Teamsters Pick President, Shun Presser Choice
In an action that would have been highly unlikely a week earlier, William J. McCarthy was chosen by the Teamsters’ executive board on Friday to be the union’s new president, defeating the chosen heir of Jackie Presser, who died a week ago in Cleveland after a long bout with cancer.
McCarthy, the top Teamsters leader in New England for the last two decades, narrowly defeated Weldon L. Mathis, the union’s secretary-treasurer, whom Presser had named interim president on May 4, by a vote of 9 to 8. McCarthy had been considered a long shot just a few days ago, but he gained support throughout the week. Joseph Trerotola of New York, a bitter foe of Mathis, spearheaded the effort to win support for McCarthy on the board.
“This is a very happy event in my life, being elected president of the union I’ve been in for so long,” the crusty, 68-year-old Bostonian said at a news conference. “This is a heavy responsibility. I have no illusions about how tough the job will be.”
A Crucial Time
McCarthy’s selection came at a crucial time for the 1.6-million-member Teamsters Union. The Justice Department, in a suit filed under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, is seeking to put the union in trusteeship and to oust all members of the executive board until “free and fair elections” of new officers can be conducted.
The suit alleges that such a drastic remedy is needed because the union has been dominated by organized crime for decades, to the detriment of its members and the public.
But McCarthy asserted that there are “a lot of innuendoes” in the lawsuit. He predicted that if U.S. District Judge David Edelstein, who is presiding over the case in New York, “hears our side, we’ll come out just as clear as we have been.”
A member of the union’s executive board said McCarthy plans a meeting of Teamsters lawyers here next week to discuss how to respond to the Justice Department suit.
Randy Mastro, an assistant U.S. attorney in New York who is one of the lawyers working on the case, said the Justice Department will examine how the union’s executive board chose McCarthy. “The government will review the process and results to see what implications they may have with respect to the lawsuit,” Mastro said.
The Justice Department suit, Mastro noted, alleges that “there has been organized crime influence” in the selection and election of Teamsters officers. “The government seeks civil remedies that will reform that process to ensure that there is democratic participation by the membership and elimination of La Cosa Nostra influence over that process,” he said.
Some of McCarthy’s backers have said Mathis isn’t a hard enough worker and that he spends too much time on the golf course. On the other hand, Mathis proponents suggested that the union could more rapidly reform itself if their man won.
Friday’s close vote climaxed an intense week of lobbying by Teamsters board members, union lawyers and Teamsters officials from around the country. Jobs and other inducements were offered to board members to gain their support, according to several board members.
Many Backed Mathis
A number of locals and joint councils sent telegrams and messages through the union’s internal computer system voicing their preferences. The majority supported Mathis, according to several sources.
The disgruntled aide to one board member who backed Mathis said of McCarthy’s backers: “They’re like the right wing in the Politburo. They don’t care about public opinion.”
But Donald Peters, a union vice president from Chicago who voted for McCarthy, said: “He’s a militant union leader and he’ll do well for us.”
At the start of Friday’s meeting, Arnie Weinmeister, a Teamsters vice president, moved that the board postpone a selection and convene a special convention with newly elected delegates to pick a president.
Ethics Panel Proposed
Michael J. Riley, a Los Angeles-based vice president of the union who supported both the motion and Mathis, said proponents of the plan also wanted to change some controversial union rules at the convention and proposed setting up “an ethical practices committee, headed by a respected outsider.” The motion was defeated, however, 9 to 8, with members voting along the same lines as on the later presidential vote, Mathis said.
Jack Fox, the other Californian on the executive board, voted for McCarthy.
Mathis, who retains his job as secretary-treasurer, said he was disappointed but added that he had “no bitter feelings.” He acknowledged that “there’s a difference of opinion” within the board, but he quickly added: “We’re not having a revolution.”
McCarthy, thin and white-haired, is scheduled to finish Presser’s term, which runs until June, 1991. Although he refused to answer questions about whether he plans to follow Presser’s policies, it does not seem likely that he will make any dramatic changes in the union soon.
Not Afraid to Differ
As the New England Teamsters’ leader, McCarthy was not afraid to differ with national Teamsters leaders publicly. This spring, for example, he opposed a controversial national freight settlement that took effect, even though nearly 64% of drivers voted against it, because of a Teamsters rule requiring a two-thirds vote to override a settlement reached by the union’s negotiating committee.
Sources inside and outside the union who know McCarthy said they think he is not likely to put as much emphasis on public relations as Presser did.
As if to bear that out, McCarthy was often unresponsive and occasionally hostile during the news conference. Although Mathis and others later told reporters how the board had voted for the new president, when McCarthy was asked what the vote had been, he said: “It’s none of your business.” He contended that Teamsters’ image problems are the result of biased reporters and he called some of the coverage “rotten, dirty, unfair.”
Stresses Good Deeds
“We in the Teamsters have done many good things for our members and the public that none of you ever write up,” he said to a large crowd of reporters gathered at the Teamsters’ headquarters building here. Later, he referred specifically to Teamsters’ efforts in Boston to donate blood and help the handicapped.
Asked how Presser would feel about his selection, McCarthy responded: “Who knows? He might have rolled over in his grave.”
Although McCarthy has been a member of the Teamsters’ executive board for 19 years, president of its New England joint council for 22 years and president of his Boston local for 33 years, he has maintained a relatively low profile and had little contact with the press, according to people who know him well.
‘An Old-Time Leader’
“He is an old-time labor leader,” said David Brenner, president of Local 66 of the Laundry and Dry Cleaning International Union in Boston. “He believes you get what you deserve by standing up and fighting for it.” Brenner said McCarthy had helped his local considerably during a strike last year.
“He’s a hell of a leader,” said Bob Piccone, president of a 2,800-member Teamsters local in Portland, Me. “He never gives up. He never quits. . . . He’s totally courageous. That’s why he has the support he has.”
But others who spoke on condition of anonymity said McCarthy has a reputation for being autocratic. One source said: “Heads of Teamsters locals love him or hate him.”
Several Teamsters leaders expressed admiration for McCarthy’s ability as a tough bargainer. But one president of a large Teamsters local in the West who supported Mathis said: “McCarthy has no broad vision of where the organization should go in the next few years. Mathis has a much broader view of what the union should do.”
McCarthy Earnings Told
According to Labor Department records, McCarthy received $146,074 in salary and expenses for four different Teamsters jobs in 1986, the last year for which figures are available. The union is one of the few that allows its officials to hold more than one job at a time.
But another 41 Teamsters officials ranked ahead of McCarthy in earnings, including Presser at $588,353 and Mathis at $294,386. The current salary for the Teamsters president is $225,000 a year.
McCarthy, who wore a gray suit sporting an American flag pin, white shirt and red tie with a Teamsters tiepin, is known as a “very conservative” Democrat. He backed insurgent Edward J. King when King defeated Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis in the 1978 Democratic primary and then supported King again in 1982 when Dukakis regained the governorship.
In May, Mathis said that the Teamsters, the only major union in the country to support Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, were highly likely to endorse Dukakis for President this year. Asked Friday about a presidential endorsement, McCarthy said no decision will be made until after the conventions of both parties.