Teamsters defy divisions
International Viewpoint #258 July 1994
FOR the first time in many years the Teamsters' union, the BT, supported striking members - a reflection of the changes brought about by a more progressive national leadership. ALLEN MICHAEL* reports.
N 6 April the 80 thousand teamsters in the twenty-three member Trucking Management, Inc. (TMI) negotiating group, (see box) representing the largest freight companies, went on strike (around 40 thousand other teamsters within the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) are in other negotiating groups and did not strike). It was the largest national freight strike since 1976 and within two days completely shut down the companies involved.
The NMFA, set up by Jimmy Hoffa in the early 1960s, has since then been the backbone of the Teamster union's (International Brotherhood of Teamsters, IBT) power, at its height representing 400 thousand workers. The agreement's position as a model for other teamster contracts has largely been
USA United Parcel Service (UPS) master agreement, but it is still extremely important given the strategic role of road freight transportation in the "just-intime" us economy.!
Some freight companies are in a precarious financial position. Since 1980, deregulation of the industry has benefited the major national companies and worked against those which are smaller and regionally based. The major companies have invested in non-unionised subsidiaries (known as "doublebreasting"), and transferred assets and freight to them from their primary, unionised divisions. This means that the freight transportation holding corporations realize substantial profits, while the unionized freight subsidiaries hover on the verge of collapse.
The NMFA expired on 31 March. Employers failed to engage in serious negotiations concerning the new contract, their final offer demanding three major concessions:
1) The right to unlimited railing" (movement of freight via railroad "piggybacks" or containers), which previously had only been permitted to move excess freight. It was estimated that 10 thousand drivers could lose their jobs if this occurred.
2) The right to hire part-timers at a substandard $9 per hour. The freight companies claim that this is necessary as UPS, the largest us package delivery company, where fifty-two percent of employees work part-time, is attempting to compete directly with the freight companies (see below). Acceptance would lead overnight to a majority part-time, low-wage, few-benefit workforce.
3) Abolition of the open-ended grievance procedure. This procedure (established by Farrell Dobbs and the revolutionary Minneapolis Teamsters in the first area agreement during the 1930s, and introduced into the MFA by Hoffa), gave the union the right to strike nationally where there is deadlock, in contrast to the binding arbitration clause in most union contracts. Although it had never been used it potentially gave the union great power. Now that there was a more militant national leadership, the employers were eager to discard it.
### Inevitable superseded by the TRUCKING Management Inc. (TMI) is one of three groups which make up the employer side of the National Master Freight Agreement. A multi-employer master contract is very uncommon in American labour relations. For example, in the auto industry, patter bargaining is used which has separate negotiations for
"Big Three" automakers, although one contract is designated as the "pattern" language which the union will
In the Teamsters' case, the national multi-employer contract was attempt to achieve with the others.
won in the 1960s, as a result of the strength of the union at that time. Jimmy Hoffa compelled competing freight companies to exist under one contract by threatening strikes against more intransigent companies. In the master agreement, workers' wages and benefits were taken out of competition between the member companies. In addition, the national character of the contract established uniform standards for wages and benefits across various regions of the country. Typically, these multiemployer contracts have multi-employer pension funds. There have been other national master contracts in other industries, such as steel, but most of them have collapsed, reverting to a more typical single employer contract. o 24
The employers were in such a favourable position that they could probably have dealt with their key concerns through negotiation. They chose to make a strike inevitable on the basis that any demonstration of weakness on the part of the union could be exploited to break up the NMFA. However, their demands were so unreasonable that all shades of opinion were against their final offer, and while initially success was seen in terms of defeating doublebreasting and maintaining the agreement, it soon became seen as the survival of the union as a whole.
*The author is a member of the revolutionary socialist organisation Solidarity, and an activist in the Teamster reform movement.
1. "Just-in-time" refers to a system of production which is increasingly supported and implemented by management in industrialised countries, whereby, for example, the numbers of supervisory staff and the time in which particular production targets are to be met is dramatically reduced. In Working for the Japanese: Inside Mazda's American Auto Plant' (Free Press 1992), J Fucini and S Fucini described how JIT created a factory where "everyone minds everyone else's business."
International Viewpoint #258 July 1994
By the end of the first week, the employers had returned to the bargaining table. Although they continued to demand these three concessions, conflicts and dissension appeared amongst them. For example, a number of smaller TMI companies sought release from the strike and pledged to abide by the final results of negotiation, not being inclined to watch their profits evaporate on the picket line, when the concessions would be more to the benefit of the larger companies.
### Solidarity strong
Meanwhile, union solidarity remained strong, with mass demonstrations, sit-ins at major banks, and leafletting of non-union trucking companies being pursued in some areas. Although the media stated loudly and repeatedly that the strike was having no major impact on commerce, in fact the freight companies lost large amounts of revenue, and states such as Alaska and Hawaii, which are dependent on teamsters for the movement of basic goods from their ports of entry, called upon the Federal government to facilitate an agreement. On 29 April a tentative settlement was reached, and a ballot subsequently car-
In the end, the union defeated the demand for part-time workers, so preserving tens of thousands of full-time jobs with full benefits. The economic package of wages and benefits in the new agreement was significantly higher than in the employers' final offer and a number of job security issues were also addressed. Some long-sought democratic demands were won, such as the right for workers to retain their seniority when they take leave to work for the union — making it easier for militants to run for office. More importantly, changes to the grievance procedure will allow workers to remain at work (with the exception of certain specified offences), until a disciplinary hearing
The final agreement did not roll back past concessions to the employers and some ground was lost on the question of railing (twenty-eight percent of total miles may now be railed instead of the current ten percent). The union also lost the right to strike at a national level over deadlocked grievances.
