Teamsters tops face strong challenge from reform forces

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On June 24-28, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) will hold its convention at a non-union hotel in Orlando, Fla. But this convention, unlike the rubberstamp affairs in the past, promises to be indicative of a new relationship of forces in the 1.6 million-member union.

What is new is that the bureaucracy is losing its stranglehold on the union. Reform forces are gathering steam in the run-up to the convention, which will nominate candidates for the first-ever general election of the union's top officers in December 1991.

The convention will also consider amendments to the union's constitution, in particular, a provision to institutionalize the membership's right to vote for international officers and convention delegates.

In March 1989, top officials agreed to a U.S. Justice Department consent order to get the government to drop criminal charges, as well as its plans to use the RacketeerInfluenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to place the entire union under a trusteeship.

This deal provided for limited government intervention to rid the union of mob influence and to organize the first direct membership elections of both convention delegates and International officers.

Since that agreement, the IBT has spent The following excerpts are reprinted from the May 1991 issue of Our Voice, the newsletter of International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 565 at Westinghouse in San Jose, Calif.

Bill Leumer, president of the local, and Jesse Wallace, chairman of the executive board, wrote the article. They attended the Erie, Pa., meeting as representatives of their local. The high point of the meeting was a rally attended by over 2000 workers and their supporters.

Contracts covering General Electric and Westinghouse workers in more than two dozen plants in the United States expire at the end of June through August.

The discussion among GE and Westinghouse workers are a reflection of broader sentiments among working people today, as expressed in the recent one-day strike by rail workers and the ferment among airline and other workers opposed to concessions.

The editors of Sociolist Action believe that the events reported below reflect a growing consciousness that official union policy has failed and that a return to the class-struggle methods of the 1930s is necessary to halt and reverse labor's retreat.

Copies of this issue of Our Voice can be obtained by writing to Local 565, 2101 Almaden Road, San Jose, CA 95125.—the editors.

On Saturday, April 20, in Erie, Pa., another step was taken on the national level to unify and strengthen the local unions at GE and Westinghouse in preparation for this yéar's, as well as future, contract negotiations. The host local was United Electrical Workers (UE) 506.

This gathering was marked by the attendance of locals that had not attended previous meetings, and most significantly the participation of International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) president and chairman of the Coordinating Bargaining Committee (CBC), Bill Bywater. In addition, two national figures from the UE were present, General Secretary-Treasurer Amy Newell and Steve Tormey, who heads UE's Conference Board. All three spoke at the rally.

The meaning of the locally organized unity movement is in the fact that over the past three contracts the CBC members have suffered a steady decline in their living standards while profits went up and up. It was obvious to local leaders as well as to the members that an alternative was necessary to the concession orientation that the employers were successfully imposing on union members.

What was needed to overcome this situation was the solidarity of the local unions $12 million to fight the consent order, especially the right-to-vote provision, but has lost all 42 cases. Many officials have been charged with corruption by a government investigations officer, and have been removed or forced to resign.

The Ron Carey campaign In September 1989, Ron Carey (Local 804 president for 23 years) announced his candidacy for the IBT presidency. He was endorsed that November by the 10,000-member rank-and-file group, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU).

Carey is opposed to government involvement in the union. But he is taking advantage of the consent order's democratic opening, which has made his campaign possible.

The Carey/TDU forces have done remarkably well. In a national effort, Carey has secured 100,000 signatures on nominating petitions, and contested 152 (out of a possible 638) elections for convention delegates. As of April 20, he had 242 (or 12 percent) of the delegates pledged to his slate.

Nearly all of the remaining delegates claim to be uncommitted. Only the support of five percent of the delegates is required for nomination. It is estimated that more Teamsters know Carey's name than know those of R.V. Durham and Walter Shea, the major candidates of the bureaucracy.

Moreover, the bureaucracy is in disarray. The discredited incumbent president, McCarthy, is retiring. His hand-picked successor, R.V. Durham, has been distancing himself from McCarthy in order to pose as a reformer. But he has his own sell-out record. As Freight Director, he negotiated the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA), which deepens the concessions made over the last three contracts.

Working Teamsters were clearly unhappy with Durham's proposal to vote for the Master Freight Agreement. But it passed, because the members did not see a way forward and (given their current leadership) feared strike action.

The Carey slate is offering a fighting alternative to the conservative business unionism that has dominated the IBT. It includes working Teamsters and TDU members on the slate—including Diana Kilmury, a Canadian and the first woman ever to run for the Executive Board (in a union with 300,000 women members!).

The slate has a record of mobilizing the ranks against concessionary bargaining, against corruption, and of working for the members—and it favors aggressive organizing. But it is less than clear on political action.

The Teamsters are facing an economic crisis in trucking and other industries together with a long-term decline in real wages and agreements are unraveling. Multi-tiered wage structures divide the ranks. The bosses are pleading poverty, demanding more concessions and diverting work to non-union divisions.

A new leadership is needed There is increased competition from the expanding non-union sector. The union has already lost 600,000 members in recent years. A new leadership is needed that is willing to organize the ranks to confront these challenges.

There is also the difficult problem of government intervention, especially in the absence of a mobilized membership. TDU and Carey have the ability and the moral authority to fight against government anti-union actions, but this may be a difficult question for this broad rank-and-file movement to act decisively on.

However, there is understanding that government intervention is dangerous and never impartial.

The government has demonstrated its antilabor aims many times-from smashing the militant democratic Minneapolis Teamsters in 1942 to collaborating with the most corrupt mob-influenced elements (including Teamster presidents from Frank Fitzsimmons to Jackie Presser).

For example, the government official supervising the December elections recently ruled that Carey and TDU violated campaign contribution rules. He ordered the reform movement to repay $9000 of what he considered to be improper contributions.

While taking advantage of every democratic opening to mobilize the ranks, the reform movement needs to be wary of the bosses' goverment.