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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
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- From: Blythe Systems <nytransfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Subject: NEWS: Teamsters Decry Webster Apptment
- Message-ID: <1992Aug16.022818.3121@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 02:28:18 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
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-
- Via The NY Transfer News Service ^ All the News that Doesn't Fit
-
- Teamsters decry William Webster appointment
-
- By Veronica Golos
-
- Federal Judge David N. Edelstein defied the Teamsters union and a
- mandated consent decree on Aug. 6 by appointing the former head of
- both the CIA and FBI, William Webster, to a post on a three-member
- Independent Review Board (IRB) overseeing the union's affairs.
-
- The IRB was purportedly established to oversee the
- "democratization" of the Teamsters and aid in the transition to a
- "clean" union.
-
- The appointment of Webster violates the terms of "mutuality,"
- under which that seat on the board was supposed to be filled by a
- mutually agreed upon person. When the Teamsters objected to
- Webster, who had been nominated by the federal government, Judge
- Edelstein declared an "impasse," overruled the union and imposed
- the government's choice.
-
- The other two members of the board are Edward Burke, appointed by
- the Teamsters, and former Federal Judge Frederick Lacey, appointed
- by the Justice Department.
-
- Unionists appalled
-
- Teamsters who have been struggling for years to bring an honest,
- committed and militant leadership to the fore see this move as a
- body blow to the union.
-
- "You now have a former FBI/CIA director in a position to determine
- who is in the union and who will go," says Chris Silvera,
- Secretary Treasurer of Local 808 in New York City. "They say it's
- to root out corruption, but Webster will decide who is corrupt,
- and if he doesn't like the way you think, your ideas, you'll get
- investigated."
-
- The Teamsters is the largest AFL-CIO union in the country, with
- 1.5 million workers. Twenty-five percent of the union members
- nationwide are African American, and 25 percent are women.
-
- The Webster appointment comes on the heels of the election of Ron
- Carey as president by the full union membership in an election
- characterized by grassroots enthusiasm. "What happens to Carey,
- who was elected by the rank and file?" asks Silvera. "Who will be
- running the union? Does the government really care about
- democracy? If they didn't care about democracy in Kuwait, why are
- we to think they'd care about it in our union?"
-
- "The CIA is known to have no sympathy at all toward unions. How
- can a former CIA agent be anything but bad news for our union?,"
- Silvera asked. "This judge is a dictator, and has set aside the
- election process."
-
- The government has also angered union members by arbitrarily
- changing the terms of the consent decree under which the IRB was
- set up. Under their new set of rules, any member of the IRB can
- intervene in the union's budgetary process and go to any union
- meeting, including strategy meetings.
-
- William Webster sits on the board of Anheuser-Busch. The Teamsters
- have contracts with Busch. This means that Webster will have the
- legal right to sit in on union strategy meetings dealing with a
- company in which he has an interest.
-
- Fighting `corruption' at $400 per hour
-
- This move can also cost the union treasury a great deal. Over the
- last two years, government intervention has cost the union $37
- million in fees. Frederick Lacey gets $350 an hour for his
- "services." Now William Webster will come to the trough. And there
- are others. One of Webster's law partners has been appointed
- trustee over Teamster Locals 295 and 851 in air freight, at a
- charge to the union of $400 an hour.
-
- "What is the point of Carey cutting the union president's salary
- by $50,000?" said Silvera. "Or of eliminating old perks, special
- pensions, or figuring out strict accounting procedures, when these
- government con men are bleeding the union dry? If you take our
- money, our dues, you're trying to strangle us."
-
- "Now is the time to go to the membership," stressed Silvera.
- "There is a potential out there, and we need to pull it out. We
- need to bring this to the workers, let them know that the
- government is riding roughshod over our union, let them know how
- dangerous this is.
-
- -30-
-
- (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
- source is cited. For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21 St.,
- New York, NY 10010; "workers@igc.apc.org".)
-
- -----
- NY Transfer News Service
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