Socialist Viewpoint

In November, a New York jury found former Teamsters President Ron Carey innocent of all criminal charges stemming from false allegations by the union’s Federal overseers. Unfortunately, the jury also could not overturn the Feds’ outrageous ouster of Carey from the Teamsters Union. Certainly, if the jury had the power to return the leader of the 1997 UPS strike that electrified the U.S. labor movement, it would have done so. No doubt, some of the jurors remembered the strike against UPS and cheered the strikers, as did so very many Americans.

Though the jury couldn’t return Ron Carey to the union and its ranks that he so proudly served for 40 years, the jury did provide an opportunity for Teamsters to take the next step in getting Carey back where he rightly belongs. Now Teamsters have the opportunity to demonstrate to all of Carey’s detractors inside and outside of the union that the ranks want Carey back.

Soon after the jury’s verdict, a UPS driver told me he wanted to see Ron Carey returned to the Teamsters Union. He had read an eyewitness report of Ron Carey’s trial and was convinced that the government had railroaded Ron Carey. Now, he said, he wanted to do something to set things right.

I suggested that he ask the Teamsters at his package center to sign a petition, letting Ron Carey know how they felt. But I had underestimated his desire to help out. “Make me up a petition, and I’ll take it to barns all over the local,” he told me.

Since then, other Teamsters have begun gathering signatures at their worksites. The petition was placed on the Internet and is turning up in some Teamsters local unions outside of California. Hopefully, activities like the petition signing can spark a broad mobilization of Teamsters to demand that the government take the wraps off of Carey and the Teamsters Union.

At the time the government removed Carey from the Teamsters, all of organized labor was benefiting from the shot in the arm that the successful UPS strike provided. Since then, however, the enthusiasm of that victory over UPS has evaporated. Today, organized labor, including the Teamsters Union again needs the inspiration of a fighting, democratic leadership.

Facing another wrenching recession, American workers need a revitalized union movement. Bringing Ron Carey back to organized labor can be a major step in turning the union movement around. Forcing the government to retreat from its implicit attack on all workers’ right to democratically choose their leaders can inspire a new level of rank-and-file activity and militancy.

I hope that all workers who see the petition make copies and pass it around to the Teamsters who deliver the bread and milk, potato chips and soft-drinks to the neighborhood grocery. I hope they pass it on to the school bus drivers, the big-rig drivers, and the UPS drivers.

There are 1.4 million Teamsters whose power can bring Ron Carey back to the Teamsters and organized labor. If you can help get the petition out to them, thanks so very much. Ron Carey need not stand alone if you stand with him.

In Solidarity,

Bob Mattingly
Retired Business Representative, Teamsters Local Union 896

Carey Petition