Hoffa on fire at Unity

Hoffa, speaking to Teamsters at Unity Conference today.

Teamster members have elected James P. Hoffa as general president more than they've elected any other president. He showed no signs of slowing down at the Unity Conference today, just hours before being sworn in again as the union's leader tonight.

Hoffa, as passionate as ever, called on the 1,500 Teamsters present to stand shoulder to shoulder in the war against workers:

Teamsters are best when we're together.

He described the forces arrayed against working families: the billionaires and millionaires, including one casino owner who donated $10 million to Newt Gingrich's campaign. "That was a bad bet," Hoffa quipped.

He excoriated corporate-backed politicians, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who are trying to destroy workers. He vowed that organized labor would recall Walker in June and anti-worker members of Congress in November.

He had special scorn for anti-union media outlets and for Mitt Romney. Hoffa told the story of a sister in Ohio who confessed to him that she'd voted for John Kasich. She realized she'd made a mistake when Kasich forced through SB5, stripping collective bargaining rights from government workers. (You will recall Ohioans overwhelmingly vetoed that heinous bill on the November ballot.) Hoffa asked her how she could have done that. "She said, "I listened to Fox News."

"Turn off Fox News," Hoffa said to a cheering audience. "Turn off Bill O'Reilly. Turn off Glenn Beck!"

Romney fared no better. The multimillionaire, said Hoffa, sides with his rich friends against workers. He described how Romney sent jobs to China and shut down factories as CEO of Bain Capital. 

He has a Swiss bank account. What president has a Swiss bank account?...

There's something wrong when Romney pays 14% taxes and Teamsters pay 30%.

More tomorrow.