Ron Carey Remembered as a Hero, Fighter

Former Local 804 President and Teamsters General President Ron Carey was laid to rest on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 after a funeral service at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.

Ron’s sons remembered their father as a fighter who went out strong.

Near the end of the service, Ron’s ten year-old grandson, Danny, rose to speak. Danny said: “I wasn’t born yet when my grandfather was President of the Teamsters Union. From watching videos, I can see what an inspiration he was. In 1997, Bill Clinton told my grandfather to stop the UPS strike. My grandfather said “No” to the President of the United States, because he had to do what was right for his people. I think the reason my grandfather wasn’t President of the Teamsters longer is because a man as honest and courageous as him could not be allowed to be President of the Union.”

You could hear a pin drop. And then Teamsters and family members alike exploded in applause that went on and on as tears welled up in the eyes of many of the Local 804 members in attendance.

The Carey family extended its thanks to the Teamster brothers and sisters who came from across the country to honor Ron over the last few days, including the many Local 804 members and retirees who paid their respects.

In his eulogy, Father Bob called Ron Carey a true American Hero and said our job is to carry on his legacy in our own lives.

Amen.

(Courtesy of 804MembersUnited.org)

Ron Carey

March 22, 1936 - December 11, 2008

Our brother, leader and friend Ron Carey passed away on Thursday night at the age of 72. The man who built Local 804 into the most powerful local in the country and who transformed our International Union and the labor movement is no more. But his legacy lives on.

Ron is survived by his wife of fifty years, Barbara Carey; their five children, Daniel Carey, Ronald Carey, Jr., Sandra Perrone, Pamela Casabarro, and Barbara Marchese; and 13 grandchildren.

May God bless Ron Carey and his family in this tragic time of his passing.

Local 804 members who wish to pay their respects are welcome at the Frederick Funeral Home at 192-15 Northern Blvd in Flushing, NY at the following hours:

Monday, December 15: 2-5 pm and 7-9 pm

Tuesday, December 16: 2-5 pm and 7-9 pm

Mass will be held on Wednesday, December 17 at 9:45 a.m. at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, 3424 203rd Street in Flushing (34th Avenue and 203rd Street).

Executive Salaries

Here is the Local 804 Executive Board’s contribution to the $100K Club as well as one who made it once again onto the $150K Club list:

Salary Total Comp

Howard Redmond	$160,709	$165,379
Anthony Donato	$146,792	$147,689
Anthony Magrene	$142,847	$146,226
Frank Laquidara	$138,868	$139,807
William Leary	$138,857	$139,200
Pat DeFelice	$138,674	$139,429
Angelo Guarella	$138,137	$138,522
John Nemeth	$137,978	$139,072
William Buhlert	$137,859	$141,520
Steven Medina	$137,719	$138,966
Thomas Connolly	$137,112	$137,420
Total	$1,555,552	$1,573,230

This Executive Board was making about $95K only 8 years ago! On average, their salaries have jumped by almost 50%! Add to this their 401Ks, their pensions and their health benefits as well as other perks they get.

It wouldn’t be so striking if it weren’t for the fact that OUR salaries over that same period have gone up only about 24% (3% a year)!

Remember, it’s our $71/month dues ($852/year!) that supports their bloated salaries and benefits! I’m not objecting to paying union dues, but at some point one has to say: is it money well spent?

Poll Asks Members To Rate 804 Officials

Was Members’ Money Used to Pay for Approval Rating Poll?

By Tim Sylvester

“How am I doin’?” Mayor Ed Koch used to ask that all the time. It was kind of his signature line. As an elected official, it was good for him to know where he stood with the voters.

Koch’s question didn’t cost New Yorkers a dime. But in Local 804, it’s a different story.

Many Local 804 members report that they received phone calls from a professional polling company located in Alabama. Members were asked questions about how we felt about the UPS contract, our stewards, our benefits, and our union officials.

The poll included questions about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain but a major item was how Local 804 members feel about our union leaders.

The poll-takers specifically asked us to rate each of the three H’s: Howie, Hoffa and Hall. They even asked how we grade our Executive Board.

It seems like Koch is not the only one who likes to know where he stands with the voters.

