The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will have a new leader for the first time in more than 20 years as the union takes on its biggest adversary in generations: Amazon Inc.
The union that represents truck drivers and warehouse workers is electing a president to replace Jimmy Hoffa Jr., who plans to step down in March 2022.
The top two contenders to take over differ strongly on the direction they want to take with the 1.3 million-member labor union. They laid out their visions of the Teamsters’ future at a candidate’s debate last week.
Sean O’Brien, the vice president of the union’s eastern division and a leading candidate to replace Mr. Hoffa, said the Teamsters needed to move past the status quo.
“If you’re happy with the way the way this international has gone over the last 10 years and you’re happy with the status quo,” Mr. O’Brien said pointing toward his opponent, Steve Vairma. “This is your guy, this is his team.”
Mr. Vairma, the union’s at-large vice president, is a top ally of Mr. Hoffa. The latter has endorsed Mr. Vairma as his successor.
“This is a union that is now in transition and is moving into the future with new ideas in a new direction,” said Mr. Vairma.
Of particular concern for Mr. O’Brien, who is running an insurgent campaign, is what he considers the heavy-handed leadership of Mr. Hoffa. The longtime union leader has been accused of centralizing power within the union leadership and crushing dissent.
At the same time, Mr. Hoffa has come under criticism for being too friendly to business leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the candidate forum, Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Vairma agreed broadly on the need to urge their members to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as well as the need to do more on racial justice.
The changing of the guard at the Teamsters’ Washington headquarters also arrives as the union enters a new era with the union shedding its three decades of federal oversight.
In February 2020, the U.S. government ended its role in supervising the union’s affairs. The oversight was designed by a 1980s federal consent decree between the union and the Justice Department to root out corruption and the influence of organized crime.
The end of direct government oversight coupled with Mr. Hoffa’s exit means that the next Teamster’s chief will have unparalleled sway over the union.
Both Mr. Vairma and Mr. O’Brien plan to use the president’s powers to marshal a unionization campaign against Amazon.
“Organizing Amazon is a critical point going forward,” said Mr. Vairma. “There’s a lot of ways we’ll take them on, but I can’t tip my hand right now.”
In June, the Teamsters announced that they would be launching a full-scale effort to unionize Amazon’s more than 1 million employees working at its facilities across the country. Part of the effort has entailed direct action and organizing the retail giant’s employees to form unions.
A broader part of the campaign, however, has been to pressure state and local governments to deny tax breaks and permits to Amazon until it adopts better labor standards. The advocacy has resulted in at least nine communities scrapping permits for Amazon projects or revoking financial incentives.
Mr. O’Brien praised the success of those efforts but questioned why the Teamsters and Mr. Hoffa waited so long to take on the retail giant.
“Amazon needs to be organized. It’s going to be our most valuable threat that we’ve seen in organized labor,” said Mr. O’Brien. “However, this should have been a vision 10 years ago when they started out as a 20,000-person” bookseller.
While the Teamsters have had minor success in the fight against Amazon, both candidates say the larger battle is yet to come.
Mr. Vairma argues that the only way to beat Amazon is by building a broad coalition. Towards that end, he has promised that, if elected, the Teamsters will rejoin the AFL-CIO. Mr. Hoffa exited the umbrella organization in 2005 over disputes with AFL-CIO leadership over its political advocacy.
“If we take on these organizing campaigns, we have to be united,” Mr. Vairma said.
Mr. O’Brien said he’s open to the idea but would demand protections for the Teamsters’ membership in any agreement with the AFL-CIO.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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