Increasing Teamster Power!

Joint Council 7's Doug Bloch was one of the attendees.

Scores of Teamsters came together yesterday and today to listen to speakers and share ideas about how to pursue a political agenda that will benefit members both at the ballot box and in the legislative halls of power.

Representatives from locals and joint councils from around the country heard from both Teamsters' officials and experts from outside the union on a host of policy issues, as well as on how to best reach and communicate with membership. It was all part of a effort to improve the union's push of an agenda that will benefit all workers.

Doug Bloch, political director of Joint Council 7 for Northern California and Northern Nevada, said membership outreach is essential to political success:

We know when we talk to our members, it works. The numbers don't lie.

Attendees heard about how the Teamsters are moving full force to defeat fast track trade authority in Congress as well as push back on efforts in state capitals around the country to get right-to-work approved. They were also briefed on the continuing Sysco/US Foods and School Bus campaigns.

It's all part of the effort to grow Teamster Power!

Ed Schultz tells it like it is at Teamsters Unity Conference

Ed Schultz telling Teamsters to tell the truth to their neighbors.

Ed Schultz closed the Teamsters Unity Conference with a rock 'em, sock 'em call to action against extremists who want to destroy the middle class.

Schultz has become a Teamster favorite because he speaks up for working people on his MSNBC program, "The Ed Show." He began by telling the 2,000 Teamsters,

I thought I'd let you see if I'm as big a son of a bitch as the right wing thinks I am.

He was introduced by Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, who watches "The Ed Show" every night at 8 pm, EDT. Hoffa called him "the antithesis of Fox News and Bill O'Reilly" as well as "a big man with a big heart.

Schultz, who had just donated $20,000 to the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund, delivered a passionate defense of public education.

Public education, why in the hell would they attack that? They want fewer teachers, fewer schools, bigger classes, a better dropout rate because they really do love cheap labor. That's what they want.

He urged the assembled Teamsters to get out and defeat Mitt Romney in November.

We’re on the offensive in 2012. We need to tell the truth to our neighbors about the war on workers. Mitt Romney and his crowd have no plan for you or for organized labor. They have nothing on the table for you and your future.

In Ohio and Wisconsin, there are politicians who want to take away your voice in the workplace. This is their vision for America. They want me to have another tax break. I don’t want any more money. I want my nine grandkids to have a future and to set the table for them...  

I know that workers in this country have the resilience, the reason, the heart and the desire to do what has to be done. They can’t take your heart and your passion and I’m not going to let them change the facts. The facts are—we can turn this country around. The same way this country was built by labor, it can be rebuilt by labor.

Teamsters endorse Obama

The Teamster Unity Conference.

The Teamsters Union today endorsed President Obama for re-election with the enthusiastic support of 1,500 members gathered at the annual Unity Conference.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa threw the question out to the assembled Teamsters:

Do we want to endorse Barack Obama for president?

The response: A resounding "yes" and a standing ovation.

The General Executive Board had given Hoffa the authority to endorse Obama last night. Several vice presidents spoke from the floor and urged him to make the endorsement as soon as possible.

International Vice President Rome Aloise said:

You've got to vote your pocketbook, you've got to vote the people who won't hurt us....We've got a war like we've never seen...we should endorse Obama, endorse him now, and get off our asses and work for him.

International Vice President John Coli:

If we think the war on workers is tough right now, put Mitt Romney in office and you'll see how tough it is...We have to do this, it's more critical than anything we do this fall.

Coli received a standing ovation when he said "We need to endorse him now."

International Vice President John Murphy:

If they want a war, let's give him a war.

Enthusiasm for Obama was equaled if not exceeded by dislike of Romney, described as a "vulture capitalist." Loud booing was the answer to Hoffa's question, "Does anybody want Mitt Romney." Said Hoffa,

We have leadership. We are the ones who are going to lead this battle to make sure we win this fall. 

Words to win a Teamster's heart

Valerie Demings, candidate for Congress and Harley rider.

Valerie Demings, the first woman police chief of Orlando, Fla., knows exactly how to win a Teamster's heart.

Speaking to 1,500 Teamsters at the Unity Conference yesterday, Demings said she had a few free hours recently ... and so she took a ride on her 2004 Harley Davidson Road King Classic.

Demings is running for Congress in Orlando because, she said, there's a mess in Washington.

We can do better. We need to start electing candidates who understand what it means to be a working American. Who understands what it means to be in the middle class. To just want to have a decent job that pays a decent wage with decent benefits, a job that gives you the opportunity to keep a roof over your head, put food on the table, provide a quality education for your children and in those senior years after a life of working hard the ability to retire with dignity and be able to take care of yourself.

But about that ride on her Harley...

She said she was thinking about what to say to the Teamsters, and then hit upon it:

It's great to be made in America. ...Made in America is about the opportunities we're supposed to have in this country we say is the greatest country in the world.

And if that didn't win every Teamster over, this did:

I was a member of two unions. I have a son who's a firefighter, a brother who's a member of the postal workers union and my oldest brother spent 32 years with ups and was a proud member of the Teamsters.

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.