ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 15, 1996 TAG: 9612160082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
RON CAREY hasn't just talked about reform, he's lived it, slashing his own salary as Teamsters president in half and refusing many perks enjoyed by former presidents.
Ron Carey, a former UPS driver and Marine and the first Teamsters president ever elected by a direct vote of the union's rank-and-file, is an intense and energetic labor leader with a pronounced New York accent.
A short man with hair slicked straight back, Carey, 60, has led the 1.4million-member union since 1992.
After a bruising campaign against the son of labor legend Jimmy Hoffa, Carey claimed victory Saturday in his bid for a second five-year term. The ballot count wasn't final.
``This is a victory for the continued reform, the continued changes that are necessary in the Teamsters,'' Carey said.
He not only fought for reforms, he has lived them, slashing his own salary and giving up the perks that past Teamster presidents lavished on themselves.
Union headquarters may be at the foot of Capitol Hill, but the Queens duplex he bought with his father in the 1950s is still home for him and his wife. He has five grown children.
Carey avoids the airs of power that some union leaders assume, traveling widely to meet with workers and always willing to stop and chat at labor conventions.
After declaring victory, he apologized in advance for being unreachable this week: he is undergoing knee surgery Monday to correct an old sports injury that caused him to limp in recent years.
Carey passed up a swimming scholarship in 1953 to join the Marines. He went to work at UPS in 1955; his father was a UPS driver for 45 years. Carey has served as president of New York Local 804 since 1968.
When the Teamsters agreed to hold direct elections for the union's top offices to avoid federal racketeering charges, Carey mounted an insurgent campaign promising to clean up corruption. He beat the union's hierarchy and took office in February 1992.
Although Democrats dominate the labor movement, Carey was a registered Republican until he took the helm of the international union.
Throughout his first term, Carey traveled widely to meet with members, promising to return power to them.
He sold the Teamsters' corporate jets, eliminated multiple salaries paid to some officials and ended free lunches for employees at the Washington union headquarters, known as the ``Marble Palace.''
He slashed his own salary from $250,000 to $125,000 and continued to serve as president of his New York local without compensation. He froze a special pension fund for union executives and used the proceeds to replenish the Teamsters' bankrupt strike fund.
He has sought to engage workers in union business and improve training for organizers and support for negotiators.
``There's a lot more to be done in the Teamster movement,'' he told a small crowd at a Chicago local in 1995. ``Remember, for 88 years they looked the other way.''
The battle between Carey and James P. Hoffa was often bitter and personal.
Hoffa repeatedly alleged that Carey was linked to organized crime. Carey dismissed the charges as an attempt by Hoffa's supporters to divert attention from their own questionable pasts.
A federal independent review board overseeing the Teamsters cleanup issued an 85-page report that cleared Carey of all allegations, noting that he never enjoyed the benefits the Teamsters' inner circle showered on its friends.
Carey said Saturday he would not drop a libel suit he filed against Hoffa this summer.
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