Teamsters Union is one of the largest labor unions in the United States. Its official name is International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of America. The Teamsters also has local unions in Canada and Puerto Rico. Its membership includes truckdrivers, chauffeurs, warehouse employees, and helpers; people who work with automotive vehicles, including salespeople; garage and service-station employees; dairy, brewery, food-processing, and soft-drink plant employees; and industrial workers and airline and public service employees. Union headquarters are in Washington, D.C.
The Teamsters has over one million members. It is organized primarily through its hundreds of local unions in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. In addition, the Teamsters Union has joint councils and an international convention. Major duties of the joint councils include adjusting jurisdictional disputes between local unions, approving or disapproving strikes or boycotts planned by locals, and evaluating wage scales that the locals plan to submit to employers. The convention is the supreme governing body of the union. It meets every five years. Each local’s representation is based on the size of its membership.
The Teamsters Union was chartered by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1899 as the Team Drivers’ Union. The group split into two unions, which reunited at Niagara Falls, New York, in 1903, the official date of the founding of the Teamsters Union. The union grew rapidly under presidents David Beck and Jimmy Hoffa in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. It was expelled from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 1957, after its leaders were accused of unethical practices. The union was readmitted to the AFL-CIO in 1987.
In 1989, the Teamsters Union and the U.S. Department of Justice reached an out-of-court settlement of a federal racketeering lawsuit filed against the union. Some Teamsters officials had long been suspected of having ties to organized crime. The terms of the agreement included creation of an independent three-member board to oversee union activities. One board member is appointed by the U.S. attorney general, the second by the union, and the third by mutual consent of the union and the attorney general. The board was set up in 1992.
In 2005, the Teamsters helped establish a new labor federation, called Change to Win. That same year, the Teamsters and several other unions withdrew from the AFL-CIO due to disagreements over strategy.
In January 2015, the Teamsters Union and the federal government reached an agreement to end the more than 25 years of strict government oversight of the union’s activities in 5 years. A federal judge approved the deal at a hearing in February 2015. The deal bans the Teamsters from associating with organized crime. It also replaces the three-member review board with independent officers appointed by the union to investigate allegations of corruption.
For membership, see Labor movement (table: Union membership in the United States).
