Even Unions Have Union Problems

NN&V Exclusive  (Rebecca Smith) – “We will be fighting for the rights of every American worker, private or public, to bargain collectively for better wages, benefits and working conditions.”  So said James Hoffa, Jr., March 24, 2011, in the Huffington Post.

Fighting for every worker, except the ones who work for the mighty International Brotherhood of Teamsters, that is.

Are the organizers second-class citizens?  They don’t count, I guess.  Maybe they are second-class citizens within the grand marble halls of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, known by the members as the “Marble Palace.”

Those people employed by the Teamsters do not have a right to bargain collectively for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

On February 9, 2012, the organizers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed another petition to organize—the bargaining unit was the organizers themselves. The petition 5-RC-74039 was filed in Chicago and the International Union has declined to recognize the bargaining unit.

The whole affair has Teamster members divided on the issue of employees of the union being in a union and not at-will employees.  The organizers wanted due process, according to those involved.  If an organizer is not living up to the standards expected of them, then they wanted a progressive discipline process, comparable to what they tell other workers they need.  This fight revolves around “at-will employees” vs. “just cause employees.”

What about those anti-union organizers?  Those organizers who, according to one inside source, had one-on-one meetings with those who wanted a union to convince them they didn’t need one?  The members’ dues are now paying them to be union busters.  How can they organize non-union shops criticizing management for mandatory meetings and a vote no message when they themselves engaged in the same behavior?

The fact of the matter is that the department human resources at the union is the same as those at Wal-Mart, a company they abhor and launch negative public relations campaigns against.  The union continues to enforce an “at-will” status with its organizers.

Apparently the one-on-one meetings worked.  As on March 26, 2012, NLRB representative, Jonathan Axelrod, received a letter from the petitioners (IBT organizers) requesting a withdrawal of the request to have a union election.

Well, Mr. Hoffa, it is a good thing that Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) didn’t pass.  You were a big supporter of that, weren’t you, Mr. Hoffa?