Teamsters for a Democratic Union explained

Teamsters for a Democratic Union
Location Country:	United States/Canada
Affiliation:	Teamster Reformers
Founded:	June 5, 1976
Headquarters:	Detroit,MI
Key People:	Ken Paff

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is a grassroots rank and file organization whose goal is to reform the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), or Teamsters Union. The organization has chapters nationwide in the United States and Canada.

History

TDU was started in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1970s, as an alliance of socialists who had taken Teamster jobs and a layer of militant truck drivers who had been organizing against contract concessions,^[1] after the federal government exposed extensive corruption in the union, which included leadership raiding union-held pension funds, collusion with organized crime, and collusive collective bargaining between union officials and employers at the expense of union members.^[2]

TDU Influential Activists

• Dan La Botz
• Pete Camarata^[3]
• Thomas Geoghegan
• Ken Paff

Endorsements

In November 2019, TDU members voted to endorse the Teamsters United O'Brien/Zuckerman slate for International President and Secretary/Treasurer.^[4]

Further reading

• Rank-and-File Rebellion: Teamsters for a Democratic Union by Dan La Botz, Penguin Random House, 1992
• Rebel Rank and File, Edited by Aaron Brenner, Robert Brenner, and Cal Winslow, Verso Books, 2010

External links

• Teamsters for a Democratic Union Homepage
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Homepage

Notes and References

1. Web site: Teamsters for a Democratic Union . Democratic Socialists of America . 8 July 2023 . 16 June 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230616023920/https://rfs.dsausa.org/case-studies/teamsters-for-a-democratic-union/ . live.
2. Web site: Marvit . Moshe . A Lesson on How to Unite Across Race and Class From… the Teamsters . The Nation . 14 December 2016.
3. Web site: Martin . Douglas . Pete Camarata, Who Fought Fellow Teamsters for Reforms, Dies at 67 . . 15 February 2014.
4. Web site: Levin . David . The Teamster Revolt Against the Hoffa Era . Jacobin Magazine . 16 January 2020.