Labor Notes
Teamster President Steps
Down, Challenger Investigatedcompiled by Jeff Burman
The sad story of Teamster financial improprieties continues to unfold. Teamster President Ron Carey's 1996 re-election has been voided, and he has been barred from running in a subsequent election. In the wake of these blows, Carey has voluntarily left his post without pay.
Judge Kenneth Conboy, the court-appointed overseer examining this case, has also promised to look into the $1.8 million in unidentified campaign contributions raised by challenger James P. Hoffa.
If public perception is important in the political process, the very telling of the Teamster saga is critical. Any of us who have had conversations about our union, or about unions in general, know that the general feeling towards unions is reflexively negative. The L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal and others have already begun to heap on the abuse about "corrupt big labor."
Arthur Sloane, a professor of industrial relations at the University of Delaware sees a painful irony in the Teamsters' dilemma. "The Teamsters aren't saintly, but it's a very different union today, in terms of being far more honestly run and much more democratic. The wholesale pilferage of the health and welfare funds...is just about gone."
After the judge's decisions, Carey said the democratic reform of the Teamsters "does not depend on one man or woman." Activists in Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the organization that originally brought Carey to power, will carry on. 10,000 strong, it will continue to push their bottom-up, grass-roots strategy: educate and mobilize, the key to the U.P.S. victory.
David Moberg, a progressive labor analyst, points to the core issue. "If members understand that it was not just a tough leader but a democratic model of unionism that 'restored the power' (the motto of Hoffa's campaign), then the legitimate reform legacy that Carey created - then tarnished - will indeed be made stronger."
El Monte "Slaves" Win
Five major retailers, including Mervyn's, Montgomery Ward and BUM International have agreed, in an out-of-court settlement, to pay more than $2 million to 150 workers who toiled under hideous, slave-like conditions. Some $1.3 million has already been turned over to 80 Thai clothing workers from the El Monte site, and 70 Latinos who worked at a related L.A. shop. The majority of these workers are women.
Julie Su, a staff attorney for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center who represented the needleworkers, says the settlement sends a message: "In the struggle for corporate accountability, garment workers can fight back and win...It's no longer sufficient for retailers and manufacturers to say 'We didn't know, so we're not responsible.'"
The case made international headlines in 1995. Eight operators of the El Monte sweatshop have been sentenced to seven years in prison.
The El Monte scandal highlights the problems faced by many immigrant workers. It is also a frightening reminder of how ugly working conditions can become if employees cannot or will not stand up for themselves.