Word: teamster
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Bramlet made enemies as effortlessly as gamblers throw dice. Following a strike last March, his own rank and file accused him of selling out to employers with sweetheart contracts. Other union chiefs despised him as a double-crosser. Establishments that resisted his organizers had fire-bomb problems. But like Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa, Bramlet is a labor leader who apparently made one enemy too many: the Mafia. Last week, with a chilling sense of déjà vu, the FBI and Nevada authorities were wondering if they would ever find a trace...
...when a number of the UFW grape contracts expired, growers signed with the Teamsters, denying the workers any participation in the choice of union representation. Contracts with the Teamsters brought back the notorious labor contractor system, thus doing away with job security, and elminated pesticide controls, medical benefits, and union democracy. When Gallo ignored its workers' wishes and signed with the Teamsters, the workers went out on strike. Gallo had them replaced by strikebreakers and illegal aliens, but even the strikebreakers went out on strike, along with thousands of other workers from other ranches. They were met with intimidation, mass...
Solomon says that is factually untrue: Under the Teamster contract a worker must work 80 hours at one ranch, compared to a 40 hour requirement in the UFW contract. He says it is a philosophical question to decide whether it is better to help all the people all the time a little bit, or to help most of the people most of the time a little bit more...
Johnson says the Teamster contract is not better than the UFW's because most of the workers are ineligible for most of the benefits; to qualify they must work the "equivalent" of ten months at one ranch within a year, and most pickers must follow the harvest from ranch to ranch. With the UFW and the hiring halls a worker could work at several union ranches and still qualify...
...boycott a company that is legally restrained from any action? "We are boycotting unfair Teamster practices. Gallo can determine how much they will harass us with goons, and besides, you can't just turn a boycott on and off," Johnson says...