The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is perhaps one of the best-known unions. As of early 2008, it reported having about 1.4 million members, and about 500,000 retirees throughout the United States and Canada.
The Teamsters are often associated as the union for truckers and warehouse workers. In fact, the employer with the most Teamsters’ members is United Parcel Service, with more than 200,000 Teamster members.
But the union is more diverse. Two-thirds of Teamsters work in one of five sectors: warehouse, parcel, freight, public employees and industrial trades. The public employees sector is the union's fastest-growing division as of early 2008. Teamsters’ members are also spread out geographically. The largest concentrations of Teamsters are in the central and eastern states.
History of the Teamsters Union
In 1901, drivers banded together to form the Team Drivers International Union (TDIU), with an initial membership of 1,700. The following year, some members broke away, forming the Teamsters National Union. They re-joined as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) in August 1903. Cornelius Shea was elected its first general president.
At the 1907 convention, Dan Tobin was elected general president. He would lead the Teamsters for the next 45 years. Prior to World War I Teamsters were instrumental in securing strong contracts for women laundry workers, which included a non-negotiable clause that called for equal pay for black and white women on the job.
The Depression of the 1930s hit Teamsters locals hard. By 1933, membership hit a Depression-era low of 75,000. But with the industrialization during World War II and post-war years, membership increased. By 1949, membership topped one million, because of union organizing in booming post-war industries: the automotive trades, food processing, dairy, and workers servicing vending machines.
At the 1957 Teamsters convention, Jimmy Hoffa was elected president and the membership stood at 1.5 million. In 1964, the National Master Freight Agreement was a watershed event for the Teamsters. It covered 400,000 members employed by some 16,000 trucking companies, and spawned similar bargaining in other Teamster trades and crafts.
In 1976, Teamsters membership topped the two million mark. Like other unions, the Teamsters then went through declining years. But in 1997, the Teamsters’ successful strike at UPS led to a resurgence.
In 1999, Hoffa’s son, James P. Hoffa was elected president. Hoffa had experience both as a Teamster and a labor lawyer. During the 1960s, he was a Teamster laborer in Detroit and Alaska, loading and unloading freight from ships, driving trucks and buses, and operating heavy equipment.
Between 1968 and 1993, he was a Teamster attorney representing members in workers compensation cases, Social Security, and personal legal matters; represented Teamster joint councils and local unions. He then became the administrative assistant to the president of Michigan Joint Council 43.
Facing disagreements with the AFL-CIO, in 2005 the Teamsters broke away from the prominent labor coalition and the Teamsters were one of several national unions forming the Change to Win coalition. Hoffa wanted to see “more union members in order to change the political climate that is undermining workers rights in this country.” The union was one of the first endorse Barack Obama for president.
Criticism of the Teamsters Union
The union was plagued with charges of corruption for decades and there was great mystery surrounding the disappearance of President Jimmy Hoffa in 1975.
The Center for Union Facts says, according to a 1999 Congressional report, in 1957, president David Beck was convicted of embezzlement. In 1964, president James R. Hoffa was convicted of jury tampering. In 1982 president Roy Williams was convicted for defrauding the union's pension fund. Williams testified: "I was controlled by [alleged mobster] Nick Civella." In 1986, president Jackie Presser was indicted for embezzling union funds and giving "no-show" jobs to organized crime figures. He died before going to trial.
Since 1992, the Teamsters union has been overseen by an Independent Review Board (IRB), according to the Center for Union Facts.
