign formed the 804 Members United Slate, an
election slate of rank-and-file workers. The slate received 68% of the
vote against the incumbents. The newly elected slate has pledged to
implement a 10-point program to strengthen democracy and rank-and-file
participation in the local, and negotiate stronger contracts and
improve the local’s pension fund. The new officers will reduce officer
salaries by $35,000 and eliminate 401K contributions for officers in
order to restore financial health to the local.
The
Local 804 victory is also very symbolic for the reform movement, as 804
was the home local of the first democratically elected International
General President of the Teamsters, Ron Carey, who led the union in the
1990s and fought to transform the Teamsters from a corrupt mob-controlled
union in to a democratic member-run institution. Carey also led the
historic 1997 national UPS strike, the largest and most militant strike
in recent years, which resulted in a major victory for UPS workers and
inspired workers throughout the country.
In
Local 814, which includes commercial movers and auction house workers,
the New Directions Slate won with 72% of the vote. Rank-and-file
workers organized campaigns to fight concessionary contracts and
exposed how the current administration bankrupted the local’s pension
and health funds. The New Directions Slate built the foundation of
their campaign through a series of successful “Vote No” contract
campaigns.
The
issues affecting rank-and-file Teamsters in these locals are the same
ones that affect all Teamsters. Employers, whether profitable or not,
are using the recession to pressure unions to accept concessions.
Teamster employers have found union leaders on the other side of the
bargaining tables far too willing to accept whatever they propose.
In
the 12 years since Jimmy Hoffa Jr. was elected General President of the
Teamsters, workers have witnessed their contracts weakened and their
pension funds depleted, in some cases on the brink of collapse. Hoffa
came to power promising to restore Teamster power; instead he has
restored incompetence, corruption, bloated officer salaries (Hoffa
himself pulled in $383,132 last year), and inferior contracts.
The
failures of the Hoffa administration are most glaring in the union’s
traditional core industry: freight trucking. The industry continues to
be dominated by non-union companies and owner-operators. The few
remaining Teamster shops in the industry have been pressured to accept
concessions.
The
last National Master Freight Agreement, negotiated in early 2008 before
the recession when freight companies were reporting large profits,
contained many concessions in work rules, outsourcing, and minimal wage
and benefit packages.
Since
the economic downturn, the trucking giant YRC has added insult to
injury by twice demanding, with the support of Hoffa, the reopening of
the NMFA to get further concessions. The 50,000 Teamsters were
pressured by the International to accept first a 10% wage reduction and
then, a few months later, a further 5% wage cut and an 18-month
suspension of pension contributions.
While
the national settlement was approved, a few YRC local subsidiaries
rejected the concessions. Additionally, the ranks from Chicago area Teamsters Locals 705
and 710, who negotiate contracts separate from the NMFA, rejected the
concessions. The officers of Local 705 have supported the YRC workers
refusal of concessions, while Local 710 President Pat Flynn, an
International VP and Hoffa lackey, has tried to convince workers in
both locals to vote for concessions.
The
workers have now rejected concessions multiple times. Hoffa responded
by abolishing the Chicago area locals’ separate
contracts and putting them under the NMFA, a move done under very shaky
legal and bylaw precedent. Fearing legal challenges, Hoffa once again
put the YRC proposed concessions to a vote at 705 and 710 on Dec. 9—and
again workers rejected them.
At
the Teamsters’ largest employer, UPS, union members have faced
production harassment, outsourcing, and contract violations with little
to no response from the International. Despite making $1.4 billion in
profits in the first three quarters of this year, management at UPS has
used the economic downturn as justification to speed up workers and
violate their contract. Harassment by management of delivery drivers to
meet production standards has been reported by drivers throughout the
country.
UPS
has also failed to live up to its commitment to create 20,000 full-time
inside jobs, as mandated by the previous two contracts (these full-time
inside jobs were won in the 1997 strike). Management in many UPS barns
has instead eliminated existing full-time jobs and forced workers back
to part-time work—in clear violation of the contract. The International
has failed to fight for the many grievances filed on this issue in
front of national panels, and has not initiated any type of response to
this critical contract violation.
Many
Teamsters are looking for an alternative to the overpaid, do-nothing
leadership of Hoffa. Teamsters for a Democratic
Union, a rank-and-file caucus inside the Teamsters, has launched
a new campaign, Dump Hoffa (dumphoffa.org). While no candidate has been
announced to oppose Hoffa in the 2011 international Teamster election,
activists are getting the word out about Hoffa’s failures as General
President, and recruiting the rank-and-file members needed to bring
about a change in the union.
Building
a stronger Teamsters Union depends on the strength and participation of
the membership. Only the members, fully participating and controlling
their union, can improve the working conditions for themselves. The
election of militant rank-and-file workers to the leadership posts of
Locals 804 and 814 is an important step to creating a democratic fightback union.
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