Teamster Delegates Override Leaders on 2 Key Issues

Delegates to the Teamsters union convention on Thursday twice voted against the union’s leadership, passing constitutional reform amendments long sought by Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the dissident organization whose ideas had been laughed out of previous conventions.

Delegates voted to more than quadruple the union’s meager strike benefits to $200 a week from $45.

They also passed a constitutional amendment giving members the right to vote on regionally negotiated “supplements” to national contracts. These supplements are often critical because they spell out work rules and determine how workers’ pay is determined. In the past, these supplements were imposed by union leaders based on national negotiations.

In addition, delegates nominated three candidates--union Vice Presidents R.V. Durham and Walter Shea and reformer Ron Carey--to run for president in December’s rank-and-file election.

Durham won more than half the vote.

The convention’s constitutional amendment committee, composed of top executives, had put forth an amendment that would have increased strike benefits to $100 a week.

However, an unusual political alliance of delegates loyal to the presidential campaigns of Carey and Shea supported doubling that proposal.

“We should tell members we’re going to pay you $200 to win the . . . strike!” John Morris, a Shea supporter and the top Teamster leader in Pennsylvania, told delegates, calling the committee’s proposal “Mickey Mouse.”

As was the case Wednesday, when the convention voted to curb high salaries paid to union executives, the strike-pay vote reflected how court-ordered democratic rules that govern the Teamsters union are affecting policy decisions.

The past two conventions in 1981 and 1986--free of political turmoil and tightly under the leaders’ control--allowed strike benefits to rise by only $10.

On Thursday, the $100-a-week increase proposal was put forth by supporters of Durham, whose backers control the way the convention is run. Delegates from Carey’s campaign introduced an amendment to raise benefits to $150 after a strike reached four weeks. Then delegates from Shea’s campaign introduced a flat $200-a-week level, which passed.