Whether you know it or not, history is being made as this article is being written. The groundswell of angry Teamsters employed by UPS is too great to ignore. The assumed opinion of outsiders is that members of the Teamsters union are pleased with the leadership they have received (endured) under James P. Hoffa, son of Jimmy Hoffa, and that he is a popular and well-respected president. This could not be further from the truth. Speak with any number of real, hardcore Teamsters from the old-school and you will find that the exact opposite is, in fact, true. So much so that throughout his tenure, his administration has seen several high-level defectors; the most notable among these being former General Secretary-Treasurer C. Thomas Keegel, who abruptly retired effective at the end of Hoffa’s last term, and Fred Gegare, a labor leader in his own right from Wisconsin, who resigned his position as an International Vice President in order to run on his own slate against James Hoffa.

Both these men have cited examples of the lax quality of leadership and the top-down mentality of union operations under Hoffa. They have even gone so far as to say that the Teamsters Union has been “corporatized”, or run more like a for-profit business as opposed to a labor organization having the responsibility to its members of organizing and representing workers in the labor force. They have accused Hoffa of relying upon the advice of non-Teamster consultants. Many of us in the trenches have witnessed first-hand the abject, systematic removal of strong, prominent local labor leaders and their subsequent replacement with hand-picked puppets brought in from somewhere else. Many, if not all, of these removals are rooted in a dirty game of ugly inside politics and retribution for ‘disloyalty’, and they equate to nothing more than a witch hunt. Breaking regional strength and local union autonomy in favor of taking direction from the ‘Big Man’ serves only to stroke Hoffa’s ego. Over a course of 14 years, the pattern that has developed is quite obvious to those who are looking. In 2005, Hoffa broke the Teamsters away from the AFL-CIO and formed Change-to-Win. We know what has changed, but we are still looking for what has been won. At last check, there was only One Labor Movement that I am aware of.

It was big news in late fall of last year: the Hostess debacle. So much information has come forth since that time that any rational thinking person would begin to wonder: “How in the hell was this allowed to happen?” It is a colossal blunder with severe consequences. Regressive contract after regressive contract, you would think that the Teamsters union would stand up for its members, and it can only be due to one of two things: Ineptitude or corruption. Someone in leadership was bound to know what was going on there, but 18,000 members had to lose their jobs. Did they forget to communicate with the Bakers’ Union? If they didn’t know, then they have no business at all holding such a position. Some locals were brave enough to advocate a strike. Others simply followed orders. That isn’t representation; that’s lying down on the job, giving up the ghost.

With UPS and UPS Freight, however, the story is much different. Comprising nearly a full one-fifth of the union, UPS is the largest group of Teamster members and they tend to vote as a bloc. Taking into account the amount of time and energy that goes into servicing UPS members, and with respect to the power their votes hold, the top Teamster has made a mistake that this time may cost him his career. The UPS negotiating team for the union has been busy at work for months bargaining for a new contract that provides security, more jobs, and protections as well as fair wage increases and maintenance of benefits. What was returned is a 5 year pact about which the membership and even a good number of local officers are fuming mad. Normally, recommendations would be made based upon this but a line appears to have been drawn in the sand. The International leadership is putting pressure upon locals to advocate a “yes” vote by the members. The spin machine has gone into action and UPS, of course, is attempting to “buy” votes in some locations, having pizza parties and barbecues in others to try and garner support. There has been a mix up with regard to addresses on the ballot return envelopes. The long and short of it is that UPS wants this contract, the International wants this contract, the ‘follower’ councils and locals want this contract, but the members who have to work under it do not. It is their right to have their say, and if they vote it down, the negotiators must go back in and work out a stronger contract offer. UPS Teamsters have found themselves in a position in which they have to strongly advocate for themselves, and collect as many allies as they can along the way. The local officers who are taking up the position of advocacy for the members are finding themselves in a precarious situation as well by going against the grain and thus opening themselves up to be a target for reprisal.

The final outcome is not predictable at this time, but what is certain is that if this tentative agreement is somehow ratified, there will be a massive upheaval and some demand for a recount. If foul play is found out, there will be a call for Hoffa’s head on a platter, as well as many others. The Hoffa team has violated election rules before, and for a man who has to date never once debated an opponent for the office he holds, nothing can be ruled out. There are times when you recognize an enemy within your own camp; I just cannot believe it has taken this long for others to wake up. Here we have a one-percenter pretending to represent the 99%. A college frat-boy, who attended school with some of the CEO’s we fight. Entrenched in corporate-governed politics, it is a safe assumption that the Junior Hoffa maintains some of the friendships initially established by his father. If you study real history, that is to say, what has been hidden from you, you will discover that today’s reality has been in the plans for much longer than many of us have even been around. The ‘Old Guard’ is on its way out because it has to be that way- they just don’t realize it yet.

This is the ultimate battle between good and evil. Our enemies have their ideas of how this will all play out, but we have some of our own. No matter who or what should present itself as our adversary, they must be crushed. It really is us or them. Victory for them is a death sentence for all that is good and right in the world. This is the Workingman’s’ War, it must be fought on our soil, and it is going to require our all. What must be made absolutely clear is that there will be no retreat until we win.

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