For the first time in 25 years, a slate backed by Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) won in a November landslide to lead the country’s largest private sector union. Teamsters United coalition leaders have pledged to organize militant contract campaigns, end two-tier at UPS, strike when necessary, and organize in the union’s core sectors.
Barely two weeks later came the other big news: the yes vote in the Auto Workers (UAW) referendum on whether members should directly elect their top officers. As in the Teamsters in the 1980s, members had pushed the federal government to recognize democracy as an appropriate remedy for union corruption.
The opportunity for a real opposition in the UAW is a sea-change; the union has had one-party rule for generations. There is no longstanding caucus equivalent to TDU, but the group that organized for the referendum, Unite All Workers for Democracy, could be the seed of one.