[ACTioN Staff: Alex Chis, Paul Colvin, Gerry Foley…]

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ACTioN Staff: Alex Chis, Paul Colvin, Gerry Foley, Suzanne Forsyth, Malik Miah, MayMay Gong, Hayden Perry, Barbara Putnam, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.

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2 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 199 log-jam blocking American workers from a serious fightback in defense of their living standards.

The Carey slate made opposition to concessions contracts a major part of its campaign for the leadership of the IBT. Moreover, Carey has a record as president of his local union of having systematically instructed his memberEditors: MICHAEL SCHREIBER Business Manager: BARRY SHEPPARD Second-class postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif.

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...Teamsters elect new leadership (continued from page 1: “Carey victory in Teamster election reveals anger of American workers”)

membership from 2.2 million to 1.5 million over the last decade.

Unfortunately, the low turnout-only 27 percent of the membership-shows that most members have a wait-and-see attitude. But it also demonstrates the absence of a base for the entrenched officers and business agents to get out the vote.

Although the outcome does not indicate that a broad radicalization is already underway, it does reflect the ability of an organized rank-and-file movement to get a significant minority of the membership to vote for change.

This election victory follows on the heels of the Teamster convention last June, where the membership won some important gains, including increased strike benefits and the right to a separate vote on their contract supplements.

The bureaucracy must wish that, even though faced with a government Racketeerwhom were participants in earlier reform efforts, this grouping has been building a base for over 15 years. Its monthly paper, Convoy Dispatch, reaches some 60,000 and its circulation has recently grown even more.

Originally seen as a group of isolated dissidents, TDU over the years has come to prominence as a force in the fight to reject poor contracts and win important reforms. Significantly, these reforms include majority-rule voting on contacts and, indeed, the right to vote for top officers. Now the TDU has a majority on the GEB!

Building an organization of some 10,000 organized members, TDU helped to create the political climate for change and trained members think that crooked leaders will not negotiate decent contracts. Campaign literature emphasized that "the Durham crowd has stolen our money, take kickbacks from employers and sold out our union to organized crime."

Toward a new union The Carey victory is a barometric example of the discontent that is festering among many union-conscious workers. Although limited strictly to a program of economic demands, the electoral victory of the Teamster dissidents could open the way to transforming the union into a class-struggle instrument.

The dissidents gain an important dynamic by not being part of the bureaucracy. But in order to survive, they will have to go to the ranks to mobilize against the lurking Carrying through on its promises will bring the GEB and rank-and-file movement into conflict with local, joint-council, and conference officials, as well as the entrenched bureaucracy at the union's D.C. headquarters.

Since about one-third of IBT locals hold elections each year, in nine months another round will begin. By then, the ranks must be won over to support of the reform leadership through tangible changes. Fortunately, a string of local victories has accompanied the international elections. A particularly gratifying example is the two-to-one defeat of incumbent national President McCarthy and Vice-President Hacket inside their own Local 25 in Boston.

The Boston Globe of Nov. 24 quoted a McCarthy supporter as saying, "The results reflected the demand for change sweeping both unions and the nation's political scene. People want change, and there's no stopping it."

The rank-and-file victories in the IBT are inspiring reform forces in other unions as well, particularly the New Directions