How reformers won
Teamster election
International Viewpoint #221 • February 3, 1992
USA no International officers and only half of the members were local officials. The rest were working Teamsters. Two have been without jobs since the summer. One was fired for union activity, the other was laid off when the trucking company he worked for closed.
The Carey slate includes the first woman and Latino to sit on the Teamsters'
IN A YEAR that saw the replacement of union heads in four major rail unions and the strengthening of opposition groups in some industrial unions including auto, plus the upset victory of a new leadership in the West Coast longshore union, the announcement of the election of Ron Carey to the presidency of the 1.6 million-member International
Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) on December 19, 1991 marked a sea change in US unionism.
Phil Kwik, who covers the Teamsters for the Detroit-based monthly Labor Notes, reports.
PHIL KWIK
HE stunning sweep by reformers
T in the first ever one-member, one-vote election in the Teamsters union happened because the rank-and-file were angry about the direction of their union.
"The members understood how corruption — even if it isn't taking place in their backyard — can have an effect on everyone in the union", said Bill Urman of
Minneapolis, a newly elected International vice-president.
"They want honest people running this union, and all the things that go with that:
better representation, more responsiveness and contracts that aren't sell-outs,"
The rank-and-file were tired of their loss of strength at the workplace and bargaining table. As Margaret Farrell,
Northwest flight attendant from Detroit, put it: "The rank-and-file have been taking a beating for a long time. Finally, we just said 'Enough'".
Much of the credit for the Ron Carey reform slate victory goes to Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the 16-year old, rank-and-file reform caucus within the union. Though Carey is not a member, he was endorsed two years ago by
TDU, and it provided the organization and activists which were the backbone of the campaign. Many of Carey's slate members belong to TDU.
The Carey slate won 48% of the vote and all the 16 seats contested. Overall,
424,000 Teamsters voted - 28% of the