Time Is Ripe for Teamsters to Sweep Out Mob Influence

A sweeping plan proposed recently by several top-ranking Teamsters to clean up their mob-infested union is an excellent one. But they will have to show more courageous leadership than they have in the past to get the plan adopted.

The proposal may have started out as an elaborate smoke screen cleverly designed only to thwart the Justice Department’s own plan for rooting out the mobsters.

But it is also likely that so-called reformists led by the union’s secretary-treasurer, Weldon L. Mathis, decided at last that the time has come for them to do their own housecleaning--something they never dared do before.

Their decision surely was prompted by the pressure stemming from the government’s unprecedented suit filed last month to put the entire 1.6-million-member union under trusteeship. It also was spurred by rapidly increasing rank-and-file dissent over recently negotiated contracts,

Whatever the motives, the plan not only makes sense but is more urgently needed than ever in view of last week’s amazing disclosure in this newspaper by staff writers Robert L. Jackson and Ronald J. Ostrow.

Their story tied the supposedly “clean” William J. McCarthy, the new Teamsters president, to the underworld.

According to a 1984 FBI memorandum, Jackie Presser, then Teamster president, said McCarthy had to get permission of a reputed New England Mafia boss before he could take a high post in the Teamsters.

Presser made that revelation in one of his many reports to the FBI, which he served as an informant. The report of McCarthy’s links to the mob came after his unexpected appointment as president on July 15, creating even more confusion among union leaders.

McCarthy was named president after an unexplained last-minute switch of votes that gave him a 9-to-8 majority of the union’s 17-member international executive board. They rejected Mathis, who has no known mob ties and who earlier was considered the certain winner.

Doubts about the motives of those proposing reform are legitimate. After all, most have at least tolerated the presence of mobsters in and around the nation’s largest union for decades.

Some might see their own reform plan as a way to work out a compromise with government prosecutors who went to court in June to try to put the entire union under trusteeship until it holds a “free and fair” election before the next scheduled convention in 1991.

The reformists moved when a new opportunity for change presented itself: Presser’s death of natural causes on July 9.

Their plan is so potent and logical that even if the motives behind it are suspect, it has set in motion forces within the Teamsters that just might, at last, remove the ugly marks of underworld corruption that have stained the union for nearly 40 years.

Some government officials believe that Presser was trying to help rid the union of Mafia influence. Not only had he worked with the FBI for more than a decade, he also served as an informant for the Internal Revenue Service for years.

Presser may have helped the government put away some criminals, but more must be done to finish cleaning up the union.

An intriguing question is why Presser was not murdered by mobsters during his years as an FBI and IRS informant if, as had been reported widely, he was trying to put them in prison and out of the union.

Remember, murder was the presumed fate of former Teamster President James R. Hoffa, who mysteriously disappeared on July 30, 1975, after he threatened to expose details of mob influence in the union.

There is something disturbing and unsavory about the idea of the government going through the courts to take over and operate a major union, even temporarily, especially when the government is run by the conservative and the notoriously anti-union Reagan Administration.

But the government’s legal action, however dubious its merits, certainly put pressure on the union to do something more than just denounce the government and battle it in the courts.

The substance of the proposed reforms is not new. Similar ideas were presented at previous Teamster conventions by the small, dissident Teamsters for a Democratic Union but were almost unanimously defeated.

The reforms now have a better chance for adoption because they are being offered by eight of the union’s 17-member executive board. But the reformists still face an uphill struggle. Today, McCarthy’s forces will name a vice president to replace him on the board, presumably one more vote against reform.

If approved, the reforms could go a long way toward breaking ties between some Teamsters’ leaders and the underworld--an unrealized goal set 26 years ago by the late Robert F. Kennedy when he was attorney general.

One of the reform proposals calls for a special convention soon to elect top officers, with provisions that would increase rank-and-file participation and thereby presumably diminish mob influence. That could answer the government call for a free and fair election.

The reform plan would boost the rank-and-file’s power at conventions by reducing the voting strength of local officers, who are often strongly influenced by entrenched national leaders. The national officers’ power stems from their ability to dole out jobs and other forms of patronage to the local officials, who are now automatically convention delegates.

Another reform proposal would allow a simple majority of members to vote down a union contract and force sometimes-reluctant leaders to return to the bargaining table and seek a better contract. It now takes a two-thirds majority to reject a contract with management.

A two-thirds majority vote still would be needed to call a strike, which makes sense because it is hard to win any strike if nearly half of the members are against it.

And the reform-minded leaders are calling for creation of an ethical practices committee headed by a non-Teamster of unquestioned high character.

The committee would hold internal union hearings and decide what to do with allegedly corrupt leaders or locals. The government has named 33 of the 602 locals as mob-dominated, but so far the top officers haven’t done anything about those locals.

The unprecedented internal struggle for power continues. At today’s emergency meeting of the executive board and key appointed staff members from around the country, McCarthy is expected to try to oust more of those who opposed his election.

Among the first victims of that struggle was the union’s longtime chief counsel, John Climaco. To help ensure the presidency for himself, McCarthy agreed to the demand of at least two vice presidents to fire Climaco, who backed McCarthy’s rival, Mathis.

McCarthy is trying to patch up relations with some of his other foes. For example, Arnie Weinsmeister, head of the Western Conference of Teamsters, has been assured his job is not in jeopardy if he stands by McCarthy. Others, though, have been or are expected to be demoted or, if they are appointees, kicked out.

Some of the union’s most militant members, including many leaders of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union, both dislike and fear McCarthy’s alleged mob ties.

But they face a dilemma. They see McCarthy as Jimmy Hoffa reincarnated.

Hoffa had mob ties, but he was also a tough union leader who helped millions of unskilled and semi-skilled workers win decent wages and job conditions. His popularity with the members helped him stay in power for years despite his reputation as an ally of criminals.

McCarthy has his own alleged links to the Mafia, but, like Hoffa, he is perceived as a fighter for good union contracts. That means reform-minded TDU members and others are concerned that they may lose the support of many members by openly opposing McCarthy.

Mathis, the reformist leader, may be an equally militant fighter for better union contracts and could win membership support in fair elections. But he doesn’t have the reputation of a fighter like McCarthy.

The intriguing story of the Teamsters Union has fascinated and disturbed America for many years.

The story includes mystery men lurking in the background, mobsters, and murdered and imprisoned union presidents.

But the story also includes many dedicated leaders who, with strong membership support, have helped the Teamsters get some of the best union contracts in the world.

If the reformists don’t give up, the reform proposals triggered by this latest crisis could well bring an end to mob influence and the union can become a respected force in the battle for improving the economic lives of its members and other working men and women.