(The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued the following on June 27.)
LAS VEGAS — General Secretary-Treasurer C. Thomas Keegel reported to the 7,000 attendees of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters 27th International Convention that the union is in outstanding fiscal health. Keegel promised to work tirelessly to secure the union’s future by building Teamster power through organizing.
Keegel recalled the financial struggles the union had when he first took office in 1999 when he faced the challenge of rebuilding a union that had less than $10 million in net assets.
“We knew we had to turn around the financial operations of this union,” Keegel said.
“We did just that and our family is stronger because of it. We are stronger because as our financial strength grows, our collective bargaining power grows and our organizing power grows.”
Keegel also welcomed the three unions that merged with the Teamsters, adding 150,000 brothers and sisters from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes and the Graphic Communicators International Union.
“Make no mistake, these new brothers and sisters make us all stronger,” Keegel said. “They give us added strength to demand justice from the bosses—strength that forces the bosses to pay fair wages and provide good pensions and helps us to get what’s ours. We need that strength to organize the unorganized.”
Keegel pledged the resources of the union to back organizing efforts including national campaigns like port drivers, Quebecor and UPS Freight and called on every Teamster to join the mission to grow the union by becoming a member organizer.
“Every member must be an organizer,” Keegel said. “We have to get out and let people know about our contracts. Let them know that a Teamster contract is the best contract in all of organized labor—because that’s the truth.”