C. Thomas Keegel

Patrick Szymanski

Jeff Farmer

Carin Zelenko

"Our unions have worked side by side for decades. Now it's time for us to work together."

That was the message from Secy.-Treas. C. Thomas Keegel of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) to delegates at the GCIU's Sixth Quadrennial Convention.

Keegel, a panel of Teamsters staff, and the attorney for the newly merged Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers/Teamster Conference spoke on the first day to convention delegates about the advantages that the proposed merger with the Teamsters has to offer.

Keegel pointed out: "We work in many crafts that you do. We have the trucks at the printing companies, at the box companies. We work with you at the newspaper. We talk to each other. We've stood by your side in your trials and your tribulations. We want to continue–and we will continue–to do that."

"We are truly stronger when we join hands together for the common good of what is our charge–and that is to represent the membership the best way that we can," Keegel said.

Keegel said the merger makes sense for the Teamsters because both the Teamsters and the GCIU are "in the business of building power for working people. It makes sense because we need to increase union density and bargaining power in industries in which we represent workers."

"The Teamsters union has one aim–and one aim only–in this merger," Keegel said. "That's to build power so that we can be strong at the workplace, so that we can be strong in the community, so that we can be strong in politics, so that we can be strong to take on the employers that are out to destroy us."

In addition to a stable membership of about 1.4 million and improved finances, Keegel said, the Teamsters offer resources in organizing, education, and political action. He said the International spends some $12 million to $15 million on organizing per year and maintains a staff of some 150 organizers. Local unions and district councils also employ organizers, he noted. He said the Teamsters union provides training classes for local unions to train shops stewards in organizing and other areas.

Keegel said the Teamsters has the "most extensive lobbying operation of any international union. Capitol Hill lawmakers "don't shut their door when we walk by; they open their door. They want to talk to us. That's what it's about. Power. It's about power. That's all they understand: power and money."

The Teamsters' dues structure offers another advantage, Keegel said. Under the increased dues structure implemented in 2002, the per capita taxes that go to the International equal 22 percent of two-and-one-half times of a member's hourly rate. "That's our dues structure," he said. "We don't have to fix it. Every time we negotiate those good contracts and get our members a decent wage increase, we'll get our 22 percent of that dollar so we can provide the kind of services our members need."

Keegel said the union's strike fund, which was depleted in 1999, is now up to $19 million. The union pays strike benefits at the rate of 10 times the hourly wage rate per week, he said.

Keegel said he is "excited about our future together. . . . It's the right thing to do for the members to build the power, the strength of a formidable organization that has resources to fight to do what you need to do. I'm proud of that."

IBT General Counsel Patrick Szymanski outlined the mission, membership, structure, and operations of the Teamsters union.

Szymanski said the Teamsters' mission "is to obtain the best labor agreements we can and the best standards and working conditions that we can on behalf of our members....We are not into touchy-feely issues. We're here for the basic economic issues to allow our members the standard of living that makes it worthwhile to be an American."

The Teamsters membership in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and other territories ranges from "airline pilots to zoo keepers," Szymanski said.

Szymanski explained that the union is structured into divisions administered by the International to represent the diversity of workers, such as airline, automobile, car haulers, building and construction, freight, industrial trades, motion picture and theatrical, newspaper, parcel and small package, port, public services, tank hauling, trade show and convention center, and warehouse.

Teamster conferences are independent organizations, Szymanski said, that set their own per capita, spending, and direction for their organizations. Should the merger be approved, the GCIU would fall into this category, he noted. Current Teamster conferences include Bakery and Laundry, Brewery and soft drink, dairy and food processing, and the new rail.

Szymanski said the Teamsters and GCIU share some major common employers–including Quebecor World, Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific, International Paper, Smurfit Stone, Gannett, and Knight Ridder.

"So, in terms of bargaining, where we match and where we complement each other, we think that the fundamentals here indicate that we can negotiate strong contracts together for our members," Szymanski said.

IBT Organizing Director Jeff Farmer said the union's organizing strategy sets three main goals: increasing the number of International organizers; "building a mighty army" of trained member organizers; and focusing on Teamster core industries to build density which "equals power."

Carin Zelenko, director of the IBT Office of Corporate and Strategic Initiatives, said her group works with conferences, divisions and local unions to build leverage for organizing, bargaining, and strike campaigns. To do this, she said, the Teamsters look to build broad coalitions from metropolitan areas and regions to global alliances.

Another key part of the leverage strategy is representing Teamster interests at shareholder meetings, Zelenko said. The targets the unions has gone after at such companies as Coca Cola, Bank of America, and Continental Airlines include labor policies and runaway executive pay and benefits.

"Our members are the most important stakeholders at the companies we represent, and we want to ensure that Teamster money supports Teamster members," Zelenko said. That is why the union uses its leverage from its pension funds to weigh in against corporations, banks, and stock and securities companies, she said.

Mike Mathis, director of government affairs, said the union's goal is to build "money and votes"–the "two things that politicians understand." The money is through the unions' Democrat-Republican Independent Voter Education (DRIVE) program. The votes evolve through educating their members on the issues, he said. The Teamsters union also works closely with environmental, community, consumer, safety, civil rights, and even employer groups to build coalitions to win legislation important to workers, he said.

Thomas C. Brennan, counsel for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers/Teamster Conference, addressed the BLE's merger this past January into the Teamsters as a conference. He said the BLE faced many of the same difficulties in the rail industry as the GCIU has in the printing industry over the past two decades: Mergers, operational consolidations, bankruptcies, and technological change.

As a result, the BLE embarked on merger negotiations with several unions but finally opted for the Teamsters, Brennan said.

Since the merger took place, Brennan said, "at every turn, the IBT has been there for us–whether lobbying Congress, pressuring the regulatory agencies, or creating a contract campaign."