Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994 TAG: 9403290170
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Members of the union overwhelmingly rejected Carey's call for the increase, which was intended to raise $100 million annually to rescue the financially troubled Teamsters, and its rejection leaves in doubt the future course of what was once the nation's biggest, richest and most powerful private-sector union.
``I don't know if that's one of the options,'' Carey said of a second referendum, ``but I wouldn't rule it out.''
Members of the Teamsters voted 3-to-1 against the increase. The unofficial final count, completed Sunday and made public Monday, showed 383,222 union members opposing the increase and 121,925 supporting it, spokesman Matt Witt said.
Jim Guynn, president of Local 171 representing Roanoke-area Teamsters, was not available Monday to comment on the results.
Carey's plan had proposed diverting half of the new money to the union's strike fund, which could go broke as early as June. One-fourth would have gone to the general treasury, which could be bankrupt by mid-1995. The remaining $25 million would have gone to the local units.
Carey said he was looking for ways to avert a financial crisis. ``The first move is to eliminate waste and increase efficiency,'' he said. ``That's what our members have been telling us is the issue.''
One other option might be to have local unions set up their own strike funds, he said.
The dues fight exposed the level of discord and decline within the Teamsters.
The union's treasury ran nearly $40 million in the red for the first nine months of 1993. Its membership is down to about 1.4 million from 1.9 million in 1979 and is still dropping, although the decline has slowed.
Carey personally called for the dues referendum and campaigned vigorously for it among the union's membership, believing his strength was among the rank-and-file. Rivals sued him in federal court to stop the vote, claiming Carey had overstepped his authority by seeking a vote of the membership rather than calling a convention. Last month, a federal judge ruled in his favor and allowed the vote to proceed.
Carey, a former United Parcel Service driver, has been involved in a bitter tug-of-war over control of the union since his election as a reformer in 1991. He has accused old-guard Teamsters of corruption but at the same time has been dogged by unsubstantiated allegations of ties to organized crime. He has accused the old guard of undermining the union; they have accused him of being all image and no substance.
Conference leaders have called emergency meetings for today in four cities to plan a strategy for fighting Carey's plan. They have hired a Washington law firm and the matter is expected to end up in court.
Carey insisted the defeat did not damage his prestige.
``It was never a litmus test for me,'' he said. ``I said from the very beginning that this was an impossible kind of a situation, but we will try it.''
Detroit union lawyer James Hoffa Jr., the son of legendary Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, disagreed, saying the vote represented a ``resounding defeat for Ron Carey and his leadership in the union."
Hoffa, who is expected to seek the union presidency in 1995, said Carey had ``lost a great deal of personal prestige, because he personally became involved in the dues referendum.''
Carey said Monday the rejection was ``not embarrassing at all'' to him.
``Who wants to pay more? No one,'' he said. ``And they sure as hell don't want to pay more when their business agent or conference director pulls up in a Cadillac Eldorado.''
One Carey foe called on the union's directors to call a convention to deal with the finances despite Carey's opposition.
``You cannot sit idly by while the general president creates a financial crisis because he is angry at the rank and file for having rejected his dues proposal,'' Walter Shea, president of the union's Eastern Conference, said in a letter Monday to the board members.
Shea's request is not likely to be honored, because most of the board members were elected on a slate with Carey and back his actions.
Staff writer Lon Wagner contributed to this story.
by CNB