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Hoffa Delivers Five-Year Report
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa welcomed the thousands of Teamster delegates, guests and union officers to the 29th International Convention’s first day.
“At our last Convention we made a number of promises to you. We set high goals for our union. We said we’d end the Consent Decree and get rid of the RICO lawsuit. Well we did it!” Hoffa said. “We run a clean union and we’re proud of it.”
In his five-year report, Hoffa touched on many issues the union has dealt with in the last five years, and reminded those in attendance what the union can accomplish in the face of so many challenges.
“We pledged to grow our union. Teamsters organized more than 300,000 new workers in the past 10 years!” he said. “More Americans want to be Teamsters. In these troubled times, they need the strength and power of the Teamsters Union.”
Since the last Convention, the union has organized 13,500 San Bernardino County employees, 2,000 parking workers in Boston, 1,700 nurses in San Diego and thousands more at smaller units nationwide. The Drive Up Standards campaign has organized more than 40,000 new school bus drivers since it was started a decade ago.
Hoffa also talked about one of the most important developments in organizing: FedEx Freight.
“At the last Convention we resolved to organize FedEx. Here we are five years later and we’ve got FedEx Freight at the bargaining table!” Hoffa said. “Two weeks ago we held our first negotiating sessions in Philadelphia and Charlotte, and we’re going to get to the table in New Jersey and California soon.”
Right-to-work battles and other political fights were addressed, plus the importance of voting in the upcoming elections.
“There’s more work to do! There’s more workers to organize! There’s more battles to be fought!” Hoffa said. “So on this day, let’s pledge together to fight the good fight, to win the war on workers and to look in the mirror five years from now and say I did my part!”