Industrial vs. Craft
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After Winning Election, Hoffa Targets Teamsters’ Right to Vote
| December 28, 2011
In the wake of the November Teamster election, top officials are calling for stripping members of their right to vote for president and international executive board. Photo: Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
In the wake of the November Teamster election, top officials are calling for stripping members of their right to vote for president and international officers.
James Hoffa, president for the past 13 years, won the election with 59 percent of the vote, besting two opponents: Vice President Fred Gegare and New York local president Sandy Pope, who was backed by Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
Vice President Dan Kane then told officials in New York that it’s time to return to choosing presidents at union conventions. Other Hoffa lieutenants around the country soon floated the same line.
TDU, the reform movement within the union, is sounding the alarm to defend the right of members to elect their top officers.
FIVE MORE YEARS
Hoffa won despite a decade of declining Teamster standards, contract concessions, and pension cuts, illustrating the power of incumbency.
He raised $3 million, according to his slate’s financial reports, most of it from officials who owe their positions or power to him. His multiple mailings to the 1.3 million members were devoted to attacks on Pope. His campaign paid telemarketers to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls.
The union itself spent millions for a supposedly nonpartisan GOTV program, featuring automated phone calls from Bill Clinton and Danny DeVito (yes, the one who made the movie Hoffa).
The election supervisor also found that Hoffa and his election team had tried to bribe three high-level officials whom they wanted to deter from running, a violation Hoffa had to acknowledge in a mailing to all locals.
Pope raised about $200,000, and TDU contributed its own independent campaign support. Her phonebanks were staffed by volunteers.
A decade of corporate attacks and member demobilization took a toll on turnout and on Hoffa’s vote total. Just 20 percent of the union, 250,000 members, returned ballots.
But more important is the toll on Teamster power.
The TDU-backed candidate in the 1990s, Ron Carey, could tap a sentiment that Teamster power was real, and just needed someone willing to unleash it. And the union began to do just that, including the victorious 1997 UPS strike.
In the recent political climate, our argument has been more difficult: that Teamster power can be rebuilt. Thousands of members are up for the challenge, and are the heart and soul of the TDU movement. But most Teamsters have been hunkered down, without great hopes of transforming the union to take on corporate power.
Where Pope and TDU had volunteers on the ground, turnout was higher and the majority voted against Hoffa. Her candidacy inspired thousands of Teamsters, many of whom had given up on our union.
SUCCESSION STRATEGY
Teamsters—unlike most North American unionists—directly elect their president and executive board, with an impartial election supervisor to oversee the process. This right was won in the late 1980s when the Justice Department brought a racketeering lawsuit against top Teamster officials and mobsters. TDU mobilized to argue against a government takeover and for members’ right to vote.
Hoffa associates are now trotting out three tired rationales for ending the right to vote: Elections have low turnout, cost a lot, and “distract” from the union’s business.
The real reason: Hoffa is 70 years old and looking for a successor before the next election. Running an untested candidate, without a famous last name, is a problem for the old guard. Between 2006 and today, Hoffa’s majority slipped by 7 percent.
So quashing the right to vote is an insurance policy against a successful insurgency in 2016.
TDU members will not be waiting for the next election. Important contracts are coming up, including the largest in the country—260,000 Teamsters—at UPS. Pope’s campaign was stronger in UPS and other national units, where Teamsters have their contracts bargained by the international, not their local.
In areas where TDU has strong local roots, the election results were dramatically different from the national result. That is the base we will build on.
The argument that rank-and-file power can rebuild the Teamsters has been a hard sell in the last year.
But anti-corporate populism shows signs of gaining steam—thanks in good part to the 99% movement. TDU embodies that spirit within the Teamsters.
Hoffa is fond of calling the Teamsters “America’s strongest union.” Our job is to do our part to make that power a reality.
| December 28, 2011
In the wake of the November Teamster election, top officials are calling for stripping members of their right to vote for president and international executive board. Photo: Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
In the wake of the November Teamster election, top officials are calling for stripping members of their right to vote for president and international officers.
