From: Blythe Systems <nytransfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Subject: NEWS: Teamsters Decry Webster Apptment
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
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Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 02:28:18 GMT


Via The NY Transfer News Service ^ All the News that Doesn't Fit

           Teamsters decry William Webster appointment

                        By Veronica Golos

Federal Judge David N. Edelstein defied the Teamsters union and a
mandated consent decree on Aug. 6 by appointing the former head of
both the CIA and FBI, William Webster, to a post on a three-member
Independent Review Board (IRB) overseeing the union's affairs.

The IRB was purportedly established to oversee the
"democratization" of the Teamsters and aid in the transition to a
"clean" union.

The appointment of Webster violates the terms of "mutuality,"
under which that seat on the board was supposed to be filled by a
mutually agreed upon person. When the Teamsters objected to
Webster, who had been nominated by the federal government, Judge
Edelstein declared an "impasse," overruled the union and imposed
the government's choice.

The other two members of the board are Edward Burke, appointed by
the Teamsters, and former Federal Judge Frederick Lacey, appointed
by the Justice Department.

Unionists appalled

Teamsters who have been struggling for years to bring an honest,
committed and militant leadership to the fore see this move as a
body blow to the union.

"You now have a former FBI/CIA director in a position to determine
who is in the union and who will go," says Chris Silvera,
Secretary Treasurer of Local 808 in New York City. "They say it's
to root out corruption, but Webster will decide who is corrupt,
and if he doesn't like the way you think, your ideas, you'll get
investigated."

The Teamsters is the largest AFL-CIO union in the country, with
1.5 million workers. Twenty-five percent of the union members
nationwide are African American, and 25 percent are women.

The Webster appointment comes on the heels of the election of Ron
Carey as president by the full union membership in an election
characterized by grassroots enthusiasm. "What happens to Carey,
who was elected by the rank and file?" asks Silvera. "Who will be
running the union?  Does the government really care about
democracy? If they didn't care about democracy in Kuwait, why are
we to think they'd care about it in our union?"

"The CIA is known to have no sympathy at all toward unions. How
can a former CIA agent be anything but bad news for our union?,"
Silvera asked. "This judge is a dictator, and has set aside the
election process."

The government has also angered union members by arbitrarily
changing the terms of the consent decree under which the IRB was
set up. Under their new set of rules, any member of the IRB can
intervene in the union's budgetary process and go to any union
meeting, including strategy meetings.

William Webster sits on the board of Anheuser-Busch. The Teamsters
have contracts with Busch. This means that Webster will have the
legal right to sit in on union strategy meetings dealing with a
company in which he has an interest.

Fighting `corruption' at $400 per hour

This move can also cost the union treasury a great deal. Over the
last two years, government intervention has cost the union $37
million in fees. Frederick Lacey gets $350 an hour for his
"services." Now William Webster will come to the trough. And there
are others. One of Webster's law partners has been appointed
trustee over Teamster Locals 295 and 851 in air freight, at a
charge to the union of $400 an hour.

"What is the point of Carey cutting the union president's salary
by $50,000?" said Silvera. "Or of eliminating old perks, special
pensions, or figuring out strict accounting procedures, when these
government con men are bleeding the union dry? If you take our
money, our dues, you're trying to strangle us."

"Now is the time to go to the membership," stressed Silvera.
"There is a potential out there, and we need to pull it out. We
need to bring this to the workers, let them know that the
government is riding roughshod over our union, let them know how
dangerous this is.

                               -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited. For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21 St.,
New York, NY 10010; "workers@igc.apc.org".)

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