Hoffa Pledges Union Truckers Will Enlist In Bush's 'Spy on Your Neighbor' Project
By Harry Kelber
LaborTalk
August 7, 2002
At a White House meeting in June, James P. Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, met with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and offered his union members to be the "eyes and ears" of the Bush administration's efforts to protect the nation against terrorists.
True to his word, Hoffa is supporting the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) and "stands ready and willing" to help make it a success, according to IBT spokesman Ron Black.
The TIPS program's objective is to recruit millions of citizens as volunteer informers to report "suspicious and unusual behavior." It is being launched in August in the nation's 10 largest cities, where the Bush administration expects to sign up about one million people as participants in the program.
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Hoffa's rash promise to the Homeland Security director is part of his plan to cozy up to the Bush administration in the hope that the U.S. Justice Department will lift its 15-year-old supervisory control over his international union. But his unequivocal support for TIPS may get a sour response from his members and the companies under IBT contract. How many union drivers will fancy the role of spying on the customers they serve? And how will customers feel about any trucking company that encourages its employees to act as undercover TIPS informants? <snip>
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Jacob Conrad