Weinmeister Moves Up

Teamsters Union Vice President Arnie Weinmeister of Seattle, who was named last year to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, will succeed the late Jesse L. Carr as head of the 450,000-member Western Conference of Teamsters.

Carr, 59, held the key post in the 1.7-million-member union only seven months before his death at his Indian Wells home near Palm Springs on Jan. 4.

Carr, who for 28 years before that had headed the 12,500-member Teamsters Local 959 in Alaska, was, nevertheless, one of that state’s most influential political leaders and an aggressive union leader. Some observers said his political influence in Alaska was second only to that of the governor.

In contrast, Weinmeister, named to his new position last week by Teamsters President Jackie Presser, has the reputation of being a less politically oriented unionist, more of a low-key union officer who will not try as hard as Carr did to make substantive changes in the Western Conference affairs.

He is expected to keep the union’s headquarters in Seattle, his home base since 1956. Carr had moved the Western Conference headquarters to Seattle from Los Angeles.

Weinmeister was a defensive lineman for the old New York Yankees in the All-American Football Conference for two years and was All-National Football League during his four years with the New York Giants, ending in 1953.