Teamster Seeks to Rid Government Oversight

GREEN BAY, Wis., June 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fred Gegare, Teamsters International Vice President at Large, and a group of Teamster members have filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court in Manhattan against Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and the United States. The lawsuit seeks to terminate a 1989 Consent Decree entered into by the leadership of the Teamsters, permitting government oversight which has cost the Union's members nearly $150,000,000.00 over twenty plus years.

The Complaint asserts that the Consent Decree has imposed a team of lawyers and other overseers who monitor the Union's operations at a cost of millions of dollars of members' dues money annually, without any reason for its lengthy and unprecedented continuance. The Complaint also asserts that, imposed over the strenuous objections of the Union's delegates, who overwhelmingly rejected its terms, the Consent Decree has cost the Union's members vast sums of money which could have been used to organize new members and help the Union grow.

Despite repeated promises, Hoffa has allegedly failed to take any positive or substantial action to bring an end to the Consent Decree, thus making this lawsuit necessary. Teamster Local Union leaders, members and officers have vigorously expressed their opposition to the continuance of the Consent Decree, to no avail as the government has refused to dissolve the Decree.

During the term of the Consent Decree, the Teamsters Union has shrunk: the monthly dues obligations of members have increased: and the Union's treasury has dwindled.

CONTACT:  Thomas Bennett, 1-414-254-4366

SOURCE FRED 2011