David Strow

Fri, Jun 29, 2001 (11:06 a.m.)

Delegates to the Teamsters Union's international convention nominated two candidates to head the powerful union for the next five years, as rhetoric between the two camps boiled over into a call for a criminal investigation involving a Las Vegas Teamsters local.

The vast majority of the 1,800 delegates attending the week-long convention at Paris Las Vegas are supporters of current Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, the son of legendary labor leader Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa took over as president of the Teamsters in 1998, following the ouster of former President Ron Carey.

The man Hoffa defeated in that election -- Portland, Ore., Teamster leader Tom Leedham -- has the backing of a handful of delegates representing a Teamster splinter group called the "Teamsters for a Democratic Union."

The TDU is vastly outnumbered at the convention, but as a nominee needs the support of just 5 percent of the delegates to make the ballot, Leedham was able to secure a nomination to oppose Hoffa in a fall election.

Delegates nominated Hoffa with 1,504 votes and Leedham with 134 votes.

At a Thursday press conference, Hoffa spokesman Chip Roth said the election was something the cash-strapped union could ill afford, and called on Leedham to step aside as a Hoffa victory was all but inevitable.

Roth noted that Hoffa has already amassed a $1.5 million campaign warchest, compared to about $100,000 for Leedham.

"(An election) will cost millions of dollars," Roth said. "A fair question, as we're facing a UPS (contract negotiation) next year ... is, 'Is it appropriate for them to continue forward with a campaign they have very little chance of winning?' Our union was nearly bankrupted by the administration this man was a part of (the Carey administration)."

But Leedham vowed not to back down. He noted that 19 of the 20 candidates on his slate received enough support to be placed on the October ballot, which he said was a better outcome than he expected.

"If the intent is to save money, I suggest we eliminate the 141 multiple salaries (drawn by Teamster officials from local and national union sources) that are draining this union dry," Leedham said.

The TDU has used an investigation centering on Las Vegas-based Teamsters Local 631 as a weapon against the Hoffa administration. On Thursday, it stepped up that pressure, publicly calling on the U.S. Attorney's office in New York City to launch a criminal investigation of payments made to the Teamsters scholarship fund by a Las Vegas company.

Local 631 was placed under trusteeship by Hoffa last spring, a move Hoffa said he undertook because of poor leadership at the local. A report filed last month by the Independent Review Board -- a federal body that serves as a watchdog to the union -- alleged Hoffa was influenced in this decision by two of his top lieutenants, Dane Passo and William Hogan Jr.

Hogan's brother is an executive with United Services Cos., a janitorial company. The IRB report alleged Passo and Hogan pushed Local 631 officials to accept a contract that would allow United Services to supply contract janitors to local convention companies at wages far below those called for in 631's contract with those companies. When the secretary-treasurer of the local, Timothy Murphy, resisted this move, Passo and Hogan convinced Hoffa to oust him and put the local under trusteeship, the report alleges.

In a letter sent to U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White on Tuesday, Gilmartin noted that the report stated that United Services' owner Richard Simon ordered $5,100 in tickets to a golf event that benefited the James R. Hoffa Scholarship Fund in August 2000 -- and that shortly afterwards, Passo pushed a labor agreement between United and Local 631 through the union's international office. Simon paid for the tickets after United received its first business contract with Passo's assistance, Gilmartin said.

"The timing of these actions underscore the implication that Simon's gifts were intended to obtain, and did result in (Teamsters) assistance in winning valuable labor benefits for his company," Gilmartin wrote. "It cannot be presumed that employer contributions are for a legitimate purpose."

Gilmartin said the scholarship fund was, until 1999, funded directly by the Teamsters' treasury, but is now "completely controlled by James P. Hoffa's own appointed full-time employees, political allies and vendors who do business with the IBT." While Gilmartin didn't raise allegations of skimming from the fund, he did suggest Hoffa is reaping political benefits in the current campaign as a result of it.

"We urge you to investigate both the scholarship fund and these gifts to it ... a charity bearing the family name of the Hoffa slate's principal candidate (that) generates favorable publicity for him," Gilmartin's letter said.

Roth called the accusation "political hyperbole."

"If (the IRB) would have found (Hoffa) culpable, they would have filed charges," Roth said. "When he found out about these allegations, he stopped negotiations (with United Services). The system works; Mr. Hoffa did what was right."

Roth also said it was "disappointing" the TDU was hinting of wrongdoing involving the scholarship fund.

"It's a scholarship fund that helps children go to school. It is nothing more," Roth said.

Despite calls for a federal investigation, Hoffa commands respect among many at the federal level. Less than an hour after the TDU called for a federal investigation of the Hoffa administration, the Teamsters president received a resounding endorsement from a powerful federal official -- U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who spoke to the convention in the afternoon session.

"You have done a lot to set the course of reform (within the Teamsters union), and all of us appreciate that," Chao said.

In contrast to the vitriolic nature of the debate between the Hoffa and Leedham camps, Chao brought a message of bipartisanship and cooperation to the convention. The message stood out in contrast from the often rocky relationship between the Bush administration and organized labor.

"As President Bush has said, we can disagree and not be disagreeable," Chao said. "That's the attitude Mr. Hoffa has brought back to the Teamsters and the entire labor movement. We won't always agree, but I pledge to you I will always listen to what you have to say.

"There are some in the Republican Party that say, 'We can't work with the unions.' There are some in this room that say, 'We can't work with the Republicans.' They're both wrong. It shouldn't be about labor versus management, or unions versus the Republicans ... it should be about working families, and that's what I'm concerned about."

Chao noted that the union and the Bush administration have already accomplished several key goals together. Chief among them, she said, was the passage of reforms to the tax code affecting worker pensions.

Previously under federal law, retirees could only receive pension benefits equal to the pay they received in their final three years on the job. President Bush's tax reform legislation removed that restriction, allowing retirees to receive maximum benefits from their pension plans.

"Some in Congress wanted to remove that," Chao said. "The administration got together with the unions to pass one of the most significant reforms in a generation."

Hoffa vowed the Teamsters would remain open to working with the Bush administration, though he added the union would continue to fight any measures it felt would hurt its membership.

"Our partisanship is based solely on the interests of our members and working families," Hoffa said. "'When we have a chance to work together, we'll do just that. (Chao) is open to the Teamsters, and I think we can do a lot with this secretary of labor."

In the meantime, not everyone believes the in-fighting is a sign of weakness within the Teamsters Union.

"The Teamsters are so misperceived," said Marty Levitt, a Las Vegas labor consultant who attended this week's convention. "The petty politics will prove to be without any merit. Under Jim Hoffa, they are and will prove to be the state-of-the-art union in this millennium."

Leedham's supporters are alleging they've had little opportunity to speak out against proposals by the Hoffa troops, and virtually no chance to forward proposals of their own from the floor. Nominations from Leedham supporters were often met by boos, and in some cases, Leedham said, his supporters were blocked from using the microphones.

Levitt said he sees the situation differently -- that Hoffa is encouraging democracy within the union by allowing a dissident group to say its peace, even though it has little support at the convention.

"When they (Hoffa delegates) were told to show respect, they showed respect," Levitt said. "I saw respect, I saw democracy."