former Teamster "boss" Carey indicted

[LeoCasey at aol.com]

Justin is correct in noting that Carey & Co., did, indeed, break the law. But 
that is not the essential issue for progressive trade unionists: sometimes 
the law should be broken. What was done in the Teamsters was the misuse, the 
theft of members' due to finance the campaign of the Carey slate in the 
Teamsters election: this is a fundamental violation of one of the most basic 
precepts of union democracy.

Unfortunately, there has been little analysis and reflection, in progressive 
trade union circles, on why the Carey administration/Teamster reformers, 
having just won the most important struggle for union democracy in this 
century, would resort to such anti-democratic practices. This is a vital 
practical and theoretical question, and it is not answered by reference to 
the personal failings of individuals. 

If I were to take wagers on such matters, I would most certainly bet that 
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Trumka, too, will be indicted over this scandal. 
When he was called before a grand jury investigating it, he "took" the Fifth 
Amendment. [For non-Americans, this means that he asserted his constitutional 
right, under the Fifth Amendment, to refuse to testify on the grounds that 
his answers might incriminate himself.] He's in trouble.

Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who 
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and 
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <../attachments/20010126/85609d86/attachment.htm>