After 5 entries about Labor History in Chicago, it's time for one final post. As a recap, so far today we have talked about The Jungle, the Pullman Strike, Samuel Gompers, the Haymarket Affair, and International Worker's Day(aka May Day). But now, we wrap it all up by getting acquainted with the Teamsters...
Ever since 1887, the American Federation of Labor had been organizing groups of teamsters(the term is derived from workers who would lead teams of draft horses that moved goods from place to place) into groups to better advocate for themselves and their causes. In 1898, the AFL created a separate division specifically for Teamsters. However, this failed to satisfy a group of Teamsters in Chicago, who created the Teamsters National Union in 1901. 2 years later, the AFL arranged for its teamster union to merge with the Teamsters, creating the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is what the union is known as to this day. Even in the very first election held by the Teamsters, the future corruption of the union was evident, as the man elected President of the Teamsters(Cornelius Shea) was accused of embezzlement prior to the election.
Once taking office, the accusations against Shea were borne out in the actions of the Teamsters. As the Teamsters were the union representing drivers, a strike by them could quite literally paralyze commerce throughout an entire city. During Shea's administration, the Teamsters would routinely abuse this trait by soliciting bribes from city officials to avert Teamster strikes. The Teamsters did participate in some legitimate actions during Shea's time, including strikes in support of railway workers and meat cutters. In 1905, the union walked out in support of tailors at Montgomery Ward. Everything went great, until it was revealed that Cornelius Shea had spent the duration of the strike carousing in a brothel hosting lavish parties all in the company of his 19-year-old mistress. This marked the beginning of the end of the Shea era, and his successor was elected President in 1907.
For the next 45 years, Daniel Tobin took the helm, a period of time that saw the union reach new heights in both membership and levels of corruption. By the dawn of the 1950s, the Teamsters' corruption reached new levels when they started mingling with organized crime. It was also during this time that the Teamsters started trying to absorb other unions into their ranks. This started with the International Longshoreman's Association, a union that was even more corrupt than the Teamsters, even to the point of electing a known mob associate as VP of the union. This attempt was vetoed by the AFL, but another attempt was made to merge with the Brewery Workers Union. When this was vetoed by the Brewers, the Teamsters raided the union anyway, an action that drew harsh criticism from the AFL, which wound up passing an anti-raiding bill in the wake of the incident.
In 1957, the Teamsters elected Jimmy Hoffa to be their president, and he once again upheld the status quo of corruption that was the Teamsters' trademark. This time, the graft of choice was taking monies from the union's pension plans and funneling them to the Mafia in order to aid their erection of Las Vegas as we know it today. This involvement with The Mob got Hoffa caught up in the anti-organized crime crusade that was being led by Robert Kennedy, and Hoffa was sent to prison in 1967. President Nixon pardoned him in 1972, but on the condition that he suspend all involvement with the Teamsters until 1980, at which point Hoffa could make a comeback. This was not to be however, as Hoffa disappeared without a trace in 1975, never to be heard from again.
In more recent times, the Teamsters have tried to initiate reforms, stemming from the organization of individual union members into groups such as Teamsters for a Democratic Union, which has been a force since the late 1970s. Over the years, the TDU has fought for and won much greater transparency at all levels of the Teamsters. No longer could upper management strike deals on contracts and pensions in smoke-filled rooms and keep the everyday union man in the dark. Also in this period, the rank-and-file teamsters won the right to directly elect the top leadership of the union for the first time. Today, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters still advocates for the rights of haulers everywhere, while continuing to clean up its checkered past
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