One controversial issue is the elimination of overtime for dock workers. Before a company can use casual workers on dock operations, it must provide forty hours' work for all its full-time workers. However, the agreement provides that after this list is exhausted, it may bring in casuals, instead of paying full-time employees overtime. Some workers feel that they should have an automatic right to premium pay overti-
The results of the ballot on the contract were released on Sunday 5 June. 67,784 voted in favour (81%) and 15,729 against. In 1991, the contract received 67 percent approval and in 1988, only 37 percent. Until 1988, contracts only needed 33 percent approval to be put into effect. The wide margin of approval was surprising and reflected a number of important points. Primarily, it reflected a desire to return to work. Secondly, it reflected that the final contract addressed a number of concerns held by many union members, especially the issues of preventing the use of part-time workers and improvements in pensions and health benefit financing. Despite a lack of support for the contract by "Old Guard" forces, the contract was approved in all but a small handful of local unions.
### Division
The It's struggle against the employers was primarily defensive and no significant gains were made. However, the employers were unsuccessful in their attempt to exploit political divisions within the union, due in large part to the resolute solidarity of the Teamster rank and file. Instead of disrupting solidarity, as in the past, it was the IBT which now built it. It produced over twenty strike bulletins, providing a source of information for strikers. Reform activists ensured that they were part of information networks, enabling direct distribution to the rank and file where local union officials would fail to circu-
The result of the strike largely reflects the balance of forces in an industry where union power has been allowed to weaken. To give one example, non-union subsidiaries owned by unionised freight companies had met neither serious opposition or attempts at organisation on the part of the former Teamster leadership. It represents the first signs that the union can again be effective against employers. Although officials opposed to Ron Carey, the union leader, denounced it as a "folly" and a "waste of time and money", calling on workers to vote down the agreement, as seen above, the agreement was approved by a large margin.
At the beginning of his term of leadership, Carey and the new administration attempted to co-exist with the antireform factions and officials from these. The Old Guard represent continuity with the previous union regimes. Some of them are implicated in organised crime and violence against union dissidents, while others simply enjoy their bloated lifestyle: high salaries, several pension schemes, limited accountability to the membership and cosy relationship with the employers. Although many of the worst examples of the Old Guard were removed from the union by courtappointed investigators in settlement of a landmark anti-racketeering suit brought by the American government against the IBT, virtually all officials, local and national, opposed Carey's election. Some made peace with the new administration, but the overwhelming majority have opposed his activities.
### Deep trouble
Upon taking office, the new leadership discovered that the IT's finances were in deep trouble, caused by the loss in membership, the costs of opposing the anti-racketeering settlement and general mismanagement. Attempts to deal with the situation by an increase in dues and re-organisation were met with open rebellion by local and regional officials. Despite losing a membership referendum on dues, Carey has addressed the crisis in other ways, primarily through abolishing the redundant bureaucratic layers of the union known as "the area conferences". (During the 1930s these reflected the regional character of inter-state trucking. They organised and also administered regional contracts. However, they are now primarily vehicles for the enrichment of union officials and thus centres of opposition to reform.)
In February, Carey called a national strike against UPS, one of the most profitable corporations in the world and the largest teamster employer, with 165 thousand workers in its master contract. Despite just having completed national negotiations in October 1993, UPS decided to implement unilaterally a change in package weight limit from 70 to 150 Ibs, from 7 February 1994. Such an important change in working conditions should have been negotiated between the company and the union, and Carey announced that the union would strike on that date due to the "imminent threat to workers' health and safety". UPS immediately sought and obtained a fede-
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Teamsters defy divisions
International Viewpoint #258 July 1994 ral (nationwide) court injunction barring the union from striking.
The strike proceeded despite the injunction (and a no-strike clause in the contract) - an extraordinary act of resolve on the part of the IBT. The strike was concentrated in the Northeast, where pro-Carey local branches in New York City, northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts effectively shut down operations. Reform-minded branches in other parts of the country, including Georgia and Florida, were able to give the strike a national character, and in all approximately 70 thousand workers walked off the job during the one day strike. The strike was powerful enough to force UPS to accept an Interim Agreement governing the procedures by which overweight packages would be handled, until permanent agreement could be reached. (However, there was widespread scabbing by Old Guard-controlled local branches, primarily on the excuse that violating the injunction would result in huge fines for the union.)
Militants
This was the first national strike called by Carey and was very important in winning back the support of militants who felt that the UPS contract agreement was less than satisfactory and that Carey was not being swift enough to advance the reform agenda.
Throughout these events, the reform current, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), has maintained its role as the political voice of the rank and file. Branches where TDU members or supporters are in office played key roles in both the UPs and the freight strike. In the internal struggles, TDU has combatted the Old Guard propaganda and ensured that material from the IBT is circulated on a local level. The leadership of the TDU, which includes IT vice-presidents, has been discussing different approaches to the financial crisis and is very supportive of Carey's move on the area conferences. Increasingly, the TDU will be focusing on and establishing the political agenda for the 1996 IT convention. 26
Carey and the other reform leaders in the IBT face re-election in 1996. Already various Old Guard personalities are starting their campaign rhetoric, including Hoffa's son, James Hoffa, Jr., a Teamster attorney in Detroit, who tried to run in the 1991 election but was ineligible. Although he is an Old Guard figure with no independent power base, the Hoffa legacy still has influence. As with most major struggles, the balance of forces is clear. The reform movement faces very serious challenges. However, the Carey administration and TDU is building a solid basis of struggle and mobilisation in the fight for the hearts and minds of the rank and file. *