The Teamster Scandal Of Th 1990S Essay — страница 2

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Hoffa both called themselves the candidates best able to clean up the union, both have come under question. Working with government officials, the Carey-led Teamsters removed or sanctioned 390 allegedly corrupt local union officials and put 70 locals into trusteeship. Questions were raised, however, about whether some of the Carey moves on that score actually cleaned up the union, or simply rewarded his political friends and punished his enemies. Hoffa, son of legendary Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, has been tainted by the company he keeps and the memory of his father, who spent more than four years in prison related to union corruption. Four of the original 27 members of younger Hoffa’s campaign slate were suspended from the union or pressured to bow out of the election. A

fifth slate member–Jim Santangelo, head of a Southern California Teamsters local based in El Monte was under scrutiny by the IRB for allegedly taking an illegal loan. He denied any wrongdoing. Q: Who else stood to be hurt by the campaign finance scandal? A: The left wing of the national AFL-CIO, including some of the the top officials trying to revitalize the American labor movement. Although everyone denied wrongdoing, Conboy found that Richard Trumka, the No. 2 official of the AFL-CIO, was involved. In his report, Conboy said that Trumka–widely regarded as the likely eventual successor to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney–helped in a Carey campaign money-laundering maneuver and improperly raised additional funds.1 Testimony also was cited indicating the improper

contributions for Carey were raised by Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and Paul Booth, the union’s national organizing director.2 Conboy found that the Carey campaign tried to pull off a mutual-assistance deal with the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton-Gore campaign, but that the scheme never was activated. All the same, it could mean big legal problems for the Democrats, amid the continuing inquiries into their campaign fund-raising last year. Q: What are the California connections? A: The Teamsters union itself is one of the biggest in California, with an estimated 270,000 members. Santa Barbara-based fund-raiser Charles Blitz was

named by Conboy as a key figure in the money-laundering scheme. Blitz is said to have lined up wealthy California contributors who gave money to the Carey campaign in exchange for the funneling of Teamsters money to groups favored by the wealthy Californians. Some of that Teamsters money reportedly was contributed to a group that supported California’s Proposition 215 in 1996, a measure approved by voters to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. An overview of the players involved in the scandal and ongoing controversy follows. Carey The fall of Carey led directly to the breakup of the reform coalition he had led. As President, Carey had been a strong leader who held together a diverse coalition that included the militant democrats of TDU, other genuine union

reformers, some traditional Teamster leaders, and a few out-and-out opportunists. After his election Carey even won over some members of the Old Guard – broadening his base, but also pulling the whole coalition to the right. Carey held that coalition together with his own reputation and a straightforward serious program of union reform based on greater union democracy, more organizing, and an adversarial approach to the employers. Beyond that, Carey became the leading voice against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a key supporter of John Sweeney’s bid for the AFL-CIO presidency in its first-ever contested election, and moved the Teamsters from the Republican to the Democratic Party. Over six years Carey cut union officials’ salaries and put more money into

organizing. He increased education for stewards and rank and file members, putting emphasis on contract campaigns, local unions and shop floor organization. He got rank-and-file workers rather than just paid staff to organize new workers into the union. With that program he succeeded at companies such as Overnite, the largest nonunion trucking company which no previous president had been able to organize. Carey launched an organizing campaign among low-paid Mexican workers in the apple orchards and packing plants of Washington. He also carried out contract strikes among freight and carhaul workers. Finally in 1997, Carey called the meticulously planned and carefully executed national strike against UPS. Hoffa When Carey fell, the road to the Teamsters’ Marble Palace in