James Hoffa, president for the past 13 years, won the election with 59 percent of the vote, besting two opponents: Vice President Fred Gegare and New York local president Sandy Pope, who was backed by Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
Vice President Dan Kane then told officials in New York that it’s time to return to choosing presidents at union conventions. Other Hoffa lieutenants around the country soon floated the same line.
TDU, the reform movement within the union, is sounding the alarm to defend the right of members to elect their top officers.
FIVE MORE YEARS
Hoffa won despite a decade of declining Teamster standards, contract concessions, and pension cuts, illustrating the power of incumbency.
He raised $3 million, according to his slate’s financial reports, most of it from officials who owe their positions or power to him. His multiple mailings to the 1.3 million members were devoted to attacks on Pope. His campaign paid telemarketers to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls.
The union itself spent millions for a supposedly nonpartisan GOTV program, featuring automated phone calls from Bill Clinton and Danny DeVito (yes, the one who made the movie Hoffa).
The election supervisor also found that Hoffa and his election team had tried to bribe three high-level officials whom they wanted to deter from running, a violation Hoffa had to acknowledge in a mailing to all locals.
Pope raised about $200,000, and TDU contributed its own independent campaign support. Her phonebanks were staffed by volunteers.
A decade of corporate attacks and member demobilization took a toll on turnout and on Hoffa’s vote total. Just 20 percent of the union, 250,000 members, returned ballots.
But more important is the toll on Teamster power.
The TDU-backed candidate in the 1990s, Ron Carey, could tap a sentiment that Teamster power was real, and just needed someone willing to unleash it. And the union began to do just that, including the victorious 1997 UPS strike.
In the recent political climate, our argument has been more difficult: that Teamster power can be rebuilt. Thousands of members are up for the challenge, and are the heart and soul of the TDU movement. But most Teamsters have been hunkered down, without great hopes of transforming the union to take on corporate power.
Where Pope and TDU had volunteers on the ground, turnout was higher and the majority voted against Hoffa. Her candidacy inspired thousands of Teamsters, many of whom had given up on our union.
SUCCESSION STRATEGY
Teamsters—unlike most North American unionists—directly elect their president and executive board, with an impartial election supervisor to oversee the process. This right was won in the late 1980s when the Justice Department brought a racketeering lawsuit against top Teamster officials and mobsters. TDU mobilized to argue against a government takeover and for members’ right to vote.
Hoffa associates are now trotting out three tired rationales for ending the right to vote: Elections have low turnout, cost a lot, and “distract” from the union’s business.
The real reason: Hoffa is 70 years old and looking for a successor before the next election. Running an untested candidate, without a famous last name, is a problem for the old guard. Between 2006 and today, Hoffa’s majority slipped by 7 percent.
So quashing the right to vote is an insurance policy against a successful insurgency in 2016.
TDU members will not be waiting for the next election. Important contracts are coming up, including the largest in the country—260,000 Teamsters—at UPS. Pope’s campaign was stronger in UPS and other national units, where Teamsters have their contracts bargained by the international, not their local.
In areas where TDU has strong local roots, the election results were dramatically different from the national result. That is the base we will build on.
The argument that rank-and-file power can rebuild the Teamsters has been a hard sell in the last year.
But anti-corporate populism shows signs of gaining steam—thanks in good part to the 99% movement. TDU embodies that spirit within the Teamsters.
Hoffa is fond of calling the Teamsters “America’s strongest union.” Our job is to do our part to make that power a reality.
TWU informer
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TWU informer
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If you create a culture in which workers don't like, don't trust, feel underserved by, or resent their own union, what sort of future do you think you're creating for the labor movement?
xUT
Veteran
Yep, I talked to this "unionist" when he walked the NWA picket line...
Oh that's right, he never did...
Here's some pictures, which one is you?
United Airline Mechanics Lunch at IBT Local 856
I liked Rich when he was IAM.
I don't have to go 'deal with him'. Not my problem anymore.
Huggs,
B) xUT
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I am not sure who this "Rich" man is but I would offer an observation.
Usually when one person is the focus of attention as in this man, if everyone would step back look in a more global view, you would find that someone like "Rich" is really just a symptom of a bigger problem.