Politicians do polling all the time. But they don’t make voters pay for the polls. If our dues dollars or DRIVE contributions were used to pay for this poll, then Local 804 members should be told the results.

(Courtesy of 804MembersUnited.org)

The Rank-and-File Meeting

On July 13, in the absence of a much needed General Membership Meeting, over fifty dedicated and curious Local 804 members gathered in a hall in Levittown on a beautiful Sunday morning to discuss the present and future of our Local. (The day before, a similar meeting was held in Queens for the 804 members living in the city. Both were organized by Local804 Members United. )

The room was filled with package car drivers, feeder drivers, car washers, and part-timers - all concerned members in search of information not given to us by our own local union officials.

The meeting was generally informational. The main speakers were Tim Sylvester of Maspeth, Jim Reynolds of Elmsford, Pete Mastandrea of Nassau, and Bill Reynolds of Farmingville. Each focused on issues relating to our Health and Welfare problems as well as the Pension fiasco.

Though some guys seemed a little overwhelmed by all the numbers thrown at them, the great majority were asking questions and follow-ups or adding to the discussion by sharing a story pertinent to the subject.

Granted some members came looking for the start of a campaign against our Executive Board. While they might have been a little let down by the non-political direction of the meeting, these members were grateful that someone had taken the time to explain to them what was going on with their pension and health and welfare plans.

The meeting was scheduled to run from 9:30 til 11AM. Most stayed until after 12:00. These guys not only came to get more information; they came to see how they can get more involved in the future of their union.

They left that day agreeing to attend a future meeting to follow up on what we discussed as well as how to collectively fight back against Brown. They also left more informed, more energized and looking for, and possibly finding, stronger leadership to lead this Local!

The Difference 10 Years Makes

With our embarrassing “raise” kicking in on August 1, it might be instructive to compare 1997 with 2007. What follows is an excerpt from the book “Strike” by Jeremy Brecher on the UPS Strike of 1997 (along with some commentary in italics):

“In 1996, the Teamsters (led by Ron Carey) began preparing for a strike against UPS.(In 2007, Hoffa capitulated to UPS by agreeing to “early negotiations” and settling almost 1 year before our old contract was up.) The Teamsters made the centerpiece of their campaign a demand for 10,000 new full-time jobs for current part-timers. (Remember when we used to “demand” things from Brown? Now Hoffa, as well as our own Executive Board, accepts concessions!)... Carey told members, "A contract that provides good jobs for working families certainly won’t be won at the bargaining table. The only way you can win that is on the picket lines and in the community." (In 2007, Howie Redmond commented on the then tentative agreement: “It’s a fair contract!”)
On July 3o, 1997, UPS made its "last, best, and final offer," which not only refused to create the full-time jobs the Teamsters demanded, but proposed a company takeover of the union’s pension plan. (In 2006, UPS cut our pensions; I guess some things never change).

Fewer than 5% of Teamsters crossed picket lines. During the strike, managers were able to move less than 5% of the company’s normal 12 million packages a day. UPS lost an estimated $30 million daily in profits. The Teamsters’ focus on the need for full-time jobs struck a responsive chord in an era in which as much as one-fourth of the workforce is now contingent.(In 1997, we took a stand; in 2007, we took it on the chin!)

According to The Wall Street Journal, the UPS board of directors was preparing to meet and discuss “replacementworker plans" and a team inside UPS was "developing plans" for replacement workers.(In 2007, Brown never worried about a strike with Hoffa in charge). Instead, on August 18, after weathering the strike for 15 days, UPS unexpectedly accepted a settlement that included the bulk of the union’s demands.(In 2007, Hoffa gave away the Central States Pension Plan, accepted split raises, no new full-time jobs, no increase in our pensions, etc). The strike was widely perceived as a historic turning point for the labor movement. (In 1997, we had Ron Carey at the helm and we fought and won; in 2007 we have Hoffa and the current Local 804 Executive Board and we conceded and got taken) “I remember in the 1980s when the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) was wiped out,” Ron Carey said. "For 15 years after that, employers all across the country, cut jobs, cut pensions, cut health coverage, and stepped on workers’ rights. Working people were on the run, but not anymore. This strike marks a new era."

Local 804 Health Fund Loses $18 Million

While members’ eyes have been on our local’s pension problems, our Health Fund has lost at least half its assets in just five years.

