Teamster Leader Claims Victory

Teamster leader Ron Carey claimed victory Saturday in his bid for reelection as president of the nation’s biggest private-sector union, apparently beating back a fierce challenge from James P. Hoffa, the son of the legendary Teamster chief who mysteriously disappeared two decades ago.

The Carey camp released unofficial figures showing their candidate ahead, 52% to 48%, a margin of about 16,000 votes, with nearly 95% of about 500,000 ballots counted.

Carey, heading a 26-member slate of candidates that has pledged to continue efforts to revitalize the Teamsters and rid the union of the corruption that has tainted it for decades, said at a Washington news conference that “this is not a victory for one man or a slate of candidates, it’s a victory for all working people who want strong, honest unions.”

Although the staff of a federally appointed election officer had not completed the vote-counting late Saturday, even many top members of the Hoffa camp conceded that Carey was the victor. “It’s well-determined that Carey’s got enough votes to win it,” said Chuck Mack, an Oakland-based Teamster official running on Hoffa’s slate for one of the three Western region vice president posts.

When he won his first five-year term in 1991, Carey became the first Teamster president elected by the rank and file in the union’s nearly 90-year history. Previously the president was selected by union leaders. Under Carey’s direction, the 1.4-million-member union has forged close ties with the AFL-CIO and the new, more militant leaders who took over that labor federation late last year.

Critics of Hoffa said a victory by the 55-year-old labor lawyer could isolate the Teamsters from other unions. And many feared it would prove a public relations embarrassment to the labor movement, as Hoffa is often linked by critics to the Teamsters’ corrupt “old guard.”

“There’s no question that a victory by Carey is reassuring,” said Michael H. Belzer, a labor relations expert at Cornell University and a former Teamster. He credited Carey with making the union more “outward looking” and more of a grass-roots organization.

“To imagine all that going out the window would have been scary if you want to see a strong and effective labor movement,” Belzer said.

Still, within the ranks, Hoffa’s name recognition was a powerful factor. His father, former Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa, disappeared and was presumed killed in 1975 during a comeback attempt after serving four years in prison. Also important was the younger Hoffa’s campaign spending, which, by the most recent reporting, reached $3.7 million, more than twice Carey’s total.

In addition, Hoffa backers faulted Carey for failing in five years to turn around the union’s nearly depleted treasury--a problem that Carey blamed largely on his predecessors and opponents.

The Carey slate, however, appeared to have won 17 or 18 of the 23 seats on the union’s executive board. It also appeared to have won all three trustee positions, responsible for the financial oversight of the union. Hoffa backers won all five board seats from the Midwest, the heart of their candidate’s strength.

In the West, the Carey-Hoffa contest remained a toss-up. But Mack, the Teamster official from Oakland, was slightly ahead of the next-closest contender for the region’s third vice presidential post and final board seat.

In California, a Carey victory could have substantial impact. It could spur innovative organizing efforts already underway in the state. Under Carey, the union has begun a rapprochement with its old enemy, the United Farm Workers union, and has quietly coordinated some organizing efforts.

The Teamsters under Carey also recently forged an alliance with the Los Angeles Manufacturing Action Project, a nonprofit group trying to organize immigrant workers in the tortilla industry.

Carey’s apparent victory is a major setback for the dominant Teamsters leader in Southern California, Michael J. Riley. He was targeted two years ago when the Carey administration reined in powerful regional Teamster leaders receiving multiple salaries.

Late Saturday, however, Riley sounded a conciliatory note. “We have to mend the union. I see no point in a continuing, running brawl for another five years that is going to hurt members.”

Times wire services contributed to this story.