Gov't frame-up fails
Carey acquittal could reinvigorate Teamsters
By Milt Neidenberg
Retired Teamster
It's been a long and lonely fight for former Teamster
President Ron Carey. A federal jury finally acquitted him on
Oct. 12 of perjury charges. Conviction could have led to a
sentence of 35 years.
Carey was cleared of scores of charges that all revolved
around accusations that he had lied under oath when he said he
didn't know that funds had been improperly raised in his 1996
campaign for Teamster president. His victory over James Hoffa
was later overturned by government intervention.
The Justice Department, led by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White
from the New York Eastern and Southern District, had
orchestrated the campaign to frame up Carey. They conspired
with the so-called Independent Review Board that had been
created in 1989 when Rudolph Giuliani--now mayor of New York
City--was U.S. Attorney.
It's time to get rid of the three-member IRB, which is led
by former FBI and CIA head William Webster, and overturn the
decision that barred Carey from the Teamsters for life.
Carey's acquittal by a jury is a victory for the Teamsters
and the labor movement and a defeat for the government. The
acquittal will accelerate a growing rank-and-file opposition to
government control over the internal affairs of the union. The
rank-and-file Teamsters are even now refusing to cooperate with
the IRB.
Much of this is due to Carey, who democratized the union and
empowered the members to deal with corruption within a bloated
Teamster bureaucracy. Carey cut his own salary by a third, sold
off a couple of plush jet airplanes and eliminated double
dipping into union funds by officials. Since that time, current
Teamster President James Hoffa has restored the perks.
Why gov't targeted Carey
It was a frame-up from day one. Carey had led the
unprecedented 1997 United Parcel Service strike and settlement,
which electrified the labor movement and set alarm bells
ringing in corporate America. From then on, the government,
Congress and the big business media made Carey their target.
They slandered him relentlessly.
The UPS settlement provided 2,000 full-time jobs per year
for five years for those who had been part-time and temporary
workers. It stopped cold management's strategy of pitting
workers against each other in a two-tier structure that was
leading to a downward cycle of wages and benefits--an
all-too-common strategy of big business.
The strike that Carey planned and organized in consultation
with the rank and file was so well organized that it lasted
only about two weeks. It was a splendid example that inspired
the labor movement. Rumors began circulating that Carey would
be the logical replacement for AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
when he retired.
Even prior to that successful strike, Carey was a thorn in
the side of the government as he mounted an intensive campaign
to end the federal takeover of the Teamsters, which had begun
in 1989 and almost destroyed the union's ability to operate.
Since then the union has lost over 100,000 members.
Government-appointed officers have been paid hundreds of
millions of dollars from the Teamster treasury to control the
union.
There was another issue that got tangled up in the
government's crusade against Carey. Campaign financing had
become a hot potato in Congress. In 1996, the AFL-CIO had
poured millions of dollars into the Democratic coffers--and
Carey played a role in that. It was part of an all-out campaign
to get then-President Bill Clinton reelected. It was legal.
But big business and its congressional allies were furious.
Congress threatened to investigate three top AFL-CIO leaders:
Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees President Gerald McEntee,
and Service Employees President Andy Stern.
These three labor officials, along with Carey, had been the
main dispensers of union funds to bankroll Clinton and the
Democratic Party. They were viewed as the liberal wing of the
Sweeney leadership. They feared they would be prosecuted if
Carey were found guilty.
Corporations and anti-union forces in Congress used these
attacks on the AFL-CIO leaders as a cover to introduce
repressive, anti-labor legislation. Equally important, they
also served to divert attention from the hundreds of millions
of dollars the corporations themselves lavished on candidates
of their choice.
These anti-union attacks should have been a warning to the
labor movement. Making capitalist electoral politics the
priority and throwing much needed money and resources at
candidates weakens campaigns such as organizing the unorganized
and other important struggles in the multinational working
class, here and abroad.
It is a mistake. The alternative is to take the road to
independent politics with all those struggling for economic and
social justice.
Could change
the balance of power
To their shame, the AFL-CIO leaders distanced themselves
from Carey when he was under the gun of a vicious government
attack, despite the fact that he had been a main player in John
Sweeney's winning the AFL-CIO presidency in 1995. Carey became
isolated and alone in his struggle to clear his name.
James Hoffa, who capitalized on the situation and even
cooperated with the government against Carey, took over the
powerful Teamsters presidency in 1996. He is now the darling of
President George W. Bush and his administration.
Since he took over the Teamster presidency, Hoffa has
emerged as a powerful right-wing force within the AFL-CIO
hierarchy. To date there has been no serious opposition to him
from the Sweeney wing.
The Teamsters are now again in the throes of a national
union election. The incumbent Hoffa--who exploited the IRB
attack on Carey--is favored to win. He is running against Tom
Leedham, an heir to Carey's reform and progressive program and
a key Carey organizer in the 1997 UPS strike.
Hoffa, who denounced the UPS strike, has raised over $2
million for his campaign--a huge sum that couldn't have come
from the nickels and dimes of the rank and file. Hoffa has
built a machine of over-paid bureaucrats.
Carey's Oct. 12 acquittal could change the balance of power,
which now favors Hoffa.
The Leedham campaign and the Teamsters for a Democratic
Union--a broad-based rank-and-file movement that supports
him--can utilize Carey's acquittal and identify with him and
his program. Carey's record as president from 1991-1996, and
even before as the president of a UPS local, stands up as a
beacon of militant action and progressive reforms.
Leedham would do well to add to his program a demand that
Carey be reinstated with all benefits--assuming they were
denied to him and his family. It would also be an advantage if
Leedham raised the issue of ending government control over the
internal affairs of the union.
Though Leedham has only a pittance of money to run his
campaign, in contrast to Hoffa, this program can fire up a
majority of the 1.4 million rank and file--overwhelmingly
multinational, service oriented and with increasing numbers of
women--to support him.
The Nov. 13 union ballot counting comes at a time of
recession and war. As unemployment and plant closings soar, as
President Bush ruthlessly cuts away at Social Security, health
benefits, education and other social programs, the Teamsters
election will have far-reaching results for their members and
the entire labor movement.
Reprinted from the Oct. 25, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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