Research by Local 804 Members United reveals that the Local 804 Health Fund has lost nearly $18 million since June 2003. Just five years ago, the Fund had more than $32 million in reserves. That number dropped to just $14.5 million in June 2007, the most recent figures available from the Fund’s 5500 Financial Reports.

Our Executive Board has told members that our health fund faces challenges. But they have never disclosed the full magnitude of the Fund’s problems. Local 804 Members United is committed to giving you the facts. Members can only protect our pensions and healthcare when we’re kept informed.

Funds Diverted

The money allocated to the Welfare Fund under the 2002 UPS Contract was not enough to pay for our benefits. For years, we paid for the shortfall by spending down our Fund’s reserves.

From 2003 to 2007, our Fund suffered multi-million dollar losses every year. From June 2003 to May 31, 2005, our fund lost $6.5 million. (The plan’s fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31)

With losses mounting, our fund trustees made a bad problem worse. They reduced contributions to the Health Fund by millions of dollars in 2005 and diverted the money to the pension fund. The membership was never informed of this move by our Executive Board!

Diverting millions of dollars from our Welfare Fund to our Pension Fund did not stop UPS from forcing through pension cuts in 2006. But it did contribute to the rapid decline of our Health Fund.

Starved for contributions, our Fund lost a record $6.8 million in 2005-2006 and another $4.6 million in 2006-2007. By June of last year, the Fund had lost almost $18 million in just four years.

In the last year, the Fund’s financial situation may have improved. The Fund’s reserves were up by $1.8 million as of March of this year, according to Fund Trustee Tony Magrene. That’s only a small fraction of the nearly $18 million lost between 2003 and 2007. But it’s a move in the right direction.

Hopefully this trend will continue when our Fund releases the data for the end of the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

Rebuilding Our Fund

The challenge for our union going forward is to increase the Health Fund’s reserves back up to where they were before—without reducing the health benefits of Local 804 members and retirees or diverting our pension money or wage increases to pay for our healthcare.

UPS came to the bargaining table last year making record profits. That was the time when our local officers had to make sure we got all the money we needed to protect our benefits and rebuild our Health Fund’s depleted reserves.

Members were told during the contract vote that 70¢ out of the $1 per hour negotiated in the national contract for our benefits would go to our pension fund on Aug 1. That leaves 30¢ an hour for our Health Fund. Will that be enough to build back the Fund’s reserves and maintain our benefits at the same time? (Our co-pays were already increased last fall.)

The Fund’s massive losses and the diversion of money to the pension fund under the 2002 contract were both hidden from Local 804 members. Local 804 members need to watch our Fund carefully so we’re not blindsided again.

(Courtesy of 804membersunited.org)

The Bylaws Vote

        On April 20, members voted to pass the two bylaws reforms proposed by the rank-and-file. The members voted 218-12 to require the Executive Board to report on our pensions and health and welfare funds at every General Membership Meeting. They also voted 207-19 to create a “contract committee” to keep the rank-and-file informed during future contract negotiations.
        The vote count was quite expected; we amassed over 2000 signatures from every Local 804 building. What wasn’t expected was the “kinder and gentler”, more conciliatory Howard Redmond. There was no attitude, no cursing, no demeaning of members.
        A matter of fact, the Executive Board didn’t even put up a fight. They must have felt the pressure and decided to give in to our needed reforms. Redmond announced early that the Board “totally agreed with the bylaws changes” and that they were “good and helpful reforms.” He continued that the membership “should know what’s going on with your pension and health and welfare.”
        Redmond admitted that members were calling the union hall with questions and the Board was not getting them answers; he promised to get us those answers. Well, now that these bylaws have passed, they don’t have a choice, for they will be mandated by our constitution to give us those answers.
        In the end, they did the political and safe thing: they conceded to avoid an embarrassing loss. After the tremendous uproar over Redmond’s tirade at the last union meeting in February and an outpouring of support for the bylaws changes, the Executive Board was in damage control mode. They needed to portray a more open , accommodating face to the rank-and-file membership.
        They felt the heat and reacted to a bottom up demonstration of democracy. This is what happens when the rank-and-file rebel against stagnant and ineffective leadership. In other words, “this is what democracy looks like!” - or at least how it is supposed to work.
        Finally, when the rank-and-file members start to lead and the “leadership” is forced to stand down, is there a crisis of leadership or is it the beginning of a new day in Local 804? The choice is yours.

