DEMOCRACY WATCH : Union Label

Which U.S. labor union has had more than 100 leaders who have been charged with crimes? And four of its last seven presidents indicted? And which has been called the most Mob-controlled in the nation’s history?

The answer, of course, is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. But today’s Teamsters are no longer what they were.

The union doesn’t represent only truckers now. Nurses, sheriff’s deputies, hospital workers, state troopers, even teachers and librarians count themselves among its 1.6 million members. And next week, in Orlando, Fla., near Disney World, the union will hold its convention under the watchful eye of court-appointed monitors and select candidates for a December election that promises to be the first reasonably open election in Teamster history.

Should that happen, credit would go not only to courageous reformers within the union but to the U.S. Justice Department, which in 1989 cut a deal with the Teamsters as part of the settlement of a huge racketeering suit.

Sure, few of the candidates likely to emerge on top are without controversy; a slate of Southern California delegates has already been disqualified. But the very fact that no one knows for sure which candidates will win is a refreshing departure from traditional Teamster practice.

It also raises the prospect of representative leadership for the many Teamsters who have no more connection with organized crime than Mickey Mouse.

It’s about time the Teamsters got a different, cleaner union label.