Remain focused on the problem, change that, and the "Rich's" or the symptoms, will go away with the problem.
I can name some "Rich's" that are present within our problem too.
Our problem is the TWU, and once we get rid of that, the symptoms (Rich's) will be removed also.
Rich sounds like a symptom of a bigger problem.
IMHO
Usually when one person is the focus of attention as in this man, if everyone would step back look in a more global view, you would find that someone like "Rich" is really just a symptom of a bigger problem.
Remain focused on the problem, change that, and the "Rich's" or the symptoms, will go away with the problem.
I can name some "Rich's" that are present within our problem too.
Our problem is the TWU, and once we get rid of that, the symptoms (Rich's) will be removed also.
Rich sounds like a symptom of a bigger problem.
IMHO
xUT
Veteran
Now I'm skert, now, will he send Lil Jimmy to my house in one of dem big trucks?
Shop Reps? Sure, most people wanted to get rid of the IBT 'after' they were voted in.
Note that there are 'current' Teamsters that want to get rid of the IBT.
What does that say?
I'll trust you on this...
Lesser of two evils. After getting the IBT, 'anything else' is better.
But I have stated this before. IAM is better than the IBT, but I prefer AMFA.
Op piece from Roach on Labor Net.
What a surprise...
I have and they don't share your views.
B) xUT
xUT
Veteran
Sorry but I don't live here. I have a job other than posting here.
Just shows that people are willing to dump the IBT at any cost.
xUT
Veteran
Rich was great in the IAM but turned bitter when AMFA was voted in. Many IAM officers were bitter to the point of being detrimental to the AMFA 'union membership' (which I 'thought' unionism was all about... Foolish naive me).
Similar to when ex-IAM Local President Hurley and ex-IAM Chairman GOLOFSKI being the first to cross the NWA AMFA picket line.
If AA changes unions, you will have your Rich, Hurley and Golofski in your ranks undermining their own 'membership'.
Good Luck!
JMHO,
B) xUT
Anomaly
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Yep, I talked to this "unionist" when he walked the NWA picket line...
Oh that's right, he never did...
Here's some pictures, which one is you?
United Airline Mechanics Lunch at IBT Local 856
I liked Rich when he was IAM.
I don't have to go 'deal with him'. Not my problem anymore.
Huggs,
B) xUT
Was there a picket line for NWA at SFO? I do not know the answer to that. Like I said, a group of us AMFA members wanted to help but could not find an active line.
In the pictures I am the eighth one over, third one down. Just to the right of the one where Rich seems to be pointing to himself. :groovy:
Anomaly
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Now I'm skert, now, will he send Lil Jimmy to my house in one of dem big trucks?
Shop Reps? Sure, most people wanted to get rid of the IBT 'after' they were voted in.
Note that there are 'current' Teamsters that want to get rid of the IBT.
What does that say?
I'll trust you on this...
Lesser of two evils. After getting the IBT, 'anything else' is better.
But I have stated this before. IAM is better than the IBT, but I prefer AMFA.
Op piece from Roach on Labor Net.
What a surprise...
I have and they don't share your views.
B) xUT
Share my views or not, it is quite evident that the IAM and AMFA have at least in some point joined forces. This is the statement to which you again suggested I was lying. Even with proof, do you still make that statement?
Anomaly
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After Winning Election, Hoffa Targets Teamsters’ Right to Vote
| December 28, 2011
In the wake of the November Teamster election, top officials are calling for stripping members of their right to vote for president and international executive board. Photo: Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
In the wake of the November Teamster election, top officials are calling for stripping members of their right to vote for president and international officers.
James Hoffa, president for the past 13 years, won the election with 59 percent of the vote, besting two opponents: Vice President Fred Gegare and New York local president Sandy Pope, who was backed by Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
Vice President Dan Kane then told officials in New York that it’s time to return to choosing presidents at union conventions. Other Hoffa lieutenants around the country soon floated the same line.
TDU, the reform movement within the union, is sounding the alarm to defend the right of members to elect their top officers.
FIVE MORE YEARS
Hoffa won despite a decade of declining Teamster standards, contract concessions, and pension cuts, illustrating the power of incumbency.