Local 804 Members United

        That is the name of the new independent website in Local 804 (not affiliated with the Executive Board’s website). Local 804 Members United “is a network of Local 804 members working together to defend our contracts and enforce our rights at UPS”.
        It is a collection of activist and concerned Local 804 rank-and-file members who “believe in the brand of Teamster Power brought to Local 804 by Ron Carey- that union power comes from an informed and mobilized membership.”
        Local 804 Members United grew out of the makeUPSdeliver network which supplied us with key information during and after the contract episode that our Executive Board did not.
        The website is professionally done and totally funded by dozens of 804 rank-and-file members. It consists of great links on Teamster history, interesting videos, and basic 804 information such as our Contract, Local 804 Pension Fund Financial Report, and our Executive Board’s LM2s (their salaries and expenses).
        The following is an excerpt from Local 804 Members United’s home page:
A Message from 804 Members United
        On behalf of 804 Members United, I want to thank Local 804 members for standing up for positive changes in our bylaws.
        Our union is stronger when members are informed and involved. That’s the direction we’re taking with the 804 Members United website: informing and involving members for a strong Local 804.
        At the membership meeting, there was some discussion of the disputed published reports on exactly what issue Doc Dougherty died over on that picket line over 30 years ago. I appreciate Howie’s apology for the comments he made at the February union meeting.
         Apologizing like he did lets us all focus on what is really important here: Doc Dougherty is a hero who put his life on the line for what we have today. The way to honor his memory is to fight for what he stood for: a strong Local 804.
        Local 804 members did that by voting that contract down last year. We did that by standing up to UPS and saving 25 & Out. We did that by turning out to pass bylaws that will put information in the members hands and build a stronger union.
        That’s Doc Doherty’s legacy. That’s Ron Carey’s legacy. And we all have a responsibility for carrying that legacy forward and leaving this union stronger than how we found it.
        I’m proud to see these changes happening in this local and I applaud our membership.
- Tim Sylvester, Shop Steward, Maspeth
(Go to www.804MembersUnited.org )

Big Brown Backs Down

New York Local 804 members voted by 3 to 1 to reject the national contract and the Local 804 supplement. Now that No Vote has paid off.

On Wed., Dec. 5, Local 804 will hold an emergency meeting to brief shop stewards on a new and improved contract offer.

Under the terms of the proposed new deal, the Local 804 30 & Out pension will be restored to $3,600 a month—without key givebacks that were included in the first offer, which would have eliminated 25 & Out pensions for new hires and diverted 10 cents in members’ wages to subsidize UPS’s pension costs.

The Local 804 Executive Board unanimously endorsed the company’s first offer.

No Vote Puts Money in Your Wallet

To sell the concessionary first offer, UPS and Local 804 officials threatened that if members did not ratify the deal then the Local 804 Pension Fund would maintain a 30 percent cut in pension accruals for years to come.

By voting No, members got UPS to put an offer on the table that raises the pension accrual to pre-cut levels, protects 25 & Out benefits, and puts the 10¢ back into members’ wages.

Restoring the 10¢ wage diversion will put $1,500 in the pocket of every Local 804 full-timer over the life of the deal.

“I’m very proud that Local 804 members voted against the givebacks that the company and our own union tried to shove down our throats. We never should have been voting on that offer in the first place,” said Jim Reynolds, an alternate steward and one of the leaders of the Local 804 Make UPS Deliver network.

“We didn’t win the contract we deserve, but by standing united at least we got ourselves out of the hole our negotiators dug for us,” Reynolds said.

The new contract offer also maintains a bonus for drivers—called “coffee pay” in New York. UPS automatically pays drivers an extra 15 minutes whenever they work more than 8½ hours.

The company’s first offer would have eliminated coffee pay for current part-timers who go driving —reducing their pay by nearly $2,000 a year.

Defending Union’s Legacy

Local 804 won 25 & Out long before most Teamster locals. It took a thirteen week strike to do it. Local 804 member Ed Dougherty was run over and killed on the picket line in the struggle to win that benefit. To this day, the Local 804 scholarship fund is named in Brother Dougherty’s honor.

