Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- April 10, 1998
Workers report union violence
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Teamsters union has waged a nationwide campaign of retribution against members who dared to cross picket lines during last year's strike against United Parcel Service, documents and interviews show.
Beatings, shootings, stabbings, death threats, intimidation and illegal confiscation of union dues have been reported by hundreds of workers since Teamsters President Ron Carey ordered the strike in August. Criminal charges, civil lawsuits and more than 100 complaints with the National Labor Relations Board have been filed in states from Alaska to Florida.
"Teamsters chiefs have harassed, threatened, lied to and even beaten up UPS workers who stood up for their legal rights and had the courage to speak out against Ron Carey's walkout," said Stefan Gleason of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. "The Teamsters hierarchy must be held accountable for their vindictive attacks on these employees."
Teamsters spokesman Rand Wilson acknowledged that union locals have improperly deducted dues from the paychecks of UPS employees who crossed picket lines. This is a violation of the workers' "Beck rights," which were spelled out in a 1988 Supreme Court ruling known as Communication Workers of America vs. Beck.
"Yes, the NLRB has determined that there are some technical violations resulting from improper notification of members' Beck rights," Mr. Wilson said. "But as far as a massive, post-strike retribution campaign, I don't think so.
"This was one of the most peaceful and well disciplined strikes in history, involving an enormous number of people. For a strike of that size and duration -- particularly for a Teamsters strike, but for any union -- the members really handled themselves very well.
"Of course there were incidences," Mr. Wilson said. "And you know what? Every day at UPS there are incidences. It's a huge company. They've got hundreds of thousands of people.
"And so on any given day -- today -- at UPS, there are fistfights and stabbings and violence in the workplace. I mean things, you know, happen. And when you add a strike to it, well that escalates the mix and you're gonna have some s--- happen."
Some of it happened to Rod Carter, a Teamster whose claim to fame is that he played for the University of Miami's champion football team in 1987.
"My family comes first -- before the Teamsters, before UPS," Mr. Carter said. "My faith in God and my experience in football have taught me to be my own man. I made my own decision to keep driving for UPS.
"The fact that I am an ex-football player probably caused me to be targeted by those who wanted to send a message, the message being: If I could be intimidated, certainly others who stayed on the job would also be at risk."
On Aug. 7, while stopped at a red light, Mr. Carter's truck was surrounded by six men, including one who was trying to puncture his tires with an ice pick.
"My unlocked door was pulled open," Mr. Carter said. "Then I was jumped by the six men, who beat me, kicked me, called me 'nigger' repeatedly and stabbed me five times with an ice pick."
Another driver, William West of Charlotte, N.C., decided not to strike UPS because of the company's years of support for his daughter, whose epilepsy and kidney problems required a dozen operations. Mr. West said the Teamsters cut off his family's health insurance and threatened to run him off the road.
And Steve Beard of California, was fined $10,000 by the union after he spoke out against the strike in an interview with CNN. Mr. Beard said Teamsters also threatened him with bodily harm and vandalized his equipment.
New cases of retribution are reported each week, often through the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Mr. Wilson called the group the "National Right to Work for Less Committee," which is "just a front group for corporate greed in this country."
Much of the retribution occurred before Mr. Carey began an unpaid leave of absence in November for his involvement in a Teamsters money-laundering scandal.
In the past, Mr. Carey has shown support of Teamsters who violently retaliate against truck drivers crossing picket lines. In 1995, for example, he urged union members to help Teamster Jesse Acuna, who was convicted of savagely beating a nonunion truck driver who crossed a picket line in California in 1994.
The victim, Glen Dale Yeatts, was forced to get out of his truck at a red light after Teamsters pulled a linch pin to disconnect the tractor from the trailers.
"I was then struck with a chunk of concrete on the back of my head by Mr. Acuna," Mr. Yeatts said. "Mr. Acuna then struck me several times about the head with a long, metal pipe until I fell in the street, unconscious. As Mr. Acuna beat me, he screamed: 'Don't you know we're on strike?'"
Mr. Yeatts sustained head injuries, a shattered left arm and loss of hearing and some memory. He has been unable to continue working as a truck driver because of vertigo and his inability to lift cargo with his left arm.
Acuna was imprisoned on convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and infliction of great bodily harm. Teamsters collected money to help him appeal the case.
"I have made a personal contribution of $100 to the 'Jesse Acuna Legal Defense Fund,'" Mr. Carey said in a 1995 letter to his second-in-command at the Teamsters, Secretary-Treasurer Thomas L. Sever. "I would like to urge you to help, if possible, and reach out to other Teamsters to let them know that we've got a brother in need."
Even before the UPS strike, the Teamsters were the most violent union in America, according to a 1996 study by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research. They were involved in 1,413 union-related acts of violence between 1975 and 1996, or 61 percent more than the second-most-violent union, the United Mine Workers, which was involved in 878 violent acts, the study said.
"We're at the top of the list because we're the largest private-sector union in America," Mr. Wilson said. "There's no question that the Teamsters are a very proud union. Passions run high in the Teamsters. That same passion that we have in our internal disputes I'm sure is exhibited when we have a dispute with an employer."Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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