He raised $3 million, according to his slate’s financial reports, most of it from officials who owe their positions or power to him. His multiple mailings to the 1.3 million members were devoted to attacks on Pope. His campaign paid telemarketers to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls.
The union itself spent millions for a supposedly nonpartisan GOTV program, featuring automated phone calls from Bill Clinton and Danny DeVito (yes, the one who made the movie Hoffa).
The election supervisor also found that Hoffa and his election team had tried to bribe three high-level officials whom they wanted to deter from running, a violation Hoffa had to acknowledge in a mailing to all locals.
Pope raised about $200,000, and TDU contributed its own independent campaign support. Her phonebanks were staffed by volunteers.
A decade of corporate attacks and member demobilization took a toll on turnout and on Hoffa’s vote total. Just 20 percent of the union, 250,000 members, returned ballots.
But more important is the toll on Teamster power.
The TDU-backed candidate in the 1990s, Ron Carey, could tap a sentiment that Teamster power was real, and just needed someone willing to unleash it. And the union began to do just that, including the victorious 1997 UPS strike.
In the recent political climate, our argument has been more difficult: that Teamster power can be rebuilt. Thousands of members are up for the challenge, and are the heart and soul of the TDU movement. But most Teamsters have been hunkered down, without great hopes of transforming the union to take on corporate power.
Where Pope and TDU had volunteers on the ground, turnout was higher and the majority voted against Hoffa. Her candidacy inspired thousands of Teamsters, many of whom had given up on our union.
SUCCESSION STRATEGY
Teamsters—unlike most North American unionists—directly elect their president and executive board, with an impartial election supervisor to oversee the process. This right was won in the late 1980s when the Justice Department brought a racketeering lawsuit against top Teamster officials and mobsters. TDU mobilized to argue against a government takeover and for members’ right to vote.
Hoffa associates are now trotting out three tired rationales for ending the right to vote: Elections have low turnout, cost a lot, and “distract” from the union’s business.
The real reason: Hoffa is 70 years old and looking for a successor before the next election. Running an untested candidate, without a famous last name, is a problem for the old guard. Between 2006 and today, Hoffa’s majority slipped by 7 percent.
So quashing the right to vote is an insurance policy against a successful insurgency in 2016.
TDU members will not be waiting for the next election. Important contracts are coming up, including the largest in the country—260,000 Teamsters—at UPS. Pope’s campaign was stronger in UPS and other national units, where Teamsters have their contracts bargained by the international, not their local.
In areas where TDU has strong local roots, the election results were dramatically different from the national result. That is the base we will build on.
The argument that rank-and-file power can rebuild the Teamsters has been a hard sell in the last year.
But anti-corporate populism shows signs of gaining steam—thanks in good part to the 99% movement. TDU embodies that spirit within the Teamsters.
Hoffa is fond of calling the Teamsters “America’s strongest union.” Our job is to do our part to make that power a reality.
Basically all you have to important issues is either no answer or sling mud.
I thought I would answer one of your posts, with one of your other posts. It works. Why is it that if I raise the fact that AMFA has no strike fund, nor did they really hold a consistent picket line, you call it mud slinging.... yet your last posts are wallowing on the brown ooze.
You are a curious fellow.
Frank Szabo
Veteran
He points out your favorite lovelies of the home office want the same thing the twu already enjoys - unaccountability - not to mention the doubts your international will file for an election anyway.
Some time ago when the twu international felt AMFA was beginning to make inroads, there were twu people all over the base picking up their stuff and throwing it in the trash on sight. That isn't happening now - why is that? Why would one "union" be satisfied to cede their dues income to another union?
It would appear you people are simply repaying favors - this sham amounts to nothing different than Ralph Nader on the Presidential ballot acting as a spoiler, hoping to siphon votes and cards from the competition - that comment isn't intended to imply any of the three are worth their salt.
Add to that what I feel is a major misinformation campaign with respect to this "merger" that was probably set up in advance of this C11 filing by the darlings in Centrepork / Tempe and it gets quite laughable in a big hurry.
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