“We felt very strongly that our Executive Board did not have the right to negotiate away a benefit that a Teamster brother sacrificed his life to win,” said Tim Sylvester, a shop steward and one of the leaders of the Vote No movement.

After shop stewards review the contract, it will be put out to a vote of the members. UPS and Local 804 officials hope to ratify a new deal before Jan. 1.

“The Local 804 membership made ourselves heard. Whatever we got, we won by sticking together and Voting No,” said Bill Reynolds, a package car driver in the Suffolk building. “Make UPS Deliver was a big part of it. Ultimately it was up to the rank-and-file."

(Courtesy of makeupsdeliver.org)

Final Results of Contract Vote in Local 804: Big "NO" Vote

National Agreement: YES 802 NO 2,307

Local Supplemental: YES 895 NO 2,203

Local 804's rank-and-file reject UPS management's bullshit scare tactics and Executive Board's unforgivable endorsement by voting by a 3-to 1 margin against the concessionary contract! Way to stand up and be counted!

The Emergency Contract Meeting

December 2, 2007 About 50 committed members of Local 804 battled the early morning snow and ice to attend an Emergency Contract Meeting at the Long Island City Post VFW.

Members from all 5 boroughs as well as Nassau and Suffolk Counties attended representing every 804 building excluding the upstate buildings (they will be holding their Emergency Meeting next weekend)

TDU Organizer ,and the brains behind the makeUPSdeliver.org website , David Levine, spoke to us about where things stand now: on the givebacks, pension facts and pension myths, the Ron Carey legacy, what TDU is, rank-and-file power, etc.

He explained to us the difference in the results throughout the country: why a local out in Arizona voted 92% for the contract while we in Local 804 voted it down 3-to -1! Levine said it was the concerned rank-and-file activists willing to stand out in the cold and distribute leaflets and information; he was proud of the grass-roots initiatives we were taking here in 804.

We all seemed to be on the same page here: restore 25 and out FOR ALL, restore the coffee break FOR ALL, give us back the 10 cents diversion, as well as increase wages for the part-timers.

We discussed how UPS management and Local 804's Executive Board mismanaged the Pension Fund. And how they want us to subsidize THEIR INCOMPETENCE!

Yet it wasn’t a "let’s bash the Executive Board" meeting. It was more like : if they aren’t willing to do what’s right for the membership...we, the rank-and-file membership have to take the initiative to make sure UPS knows exactly what our demands are and what we will and will not accept.

Remember, at our last General Membership Meeting in October, after hearing our grievances against this contract, Howie Redmond promised to send our message of dissent back to Hoffa and Hall . Yet the very next day, the Business Agents were out there selling this contract to all the members.

It is this capitulation that has awakened a 7000 member giant. This entire Executive Board (don’t let them pin it all on Redmond) endorsed this sell out contract! Now they will have to live with this history and finally acknowledge one very important development: the days of apathy in 804 are over!

Watch America's Victory: The 1997 Teamster Strike!

On May 7, Ron Carey spoke at the book launching of "Outside the Box" (by Deepa Kumar), which looks into the media coverage during the UPS strike. He spoke about the legacy of the successful national strike 10 years ago.

Click onto both links and watch a video of Ron Carey and Deepa Kumar talking about the the UPS Strike of 1997 as well as the state of the labor movement today.

Who Is The Union?
    Most members think that the "union" is the Executive Board, the people who "run" the union. Brothers and sisters, the union is YOU! You are the one who elects your union official to represent you. You are the one who has the privilege to go to your union meetings (ok only 3 a year) and speak what's on your mind. A strong union is only as strong as its RANK N FILE. Show UPS you mean business; attend union meetings and speak out and be more than just a dues payer. Find out what's really going on in YOUR union as well as what "Brown" is really up to.

Why a Union Newsletter?
    Look at any daily newspaper and you will not find a "labor section". Of course, there is a business section. Newspapers are first and foremost profit-making enterprises; hence they are naturally anti-union. Moreover, a paper cannot be an advocate for labor unions and still receive all the revenues from Corporate America who advertise in their paper.
     The elitist corporate press cover some labor issues but from a business perspective. In other words, they portray how the story effects Corporate America's bottom line: a report in which wages are up translates into less corporate profits; a report on higher unemployment translates into good news for companies because it means more surplus workers, which keeps wages low. So in this newsletter you will be reading the same reports and stories from the worker's point of view.

