Rank-and-File Rebellion: Teamsters for a Democratic Union

355 Pages·1991·6.474 MB·English

by  Dan La Botz

Rank-and-File Rebellion

Rank-and-File Rebellion
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
Q
DAN LA BOTZ
V
V E R S 0
London - New York
First published by Verso 1990
© 1990 Dan La Botz
All rights reserved
Verso
UK: 6 Meard Street, London WlV 3HR
US: 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001-2291
Verso is the imprint of New Left Books
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
La Botz, Dan
Rank and file rebellion : Teamsters for a democratic union.
1. United States. Road freight transport services. Trade unions: International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of America.
Leaders. Disputes with members, history
I. Title
331.87
ISBN 0-86091-289-2
ISBN 0-86091-505-0 pbk
US Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
La Botz, Dan
Rank and file rebellion : Teamsters for a Democratic Union / by Dan La Botz
p. cm. — (Haymarket series on North American politics and culture)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-86091-289-2. —ISBN 0-86091-505-0 (pbk.)
1. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of
America—History. 2. Teamsters for a Democratic Union—History. I. Title. 2. Series.
HD6515.T3L3 1990
331.88’11388324’0973—dc20
Typeset by NorthStar,
San Francisco, California
Printed in USA by The Alpine Press Inc.
Foreword by Victor Reuther xi
Acknowlegements
1 The Revolution in Local 138 —s
y
2 The Fight for the Teamsters Union
PART I The Origins of the Teamster Reform Movement
3 Miltancy, Democracy, Secession and the Founding of FASH 19
The 1970 Wildcat and TURF 28
Health, Safety and PROD 42
‘Ready to Strike! ’: TDC and the 1976 Contract 50
The Founding of the TDU and the 1976 Teamster Convention 69
PART II The Rise and Fall of the Teamster Bureaucracy
8 The Rise of the Teamsters 83
9 The Fall of the Teamsters 114
PART III The Making of a Movement
10 Detroit Puts TDU on the Map 143
11 Long Beach Throws Out the Thugs 151
12 Pension Reform, the Contract, and the PROD-TDU Merger 162
l3 Red-Baiting and the Attack on TDU 182
PART IV The Testing of TDU
14 Deregulation and Depression 195
15 UPS: The Totalitarian Workplace 209
16 ‘Roy Williams, What Are You Afraid of?’ 219
17 Victories, Defeats and Casualties 227
A
LII
N
O
\I
PART V Fighting Back
18 ‘A Slap in the Face for Jackie Presser’ 237
19 Fighting Back in Los Angeles and Denver 250
2O Drugs, Deceit, and Presser Pulls a Fast One 261
21 The Great Watsonville Strike 273
22 Presser, the Mafia and the FBI 282
PART VI TDU: The Party of Reform
23 Atlanta TDU: Teamster Reform Comes to the South 299
24 The Future of the Union: The Right to Vote 314
Selected Bibliography 330
Index 332
To the men and women of the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
The Haymarket Series
Editors: Mike Davis and Michael Sprinker
The Haymarket Series is a new publishing venture initiated by Verso offering
original studies of politics, history and culture focused on North America. The
series presents innovative but representative views from across the American
left on a wide range of topics of current and continuing interest to socialists in
North America and throughout the world. A century after the first May Day,
the American left remains in the shadow of those martyrs whom this series
honors and commemorates. The studies in the Haymarket Series testify to the
living legacy of activism and political commitment for which they gave up
their lives.
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