The Teamsters union has taken steps to woo away members of one union that represents Chicago-area transit workers and another whose members work at Cook County Circuit Court.
Before the AFL-CIO split into two federations at its July convention in Chicago, raiding was frowned upon and unions were encouraged to work out differences.
But now the Teamsters belong to the newly created 5.4-million member Change to Win Federation. While there are no formal restraints on such raids on AFL-CIO unions, dissident unions have vowed to avoid raids.
“This is totally outrageous,” said Stewart Acuff, the head of organizing for the AFL-CIO. “They [the Teamsters] swore up and down that they wouldn’t raid.”
Teamsters officials in Washington insisted that the union does not back raids, and has discouraged some locals from going after members of AFL-CIO unions.
But Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell said the union has not opposed cases in which Teamsters locals sign up workers from other unions who “feel they are not being represented well or don’t have the contracts they deserve.”
Caldwell said the union has not yet decided “who we are going to sign no-raid agreements with.”
Two major unions signed a much-ballyhooed no-raid agreement last month in California, ending an organizing battle that erupted after the AFL-CIO’s break-up.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a key player in the newly created federation, signed the pact with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Anders Lindall, an AFSCME spokesman in Chicago, said his union has “offered similar terms to the Teamsters.” But, he added, nothing has come so far.
More Top Picks Best Silk Sleep Masks For Sensitive Eyes
Last week Teamsters Local 714 filed a petition with the Illinois Labor Relations Board to decertify AFSCME Local 3368 as the union for 1,615 Cook County Circuit Court employees, state officials said.
Teamsters Joint Council 25 filed a similar motion late in August to represent about 210 members of Local 1028 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, who work for Pace Northwest at its Des Plaines facility. The local has about 800 members altogether.
On Wednesday the Joint Council also filed a motion to represent 51 members of ATU Local 241 who work at Pace’s Heritage Division facility in Joliet, state officials added.
But Darrell Jefferson, local 241’s president, said the Teamsters’ efforts have been aimed at taking over his entire 6,500-member local. He said he has urged members who signed the Teamsters’ petition to withdraw their names.
After verifying the petitions, the Labor Relations Board has 90 days to schedule an election.
The winner needs one vote over half of those cast in the election.
Last spring local 241 elected new officers, marking the local’s first election since the union took control of the local in February 2003 after its executive board sued its president, saying he lacked the authority to sign a tentative contract.
At the time, bus drivers had been without a contract since 2000.
A contract was approved in November 2003 but it expired Dec. 31, 2003. The drivers have been without a contract ever since though the two sides have been talking.
———-