Why a Local 804 Newsletter?
     There are members of Local 804 who feel "the members don't care enough". That it "may have to get worse before the members really see that change is needed" in our Local.
     Well, I guess that's what this newsletter is all about: proving that quote wrong!tg

Remember this man? Some clueless "member" of 804 mailed this vandalized photo of Ron Carey to my house right after the Union elections. The sender of the photo didn' t even have the balls to put their return address.

I originally thought it was just the sore "winners"(?) - one of the proud 800 or so Hoffa backers in our Local. But the "What legacy?" made me wonder. This person or persons seem to really have something personal against Ron Carey. Could it be they are in denial about the significant reforms Ron Carey implemented for 804 and the International under his leadership?

Maybe it was jealousy about the lack of any positive legacy under the new leadership in 804 and the International? Remember, I received this picture before the pension fiasco...could this (the pension issue) be the Redmond Legacy?

Any rational person who has been around for a while knows and appreciates Ron Carey's legacy. As for "back stabber"...hmmm. Who exactly was Ron Carey "stabbing" in the back? The Executive Board, when Carey backed Tom Leedham? If that's the case then, the sender of the photo is calling the 60% of Local 804 members who also backed Tom Leedham "losers" too!

Or was Ron Carey "stabbing" the Executive Board by endorsing the Slate that challenged the Board's Slate in last year's Delegate race?

On the "loser" label, I will quote a very reputable member of good standing recently: "It takes courage to stand up against the odds (backing Leedham), courage our 804 Leadership doesn't have! They just bet on the favorite no matter the cost (pension?) to the members!"

There were no Teamsters in the room, since Ron Carey is barred for life from contact with any Teamster.

"I think we’'re at a crossroads right now, and I think it can be very difficult," he said. "I look at the dim picture coming out of the labor movement and I wonder, are we just heading backwards?"

I’ve been enjoying my retirement. I’ve been spending time with my family, trying to make up for neglecting them during my years in office. And I’ve been talking to retired Teamsters around the country, talking about the state of the union. I’m also researching and working on a book about my experiences.

It’s been almost ten years since you were prevented from standing for reelection in the Teamsters Union. How have the Teamsters done under your successor, James Hoffa?

One of Hoffa’s many broken promises was to “Restore Teamster Power.” But what he’s really done was to restore the luxury life style for top Teamster officials, while real Teamster power disappeared for the average working Teamster--the people Hoffa is supposed to fight for.

At UPS, Hoffa had tremendous bargaining leverage coming out of the 1997 strike. Members felt connected and involved. But Hoffa bought into the UPS [management] game plan. He let the company buy him off with wage increases and settled short on critical issues like pensions, excessive overtime, supervisors working, subcontracting, and closing the wage gap.

UPS has always been willing to throw money on the table to try to buy a ratification vote. Hoffa took the bait and now members are on the hook for six long years. UPS is using that time to grow and strengthen its nonunion operations, like UPS Logistics. Do you remember when Hoffa said he would use Teamster bargaining power to make it easier to organize UPS Logistics? It’s just another one of those broken promises.

Worst of all may be the pension and benefit cuts. As a retiree, I understand how critical the pension and benefit plans are, not just for the members, but for their families. We fought hard to win “25 and Out” and “30 and Out” benefits that Teamsters could afford to retire on.

[Hoffa] promised members that their benefits would be safe for the life of the UPS, freight, and carhaul contracts. But his hand-picked trustees on the funds voted to cut benefits.

The Teamsters should be fighting these cuts. But I don’t see any plan coming out of the International at this point to defend the good Teamster benefits we fought for years to win.

UPS recently purchased Overnite, the nation’s largest nonunion freight carrier, and the company recently announced it is changing the name to UPS Freight. What impact will this have?

I can’t believe what a mess Hoffa has made of the freight industry. Overnite is the worst of it.

In the 1990s, Teamsters proved you could organize Overnite. We organized over half the company’s terminals. Hoffa came in, fired the organizers, cut off all contact with the workers for months, and then launched a nationwide strike. He said he would win the strike in three weeks. Obviously–and tragically--that didn’t happen.

