Teamster Presidents: Union Deserves Better

Why has the vast, honest majority of the 1.6 million members of the Teamsters Union never booted out any of the presidents who have given the entire union and the members themselves an undeserved reputation of being a huge army of mobsters?

Three of the four past presidents have been convicted of crimes and imprisoned; the fourth died before investigations of him were completed. One of the four, Jimmy Hoffa, mysteriously disappeared in 1975, presumably a victim of the underworld.

Incumbent President Jackie Presser was indicted two weeks ago on charges of embezzlement and racketeering. His now-imprisoned predecessor, Roy Williams, admitted under oath that he had close ties to the underworld and accused Presser of having similar links to organized crime. More than 100 other lower-ranking union officers--mostly in the East--have been convicted of a host of crimes, including murder.

Despite this array of evidence that criminals have infested the union for nearly three decades, the members have not been stirred to rebellion.

There is a widespread but mistaken belief that the union’s top officers retain their power by actual violence or a widespread threat of violence against dissidents. There have been a few ugly incidents, but far from enough to keep more than a million and a half members in line. Others wrongly believe that almost all of the members are themselves corrupt or at least see nothing wrong with mob control of the top level of their union. But the reality is that the average teamster and most of the union’s officers are typical, honest Americans. Even the White House Commission on Organized Crime, which recently issued a harsh attack on the union’s leadership, estimated that fewer than 5% of the union’s 700 locals are influenced by criminals. That’s a far higher percentage than is found in almost any other union but still evidence that the entire union is far from being permeated by crime.

The truth is that corrupt top leaders maintain their power by using a wide variety of benign, nonviolent tactics to minimize the impact of dissidents. Similar tactics are used by many political machines, other unions and corporations. It is rare indeed that corporate executives invite dissidents to join their boards of directors or put them in key managerial positions.

Probably the power-retaining tactics used by top Teamster officers can be compared most closely to those of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, who for more than two decades tightly controlled his city’s ruling political machine and retained his role as a national Democratic Party kingmaker.

There was a relentless federal investigation of corruption in the Daley machine, of stolen and bought ballots, stuffed ballot boxes, of city contracts going to Daley’s friends and family members. While Daley himself was never charged with criminal acts, many of his close friends and associates were prosecuted and some convicted of crimes.

Like Daley, top Teamster officers retain loyal, decent supporters by using a patronage system through which they make appointments to well-paying jobs. They also help loyalists build their local unions as Daley helped the precinct captains, or “ward heelers,” strengthen their wards. Beneficiaries of the top union leaders’ patronage system are often appointed department heads, regional officers or international organizers. F e w have ever been accused of any crime or links to mobsters.

Take the case of Mike Riley, president of the 150,000-member Southern California Joint Council of Teamsters. Last week, Riley was praised as a “man of absolute integrity” by Douglas Allan, an officer of the dissident Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) and one of the union’s most militant, articulate opponents of corruption at the top. Yet Riley is loyal to the union’s leaders and has benefited from their patronage.

Roy Williams, the former president, appointed him to an additional, well-paying job as a general organizer of the international union. And when an international union vice presidential vacancy occurred, Presser appointed Riley to fill that post. Riley was then almost automatically elected to the position last week as a member of Presser’s slate at the union’s convention in Las Vegas.

In contrast, M. E. Anderson, the appointed former head of the Western Conference of Teamsters, was dumped by Presser, who felt that Anderson was not loyal enough. Anderson, like Riley, has never faced corruption charges.

There are other methods that top Teamster officers use to maintain their positions. Like Daley, they use their influence to help elect, or defeat, local and regional officers. Like the late mayor, they can help rank-and-filers get jobs for their friends or family. And top union officials can give, or withhold, substantial financial help to striking locals.

Also, Daley helped his supporters with their minor troubles, ranging from traffic tickets to broken street lights. Similarly, the union’s high officers can help, or hinder, rank-and-filers with their relatively minor problems, such as processing grievances against their employers.

Another analogy is that Teamster contracts are generally good financially for members, just as many Chicagoans were helped financially by the major building boom that the city began to enjoy under Daley. The physical and economic revitalization of downtown Chicago helped Daley withstand often devastating criticism.

Likewise, the union’s contracts have created the “fat wallet syndrome,” which means that members making reasonably good wages are usually reluctant to respond to calls for rebellion. The dissident TDU still has only about 8,000 members after a decade of fighting the union’s highest officers and demanding changes in election procedures.

Rebellious rank-and-filers could oust the top officers if they elected equally rebellious local union officers. Local officers are elected by secret ballot and make up the vast majority of delegates to the national conventions, where they then elect the top officers. But there has been only a handful of TDU victories in local voting.

Complicating attempts to stir a revolt is the fact that, like Daley, top Teamster officials have powerful friends in high places. It’s like getting movie stars to endorse shoddy products: The endorsement alone may not be enough to sell the product, but it is a valuable assist.

At the very pinnacle of the endorsements won by Teamster presidents are those given by Presidents of the United States, including Ronald Reagan, who has often invited Presser to the White House. Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.), a close friend of Reagan, told Teamster convention delegates last week that while Reagan has helped “turn America around, I know he couldn’t have done it without your help and support. The Teamsters have been faithful friends to Ronald Reagan, and, believe me, he appreciates it.”

Republican Party Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf said the union has a “solid relationship with Ronald Reagan and this Administration, a relationship built on mutual goals and aspirations for America.”

Others who gave ringing endorsements to the union after getting warm introductions by Presser included Vice President George Bush, Former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and other Republican leaders.

High-ranking Democrats also addressed the convention, although they generally refrained from praising the union. But, either in person or by closed-circuit television, Speaker of the House Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr., Democratic Party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. and others added an aura of respectability to the convention.

Although the Teamsters endorsed Reagan for President, more than 88% of its political contributions go to Democrats.

The only serious criticism of the union at the convention came from Secretary of Labor William E. Brock III, a Republican, who said it is impossible for him to ignore reports about “mobbed-up locals or pension fund abuses, misuse of members’ blood and sweat.”

Soon after Brock spoke, Presser was elected, almost unanimously, as the union’s president for the next five years.

Even if Presser is convicted and sent to prison, the union’s sordid reputation will probably not improve unless, as Brock said, the overwhelming majority of the members, who are “good, decent, honorable people . . . clean house.” It won’t be easy, but it can and should be done.