{"id":7461,"date":"2022-08-29T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=7461"},"modified":"2022-09-01T00:10:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T04:10:30","slug":"lessons-from-ibt-local-1150","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2022\/08\/lessons-from-ibt-local-1150\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from IBT Local 1150"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>his past year we have seen a number of exciting developments in the U.S. labor movement. Two hundred Starbucks stores have unionized and another 316<\/a> stores have filed petitions to do the same. In the early spring, we saw a rank and file campaign of workers outside of the union officaldom put a chink in Amazon\u2019s armor by unionizing the first warehouse in Staten Island, New York. We\u2019ve also seen other retail outlets like Apple and REI begin to unionize. Many of these organizing initiatives, while in their initial stages, have shown the power of rank and file driven union campaigns.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the Teamster general election results last fall are a welcome development and even historic in their own right. The elections resulted in a change in leadership of the union, which has been dominated by the top down, undemocratic, pro-business union practices of James P Hoffa since the late 1990s. In November 2021, the Teamster rank and file voted by a wide margin against Hoffa-backed candidates for officer positions, demonstrating members\u2019 desire<\/a> for a fundamental change<\/a> in the union. This led to the election of Sean O\u2019Brien<\/a> as Teamster General President, along with his Teamsters United Slate.<\/p>\n

This shake up in the union leadership\u2014against those most closely aligned to the Hoffa old guard\u2014as well as the O\u2019Brien leadership’s bellicose talk of organizing industries like Amazon, has led to a plethora of reports and analysis<\/a> that have heralded the coming of a more muscular union. Perhaps betting on the opening for greater Teamster militancy, even the long standing union reform caucus, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU)\u2014which has traditionally organized for a fighting union and against Teamster corruption and bureaucracy\u2014supported Teamsters United, despite Sean O\u2019Brien’s historic ties to Hoffa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most recently, at the Labor Notes conference in June, O\u2019Brien charged up the crowd with a blistering speech<\/a> attacking America\u2019s most wealthy business magnates, affirming the importance of the rank and file, and verbally committing the Teamsters to an assault on the citadels of corporate power.<\/p>\n

After all of the tough talk, many questions remain about the new leadership team: Will they move away from the business unionism that has dominated the Teamsters for the past few decades? Will the new leadership make a turn toward a more combative approach that fights for better wages and working conditions for its members or will they continue to shove bad contracts down members\u2019 throats like at UPS<\/a>? Will the Teamsters adopt more of a class struggle union approach, fighting for the broader working class and taking on issues outside of basic wages and working conditions?<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s not entirely possible to understand the future of the Teamsters based on the past, nor can we look at the track record of one individual and claim to understand how the new Teamster union administration will lead, it is still worthwhile to examine the strategy, decisions and orientation of some of those closest to the O\u2019Brien administration and who have been placed in national leadership roles.<\/p>\n