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Teamster 29th International Convention Day 4

Day four was both educational and entertaining.

After the opening rituals, nominations were accepted for the positions of General President and General Secretary Treasurer. It is very evident who the overwhelming majority supports. If you could not tell from the sea of red vests, the deafening noise will seal the deal.

For the Hoffa/Hall slate the nominees are, James P. Hoffa for General President and Ken Hall for General Secretary Treasurer.

The Zuckerman slate nominees are, Fred Zuckerman for General President and Tim Sylvester for General Secretary Treasurer.

Point of personal privilege: The Zuckerman slate did not even announce a running mate until the convention. Seems like they had to find one. You can come to your own conclusion from that.

Being from Seattle, I will use a comparison to a Seahawks home game to explain how the nomination process went. The nominations are accepted from the delegate area of the convention Hall. When a Hoffa slate nominee is being nominated there is silence like when the Seahawks offense is on the field, followed by a loud celebration when the Hoffa slate candidate is nominated.

When the Zuckerman slate nominee is being nominated you cannot hear the person making the nomination over the crowd noise, just like when the Seahawks defense is on the field. It really sends a message as to which slate is organized and unified. The noise is deafening. My engineer licensing hearing test is due but I will need to wait until next week to go get it done.

After the nominations, the convention was addressed by Teamsters Canada President Francois Laporte. His speech had to be stopped because of a disturbance from the delegate area caused by a Zuckerman slate supporter. President Leporte’s message was, labor needs to work together against anti-labor forces. He also reaffirmed the issues with the TPP free trade agreement. “TPP deal was negotiated to help large corporations, not the workers” Leporte said. Leporte stated, “Canadians are not against trade agreements but want trade agreements that protect jobs.”

Leporte also spoke of the recent changes in the government policies in Canada. The previous Canadian government was ultra-conservative and not only attacked but made legislation changes that hurt labor and the middle class. The new government is restoring the rights of labor and passing laws that help the middle class.

“Teamsters are the back bone of our economy,” Leporte said.

A presentation was given regarding solid waste sanitation workers. The movement started in the 1960’s in Memphis, Tennessee. Two of the sanitation workers involved in the movement and organizing of the sanitation workers addressed the delegates today. Their names are Baxter Leach and Alvin Turner. Their stories were amazing and it was an honor to listen to them. These men met with Martin Luther king Jr. in April of 1968. Mr. Turner told how Dr. King told him he needed to keep up the fight. “The next day they killed him,” Turner said.

This is a caption from Wikipedia:

King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of striking African American city sanitation workers. The workers had staged a walkout on February 11, 1968, to protest unequal wages and working conditions imposed by then-mayorHenry Loeb. At the time, Memphis paid black workers significantly lower wages than whites. Several sanitation workers had been killed on the job due to unsafe working conditions. In addition, unlike white workers, black workers received no pay if they stayed home during bad weather; consequently, most black people were compelled to work even in driving rain and snow storms.[

The sanitation workers ended up striking after two garbage men were killed on the job as a result of faulty equipment and the city only gave the families $700 to $800 for the loss of their family members. This resulted in 1300 sanitation works walking off the job. Eventually, the city of Memphis conceded and came to an agreement with the sanitation workers. Mr. Turner told the delegates the strike and the contract helped end discrimination.

But the story did not end there. Eventually, Waste Management bought the company and promised workers they would take care of them if they voted the Union out. This occurred a decade ago. The workers voted to go non-union and the promises stopped almost immediately. Waste Management changed the pay structure to benefit the company and hurt the employee.

The workers had to organize again and contacted the Teamsters. Last year they voted to go Union as Teamsters.

A presentation was given on Taylor Farms. Taylor Farms is the largest salad producer in the country. As a result of their unfair labor practices and coercion of workers to prevent union organizing they had to pay over $250,000 in penalties. The delegates past a resolution to organize Taylor Farms.

The delegation was than addressed by Dorian Warren. Warren works at the Roosevelt Institute, is a contributor on MSNBC. and is a friend of labor. “Workers are the people that impress me,” Warren said.

Warrens Father was in the military and his Mother was a teacher working under a Teamster contract. It was his Mother’s union job that provided medical and benefits for his family. Warren gave his family history. “My family history goes from slavery to the realization of the American dream,” Warren said.

Warren went on to say, “without a strong labor movement, democracy is not possible, without a strong labor movement, the middle class is not protected.”

Ruben Gallego, US Representative from Arizona addressed the delegation. “Teamsters are one of the strongest and most respected forces in Washington,” Gallego said. Gallego went on to say, “a pension is a promise to the American worker that needs to be kept.”

Jose M. Hernandez spoke. Mr. Hernandez is an astronaut and member of Teamster Local 601. He applied to NASA 11 times before he was accepted the 12th time. His message was, “never give up.”

Our National President Dennis Pierce and BMWED President Freddie Simpson addressed the delegation. They sought support for a resolution promoting Railroad Safety. Since the last Teamsters convention in 2011, 75 rail workers have been killed and 21,000 have been injured. The resolution has three main issues. PTC, protecting two person crews and Track Worker Protection.

PTC would have prevented the head-on collision that happened this past Tuesday morning near Panhandle, Texas.

The Rail safety resolution was passed by the delegation. Pierce said, “we will never give up, we will never give in!”

A presentation was given on the Teamster commitment to veterans. It is run by the Teamster Safety and Health department.

The program provides high quality training to current and former military personnel. The program not only provides training but also a guarantee of employment after the uniform comes off. In the next 5 years, 250,000 military personnel will transition to the civilian work force.

“When you are a Teamster, you are never alone,” Major Colonel Rock said.

A presentation was given for the James R. Hoffa scholarship fund. The fund currently awards recipients $10,000 and $1000 grants.

Since 1999, 3000 recipients have received over 6.5 million dollars in grants. There are plans to introduce changes to the fund in 2017. There will be a $5000 award and awards available for vocational and community college.

Currently the fund awards 1.2 million dollars and will increase every year. In 2020 the fund will award 2 million dollars.

They need more applicants. To apply for the award the recipient must write an essay. Every January the application period begins. You can contact the scholarship fund division for more information.

Christine Haas (not sure of spelling) the daughter of a retired BNSF engineer told her experience with the James R. Hoffa fund. Christine applied for and received the award in 2006. She went to school to be a veterinarian. Veterinarian school cost over $200,000. Because of the help she received from the fund, she is debt free in regard to her student loans today.

“Every Teamsters son or daughter deserves a good education,” …James R. Hoffa

Resolutions considered and passed by the delegates on day 4 were, Rail Safety; Waste industry organizing, Organizing at Taylor Farms; and Human rights protection of a diverse membership.

Constitutional amendments were considered and voted on by the delegates. All amendments were passed but it was not without some unnecessary turmoil. The Zuckerman slate first tried to amend an amendment which was strange since their slate leader was on the by-laws committee and voted in favor of the proposed constitution change as written. If that was not strange enough, after we had completed the passage of all the proposed constitution changes, the Zuckerman slate proposed amendments to the amendments the delegation just passed. Their was a caucus at the podium. Their amendments were ruled out of order as they should have been entered when we were considering the proposed changes and before they were passed. This resulted in a roar of the delegation singing; hey, hey, hey, goodbye.

The convention recessed at 17:05, at which time the voting for nominations of General President and General Secretary Treasurer took place.

In Solidarity

Steve Wells

GCA 900 Delegate

 

 

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