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CUF Calls Out Teamsters Union’s Track Record of Job Losses, Worker Hardship

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Today, the Center for Union Facts (CUF) launched a new website, TeamstersTruth.com, and digital effort aimed at educating the public and workers about the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and its history of bankrupting companies, causing job losses, and pushing harmful strikes on workers.

“The Teamsters union has a concerning history of putting its bottom line above workers’ livelihoods,” said CUF communications director Charlyce Bozzello. “It’s time for the public and workers everywhere to get the whole truth about the Teamsters, not just the rhetoric put out by the union.”

Highlights from the website include:

  • Corrupt Officials: The union has not entirely escaped the corrupt legacy of former President Jimmy Hoffa. In the past decade 16 Teamsters officials have been charged with or indicted for financial crimes, totalling some $1.6 million.

  • Job Losses: A union threatened strike at the Yellow Corporation, a major trucking company, pushed the company into bankruptcy. It cost Teamsters members 22,000 jobs.

  • Worker hardship: In 2002, the Teamsters attempted to represent nurses in Petoskey, Michigan. The union launched a strike with nurses in the area – and kept it up for four years, only to be forced out by fed-up workers in the end.

  • Political Advocacy: Between the years 2019 and 2022, the Teamsters sent over $9 million to left-leaning advocacy groups. Overall, 99% of political spending from the Teamsters went towards left-leaning organizations, much without the consent of union members.

CUF is launching two new videos aimed at the Teamsters’ controversial history in coordination with the new website. You can watch them here and here.

The new website is a part of CUF’s ongoing education campaign to ensure the public and union members have access to transparent information regarding union spending. The education campaign previously included a billboard outside the RNC calling Teamsters President Sean O’Brien “Two-Faced”, and a report that shows the union spent 99% of its political advocacy dollars on left-leaning causes.
Categories: Teamsters