Sometimes I think Hoffa believes his own PR, that employers are afraid of the Hoffa name. Corporate America doesn’t care what your last name is. They care if you’re organized, if you’ve got the members’ support, if you’re prepared, if you can hurt their bottom line. Hoffa had no plan for that.

You can’t let UPS bankroll a nonunion freight company without recognizing the ultimate impact on Teamster jobs. Not if you want to defend Teamsters in the freight industry, not if you want to maintain our union’s strength at UPS.

Hoffa has said some of the right things, especially about organizing. The future of the Teamsters and organized labor depends on organizing. The problem is with Hoffa it’s all a lot of hot air.

When I was General President, we reversed a 16-year decline in Teamster membership. And we had nowhere near the resources the International has today. Hoffa pushed through the biggest dues increase in Teamster history. He promised that money would be used for organizing and wining strikes. I don’t see it.

We all know where too much money is really going. When I was General President, we eliminated the outrageous multiple salaries for Teamster officials. Hoffa brought back multiple salaries — millions in wasted dollars that could be spent on organizing, fighting for good contracts, protecting members’ pensions. It’s a disgrace.

A federal appeals court recently dismissed the Teamsters’ latest appeal in a lawsuit against you…

Hoffa has wasted millions of members’ dues money in politically motivated lawsuits against me. I’ve been exonerated at every turn. I’m proud of the steps we took to clean up the Teamsters and build the union’s strength back up after the old guard ran the union into the ground. Those efforts were hijacked by a self-serving campaign manager and a few of his friends, but the work of reforming the Teamsters into a fighting force against corporate greed continues.

The Teamsters Union still has one member, one vote for top officers. With an election coming up this year, do you think members can change the union’s direction?

I sure hope so. It’s funny--Hoffa ran on a platform of local union autonomy, but he’s done more to centralize power at the International than any Teamster president. I don’t think that’s playing very well with a lot of local officers. And it shouldn’t. Power in our union has to be built from the bottom up.

But ultimately, if you’re going to see a change in direction in the Teamsters it’s going to have to come from the members. A lot of officers — not all of them, but a lot — are afraid to buck the system. Some of them will try to tell you they're “neutral.” That's a cop-out. No member will ever tell you that. They know you're either for what's right or you're not.

In Local 804, we always prided ourselves as being an independent local that put members first. As president, I saw it as my job to stand up to anyone who got in the way of a better future for my members — whether that was a company supervisor or the Teamster General President.

I’m sorry to say that Local 804 officials have lost that spirit of independence.

Local 804 members have stayed true to reform. They’ve voted for reform candidates in every election. They voted for me twice. And they voted for Tom Leedham twice.

But Local 804 officers have sucked up to Hoffa. They don’t speak out about how he’s hurting Teamster members. They followed him like sheep at the last Convention. They even voted to block Hoffa’s opposition from getting on the ballot.

That’s a betrayal of Local 804 members who are proud that our local is known as the birthplace of Teamster democracy.

I understand that a group of Local 804 members are running for office in the Convention Delegate race and they’re promising to put Tom Leedham on the ballot.

I think they’re even calling themselves the Members First Slate. I’m glad our legacy is still alive in the local.

Overall, you paint a pretty negative picture. Do you see any hope for the Teamsters?

I have tremendous faith in Teamster members. Time and again, they’ve proven up to the task. No corporation, no old guard Teamster official can match the power of Teamster members when they get involved in their union. The 1997 UPS strike showed you that.

But you also need strong leadership. Leadership that believes in mobilizing the members and challenging the employers. When I look around the Teamsters, the leader who fits the bill is Tom Leedham.

I know Tom from when he was an International Vice President. He’s a tough negotiator. And he knows that you have to mobilize Teamster members and you’ve got to fight if you want to beat corporate greed.

A guy like Hoffa is never going to understand that — he’ll never know what it takes to win a fight. Because he’s never had to fight for anything in his whole life. It’s all just been handed to him.

I think a lot of Teamsters are starting to see through the Hoffa PR — members and officers. He told people the Hoffa names means power. I believe power comes from courageous and informed members. And I believe you’ll see that kind of Teamster power again.