This was a Teamsters convention like no other—and not just because it was held online, avoiding the usual Las Vegas spectacle where a few brave reformers run a gauntlet of booing red-vested delegates. Even in person, the 2021 convention wouldn’t have gone down that way. The opposition slate didn’t just squeak past the 5 percent …
At a Convention Like No Other, Teamster Challengers Turn a Corner Read More »
As the drive to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama draws international attention to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) that is leading the effort, other unions are planning their own strategies to organize parts of Amazon’s sprawling operations as well. The Teamsters, who see Amazon as a direct threat to their historic …
The Teamsters Hint at a Combative National Project to Organize Amazon Read More »
The labor movement’s pundits and prognosticators ring in the New Year like commentators anywhere. They make pronouncements about what “will” happen and what “should” happen to revitalize the shrinking U.S. trade union movement. At 6.2 percent density in the private sector, U.S. unions aren’t even treading water; we are drowning. That makes it more imperative …
In the beginning, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) was full of spunk. But they didn’t have any union leaders on their side, nor many rank and file supporters, nor much strategy about turning around a corruption-riddled union. “When they said we didn’t know what we were doing, it wasn’t totally false,” says Ken Paff, …
After 41 Years, The Teamsters Reform Movement Is Finally Building Power Read More »
Long before the birth of Teamsters for a Democratic Union in the mid-1970s, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) was hostile terrain for creating model local unions. In the 1930s, warehouse workers and drivers in Minneapolis revitalized Teamsters Local 574, under the leadership of Farrell Dobbs and other labor radicals. They organized widespread community support …
A Tale of Two Teamsters: Building a Community-Minded Union in Mid-Century St. Louis Read More »
Unions representing about 30,000 grocery workers in the Puget Sound region claimed a victory last week in a labor contract fight that centered on the implementation of Obamacare in the area’s biggest supermarket chains. Western Washington state locals of the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) and theTeamsters have been bargaining for months with representatives from Kroger, Safeway …
Workers Battle With Grocery Chains Over Obamacare Implementation Read More »
Last Thursday night I had the privilege of being a part of the opening at a new research center in the George Washington University’s Estelle and Marvin Gelman Library. Officially named the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Labor History Research Center, the IBT’s collection of historic documents will be permanently housed here in an effort to …
(The following post is part of our Taking Back Labor Day blog series. Many people view Labor Day as just another day off from work, the end of summer, or a fine day for a barbecue. We think that it’s a holiday with a rich history, and an excellent occasion to examine what workers, and …
I was asked today to post a diary to Daily Kos written by my boss, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa – it is beneath the fold. In this piece we are looking into the fact that a tax hike on health benefits to pay for health care reform is a bitter, bitter pill for …
Taxing Employer Health Benefits: The Poison Pill That Would Kill Health Care Reform Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
