Teamsters Begin Union’s First Open Convention
ORLANDO, Fla. — The first politically open Teamsters convention began Monday as an unprecedented pastiche of democracy in all its catharsis, chaos and change.
In a symbolic demonstration of their lingering resentment of government oversight, the 1,900 delegates voted against incorporating the democratic reforms of a 1989 consent decree into their constitution. The decree, which settled a federal racketeering lawsuit against the union, has led to government expulsion or resignation of dozens of allegedly corrupt union leaders.
While emotionally powerful, the convention vote was meaningless; federal courts have held that the consent decree automatically amended the constitution and that the Teamsters are permanently obliged to conduct secret-ballot elections and to establish a union ethical-practices commission.
Many of the delegates, who in past conventions came only to anoint their leaders, loudly booed their outgoing, stroke-ridden President William J. McCarthy, one of the union executives who signed the consent decree.
In yet another reflection of their anger, most of the delegates booed even more loudly throughout a three-minute videotaped welcome from President Bush, who was endorsed by the union’s leadership in 1988. The Bush Administration has threatened to veto a labor-sponsored bill now in Congress that would ban employers from permanently replacing strikers.
Postponed until today was a discussion of proposals endorsed by the Teamster Establishment that dramatically reflect how two years of government oversight has mellowed the union’s resistance to reform. One proposal would raise weekly strike benefits to $100 from $45. The other would put the first cap on multiple salaries for Teamster executives holding more than one job, limiting total compensation to $225,000 a year. That is far more than most unions pay their leaders but below the amount a dozen Teamster leaders now earn.
Both of those proposals have been quashed by union leaders during past conventions, leading to popular criticism of “country club” salaries.
This convention, the first that the nation’s largest labor union has held since the consent decree was signed, is a prelude to the first Teamster rank-and-file election of a president and 20 other executive board members in December. Previously, union leaders were picked at the convention by unelected delegates.
The bulk of the delegates here are split into two camps. One favors R.V. Durham, a union vice president from North Carolina backed by McCarthy while the other favors Walter Shea of Washington, D.C., another vice president who has been executive assistant to McCarthy and several other union presidents. About 250 other delegates are pledged to Ron Carey, an avowed reform candidate who runs a New York Teamster local.
The political struggle and the presence of dozens of government overseers, including court-appointed union administrator Frederick Lacey, have dramatically changed the sometimes-oppressive atmosphere of past conventions.
Rival factions demonstrated in hallways outside the convention hall doors--a competitiveness never seen before. Reporters, who at the last convention in 1986 were sometimes rousted by beefy union security guards when they attempted to interview delegates, have unprecedented access not only to delegates but to candidates like Durham and Shea.
Nowhere was the change more clearly illustrated than in the hour and a half of vigorous debate over whether the convention should oppose the consent decree or accept its inevitable legal effect.
The vast majority of delegates bitterly resent the Justice Department’s contention that they cannot legally adopt amendments that in any way contradict the detailed terms of the consent decree. Many--particularly those who are officials of Teamster locals--want to adopt compromise reforms. Their goals include eliminating elected convention delegates in favor of simply sending elected officials of Teamster locals.
Only a handful of dissident delegates attended past conventions, and they could easily be drowned out. On Monday, Carey’s delegates outraced Durham and Shea delegates to the 12 microphones in the convention hall and dominated the debate--arguing in favor of the consent decree in a hall that eventually voted overwhelmingly against it.
The booing of McCarthy, the union’s 71-year-old retiring president, was also astonishing when compared to past conventions.
At the 1986 Teamster convention, then-President Jackie Presser was hailed jubilantly at a notoriously lavish $600,000 union-funded reception in which Roman-toga-clad musclemen carried Presser around the room on a sedan chair.
On Monday, so pronounced were the boos against McCarthy that the Teamster president, who has been generally regarded as an ineffectual leader during his three years in office, felt obliged to publicly explain how a recent stroke has slowed him.
“Up here I’m as clear as a bell,” he said, referring to his mind. “But I have trouble getting things out” because of speech impairment. “I don’t know why the hell you all boo. I’m getting out anyway.”
Much of the antagonism toward McCarthy comes from Shea, who was McCarthy’s executive assistant until he was fired after deciding to run for president. Alluding to Shea’s allies on the executive board, McCarthy said his goal in retiring is “to live longer than they live.”
Durham, generally regarded as the front-runner for president, picked up the endorsement of James P. Hoffa, son of the late Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa, a Detroit labor lawyer, hoped to be nominated for president but was ruled ineligible by union overseers because he had not worked “in the craft” long enough.
