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<blockquote data-quote="PiedmontSteward" data-source="post: 1767348" data-attributes="member: 42270"><p>TDU was incredibly important in bringing democracy to the Teamsters Union in the 1970's/1980's. Our union was dominated by the mob and other interests for a lot of our history and TDU helped change that along with the consent decree in the 1980's. The rank and file electing the IBT executive board (rather than the locals' elected delegates) and requiring a simple majority (rather than 2/3) to vote down a contract are both things that TDU helped win for the average Teamster. That being said, the rank and file sure as hell don't take advantage of any of that today.</p><p></p><p>The problem with TDU is the whole concept of a "union within a union." There's also a lack of transparency on TDU's end -- as they're not a "labor union" per se, they don't file LM-2's like all locals and the IBT do. Sure, they might distribute that info at their conventions (educated guess?) but its not readily available. They're more than happy to take pot shots at IBT officials and local officers that "double up" on jobs (officers with two or more jobs clearing $150k/year are pretty prevalent in our union) without even opening their own books.</p><p></p><p>The fact that an activist can run against their local officers in a clean election without winning a pair of concrete boots can be partially attributed to TDU and a great deal more to a lot of hardcore Teamsters that were loosely associated with TDU and did put their lives and safety on the line to do so.</p><p></p><p>I'd recommend reading <u><strong>"<em>Collision: How The Fank and File Took Back the Teamsters"</em></strong></u> by Kenneth Crowe.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PiedmontSteward, post: 1767348, member: 42270"] TDU was incredibly important in bringing democracy to the Teamsters Union in the 1970's/1980's. Our union was dominated by the mob and other interests for a lot of our history and TDU helped change that along with the consent decree in the 1980's. The rank and file electing the IBT executive board (rather than the locals' elected delegates) and requiring a simple majority (rather than 2/3) to vote down a contract are both things that TDU helped win for the average Teamster. That being said, the rank and file sure as hell don't take advantage of any of that today. The problem with TDU is the whole concept of a "union within a union." There's also a lack of transparency on TDU's end -- as they're not a "labor union" per se, they don't file LM-2's like all locals and the IBT do. Sure, they might distribute that info at their conventions (educated guess?) but its not readily available. They're more than happy to take pot shots at IBT officials and local officers that "double up" on jobs (officers with two or more jobs clearing $150k/year are pretty prevalent in our union) without even opening their own books. The fact that an activist can run against their local officers in a clean election without winning a pair of concrete boots can be partially attributed to TDU and a great deal more to a lot of hardcore Teamsters that were loosely associated with TDU and did put their lives and safety on the line to do so. I'd recommend reading [U][B]"[I]Collision: How The Fank and File Took Back the Teamsters"[/I][/B][/U] by Kenneth Crowe. [/QUOTE]
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