One group is calling out the federal government for ending 25 years of Teamster oversight.
In 1989, after the Federal government accused the International Brotherhood of Teamsters of corruption, the union settled the court case and agreed to a consent decree to remove corrupt influences from the union ranks. Since that time, the Teamsters have been under the watchful eye of the feds, but now it looks as though they will be free from review.
“I am pleased to announce today that we have settled the 1988 lawsuit, and this case will be dismissed, and we will begin the transition to end government oversight,” union General President Jim Hoffa declared in a statement.
Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, noted skepticism that the union deserved this free pass.
“Once again the Obama administration is putting the priorities of union bosses who showered the president with campaign contributions ahead of the rights of rank-and-file workers,” Mix said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Even by Big Labor’s low standards, Teamster union bosses have an unusually ugly record of corruption and thuggery,” Mix continued. “Unfortunately, corruption and illegal activities will continue to be endemic to Organized Labor as long as union bosses continue to fund their activities by extorting workers for forced dues by threatening to have them fired for refusing to pay up.”
Hoffa declared, “Today, the Teamsters Union and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed an application with Chief Judge Loretta Preska requesting that she approve an agreement to end decades of government oversight over the Teamsters Union,”
“We anticipate that she will approve the agreement,” Hoffa noted.
“This is a historic day for our Teamsters,” he continued. “After decades of hard work and millions of dollars spent, we can finally say that corrupt elements have been driven from the Teamsters and that the government oversight can come to an end.”
Hoffa detailed, “In 1989, the Teamsters Union settled a court case brought by the U.S. government by agreeing to a consent decree. The purpose of the consent decree was to remove corrupt influences from the Teamsters by establishing direct elections of International officers and establishing an independent disciplinary process for rooting out corrupt elements in our Union.”
“When I took office in 1999, I pledged that we would run a clean union, that organized crime would never have a place in the Teamsters Union,” Hoffa said. “I also promised that we would ensure that every rank-and-file Teamster have a direct voice in electing the Union’s International officers.”
Hoffa also noted that in the past fifteen years, his union has been able to promote the principles of one-member-one vote into their, establish a culture in that no corruption of any kind is tolerated.”
“By agreeing to end the lawsuit, the government acknowledges that there has been significant success in eliminating corruption from within the Teamsters,” Hoffa stated. “Our agreement establishes a new procedure for independent investigation and oversight of internal disciplinary matters and guarantees democracy in the future.”
However, Mix argues, “Real accountability will only come about when every worker has Right to Work protections making union dues payments completely voluntary. Until then, more, not less, oversight is appropriate to stop union corruption which is the direct result of compulsory unionism.”
Hoffa concluded, “Today is a new day for our great union. My administration is first and foremost committed to representing the membership” Hoffa added. “The members are the heart and soul of our great union.”
Jimmy Hoffa Sr. did not return a request for comment, though to be fair, he hasn’t been seen since 1975.
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