International Brotherhood of Teamsters

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a group affiliated with Change to Win. It unites several unions and union members, such as the Teamsters for a Democratic Union. Sean O'Brien is the President.

James P. Hoffa previously served as General President, Teamster's top officer. C. Thomas Keegel is the General Secretary-Treasurer.^[1]

Socialists Gather for Amazon Unionizing Rally

Socialist Alternative NC Triangle Facebook Post Dated April 22, 2022

An X post dated April 23, 2022 by the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill branch of Socialist Alternative^[2],^[3] and Facebook Post^[4],^[5]

"Join ALU and Amazon workers THIS SUNDAY at 3:30 pm either in-person or virtually on the Socialist Alternative Facebook as they hold a rally in advance of this critical vote. Hear from Kshama Sawant, Bernie Sanders, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien and ATA-CWA President Sara Nelson, members of ALU and other workers as they discuss the weight of the [LDJ5 Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York] LDJ5 vote and how to beat Amazon AGAIN on Staten Island!"

2021 elections

Sean O'Brien President
Fred Zuckerman Sec/Treasurer

VP At Large

Int'l Trustee

Eastern Region VP

Central Region VP

Southern Region VP

General Executive Board

At Large

Eastern

Central

Southern

Western

Canada

International Trustees

Attempted Bribe by Teamsters

From a New York Times article titled "Teamsters' President And 4 Others Convicted Of Plot To Bribe Senator" dated Dec. 16, 1982:^[7]

Roy L. Williams, interim president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and four other men were indicted today by a Federal grand jury for allegedly conspiring to bribe Senator Howard W. Cannon, Democrat of Nevada.

The others were Allen M. Dorfman, 58 years old, a Chicago insurance executive long identified by law-enforcement officials as having ties to organized crime figures; Joseph Lombardo, 52, reputedly a member of the crime syndicate in Chicago; Thomas F. O'Malley, 44, an employer-trustee of the teamsters' Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, based in Chicago, and Andrew G. Massa, 63, director of labor relations for the pension fund and its related health and welfare fund.

Mr. Williams said in a statement released here this afternoon that the charges were a damn lie, and he accused the Federal bureaucracy and headline-grabbing politicians of trying to run the teamsters' union. Efforts to reach the other defendants by phone were unavailing.

11 Counts in Indictment

The 11-count indictment, returned in Chicago, charges that the conspiracy took place from late 1978 to July 1979. Besides the conspiracy charge, the defendants were accused of wire fraud and traveling interstate to further the scheme.

In the alleged plot, the 66-year-old Mr. Williams and his codefendants are accused of promising Senator Cannon an exclusive right for him and some associates to purchase a 5.8-acre parcel of land in Las Vegas from the union's pension fund.

The land was later purchased by someone else. But the indictment says that the defendants' efforts were designed to influence Senator Cannon to delay introduction and passage of trucking deregulation legislation through his position as chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

The teamsters oppose deregulation, which opens competition in the trucking industry. In early 1979, deregulation legislation was sent to Senator Cannon's committee after he won a jurisdictional fight over it in the Senate. That legislation, however, was replaced in 1980 by a bill sponsored by Mr. Cannon that was later signed into law by President Carter.

Evidence against Mr. Williams and the other defendants was presented to the grand jury by Douglas P. Roller, the attorney in charge of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in Chicago.

Former Justice Department officials said Mr. Roller recommended last fall that Senator Cannon be indicted as a member of the conspiracy. But that recommendation, they said, was rejected by Justice Department officials in Washington who were said to believe that there was not enough evidence against Senator Cannon to bring an indictment. Mr. Roller declined today to comment on the matter.

Three Previous Charges

Mr. Williams, who lives in Leeton, Mo., has been indicted three times before on union-related charges. He has never been convicted. Just yesterday, a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations referred to Mr. Williams as an organized crime mole and said that the Justice Department believed that Mr. Williams was controlled by Nicholas Civella, reputedly the organized crime chief in Kansas City.

Ray Schoessling, general secretary-treasurer of the union, said today that the teamsters' executive board believed in Mr. Williams's innocence of the conspiracy charge and supported his attempt to secure a full five-year term as president of the 1.9 million-member union.

The executive board approved Mr. Williams earlier this month as interim replacement for Frank E. Fitzsimmons, who died May 6 in his 10th year as president of the teamsters. At its convention starting June 1 in Las Vegas, the union is expected to elect Mr. Williams to the full term.

Other Past Indictments

Like Mr. Williams, both Mr. Dorfman and Mr. Lombardo have been indicted in the past. Mr. Dorfman, a former consultant to the pension fund, is believed by law-enforcement officials to continue to wield considerable influence within the union's hierarchy and its Central States pension fund.

He was convicted in 1972 and imprisoned on a Federal charge of conspiring to facilitate a loan from the pension fund in return for a $55,000 kickback.

Mr. Dorfman was also indicted in three other cases, including one in Chicago in which he, Mr. Lombardo and others were charged with defrauding the fund. Mr. Dorfman was acquitted in that case, and the Government dropped its case against Mr. Lombardo after the chief witness against him was shotgunned to death by two men described by witnesses as wearing ski masks.

After his conviction in 1972, Mr. Dorfman was forced to relinquish his official relationship with the pension fund. However, through insurance companies that he controls in Chicago, he continues to insure some of the fund's borrowers and also processes claims for the health and welfare fund.

An Unindicted Figure

A key figure in the alleged conspiracy that was the subject of the indictment returned today was identified as William E. Webbe, an employee of Amalgamated Insurance Agency Services Inc., which is controlled by Mr. Dorfman. Mr. Webbe was repeatedly named in the indictment as having been involved in acts to further the scheme. He was not indicted, however, and Federal law-enforcement officials said he had been granted immunity from prosecution.

Among the overt acts of the conspiracy listed in the indictment was a meeting of Mr. Williams and Mr. Dorfman with Senator Cannon in Las Vegas on Jan. 10, 1979.

Senator Cannon said last year that the meeting had concerned trucking deregulation legislation. A Cannon aide said that at one point, Mr. Cannon asked Mr. Dorfman about the 5.8-acre parcel. Today, Mr. Cannon's office said the Senator had not discussed the land matter with Mr. Dorfman in the meeting.

In a statement today, Senator Cannon said that nothing that was discussed at the meeting was improper. He said that the indictment had reaffirmed that my conduct was completely proper in every respect.

If anyone had tried to illegally influence me, he said, I would have reported it immediately to the authorities.

External links

References

[1] Leadership

[2] Socialist Alternative NC Triangle X Post Dated April 23, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[3] Archive Link Socialist Alternative NC Triangle X Post Dated April 23, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[4] Socialist Alternative NC Triangle Facebook Post Dated April 22, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[5] Archive Link Socialist Alternative NC Triangle Facebook Post Dated April 22, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[6] INTERNATIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS AND TRUSTEES

[7] Teamsters' President And 4 Others Convicted Of Plot To Bribe Senator (accessed June 17, 2024)

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