Click the Bear Butt
Searching Everywhere For New Monthly Donors
Sponsoring FReepers will contribute $10
For each new monthly donor
Posted on 07/11/2011 9:16:16 AM PDT by freespirited
It flew under the radar and produced no comment from any quarter but it was a story begging for comment. Vice President Biden spoke to the Teamsters at their convention seeking support from the rank and file like the support he has from the union's so called leaders. Nobody mentioned that this was just five months after Obama announced that this administration was going to let Mexican trucks come to the U.S. to kill Teamster jobs.
The administration must think truck drivers are stupid. Why in the world would truckers vote for people who are trying to give their jobs to aliens?
James Hoffa, the president of the union, is a big Obama/Biden supporter. But Hoffa never drove a truck. He is a lawyer whose only qualification for the job of president of the union is that he happens to be the son of the late labor leader Jimmy Hoffa.
Of course he is nowhere near the man his father was. He is neither as smart as his father nor as tough. He is a leftist, elitist, who thinks more government is the answer to every problem. And he doesn't have the balls to stand up to the government when it kicks his union in the groin.
I didn't know Jimmy Hoffa. Nor do I know James. I did have the pleasure and honor of knowing Roy Williams. I can assure you that were Mr. Williams president of the Teamsters today, Mexicans wouldn't be taking Teamsters' jobs and Biden wouldn't be anywhere near a Teamsters convention. And, from what Mr. Williams told me about Jimmy Hoffa, Jimmy would be fighting Obama/Biden tooth and nail. I'm also sure that he would be ashamed of his son.
The Teamsters backed Reagan against the radical leftist Carter. The Teamsters were the most vocal of the Reagan Democrats. Of course, in those days the union had leaders with balls. These were men who actually drove trucks and understood how the economy works.
Mr. Williams didn't look down on the membership. He came from their ranks. He knew the membership was smart enough to know that their standard of living depended on a thriving private sector and not on an ever expanding and ever more intrusive government.
Obama, Biden and James Hoffa may think they can fool the poor dumb truck drivers into thinking it is in their interest to vote for an administration that is destroying American jobs, but I tend to doubt it. I also doubt that the drivers will vote for an administration that doubled the price of fuel, and is raiding the Highway Trust Fund to pay to replace the mufflers on Mexican trucks with catalytic converters. I also doubt that the drivers will forget that this administration is using tax money to pay to equip Mexican trucks with electronic on-board recorders (EOBR).
The administration and the union bosses may think the drivers are stupid. I don't.
I'm betting that no matter what the pampered punk of a president tells the drivers, they will vote to get rid of this administration. Hopefully they will get rid of James too. After all, he's spent more time trying to save government jobs than fighting to save Teamsters' jobs.
The teachers' union and the state, county and municipal workers' union aren't putting food on the drivers' tables. The Teamsters' union's bosses are more worried about protecting the bloated bureaucracies in all levels of government than about protecting drivers' jobs. Back when the union was run by real men that didn't happen.
Teamsters helped rid the country of Carter and the economic mess he created. I have faith in the drivers that they will once again stand strong and help rid the country of Obama as well.
The Teamsters have supported GOP candidates in the past. Maybe they’ll do again next year.
(Not that I would want to encourage them too much-—but any support we can get to dump Obummer is appreciated.)
I hope you are correct, Mr. Bender, but I must say do not share your optimism.
The teamsters are going to vote for Republicans instead? Weren’t both Bush’s in favor of this? Clinton too, I think.
Maybe the Teamsters think they can unionize the mexican truckers?
These idiots understand nothing about ‘market share’.
According to the BLS, only about 16% of OTR drivers are unionized. I personally think the number is even lower. Of the union drivers I know, virtually every one id a final destination delivery driver. (Short haul route drivers)
Mr. Williams didn't look down on the membership. He came from their ranks. He knew the membership was smart enough to know that their standard of living depended on a thriving private sector and not on an ever expanding and ever more intrusive government.
Obama, Biden and James Hoffa may think they can fool the poor dumb truck drivers into thinking it is in their interest to vote for an administration that is destroying American jobs, but I tend to doubt it.
That's hopeful...
Except him.
I doubt there are enough teamsters to make any difference.
Their leadship has alway been stupid.
Whatever happened to those big truck freight hauling companies of the past? I remember seeing RedBall everywhere. What were some of the others?
They have them by the short hairs and the gang running the Consent Decree are as politically corrupt as any old guard teamster
The teamster money always flows by hand of the officers but though they try to influence the membership, they really don't control their votes
less than 20% of the one million or so even participate in their union elections - the retirees just bitch about their pension shortfalls
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is just a dues shakedown operation and PAC (D.R.I.V.E.)
I know Teamsters that are fed up with Obama because they weren’t all that excited about him in the first place, but they’re rank-and-file, also known to Obama as “bitter clingers hanging onto their guns and religion.”
With Reagan in 1980 and 1984, I believe all they did was withhold their usual endorsement for whomever the RAT party ran.
They are not quite the low-lifer moochers that characterize SEIU or the NEA, but I still wouldn't trust them.
Approx. 1.4 million Teamster Union members. But very few are actual truckers.
Author states it was a “...pleasure and honor to know Roy Williams,” Teamster Union Pres. Unfortunately, Williams would have died in Federal Prison had it not been for a death bed parole by DOJ. Williams by his own admission had allowed crime boss Nick Civella (of KC) to gain “influence” in Teamsters Union. Surprise, surprise...
According to The New York Times archives the Teamsters supported Reagan in both 1980 and in 1984.
http://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/26/us/teamster-says-union-prefers-reagan-to-mondale.html
From the article: “The teamsters’ union will support President Reagan in 1984 if he is running against Walter F. Mondale, the union’s president, Jackie Presser, said in an interview today.”
(Snip)
“The teamsters’ union, which does not belong to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., was one of the few labor groups to support Mr. Reagan in 1980, and Mr. Presser said the union, which claims a membership of 1.8 million, remains committed to the President. Mr. Presser said he and other teamster leaders believe the President deserves praise for lowering interest rates and for other economic improvements, and he said the President’s next responsibility must be to reduce unemployment.”
On the bright side, Teamsters Central States Pension Fund did build Las Vegas. /s
What incentive is there for ANY trucking company to remain in the US if the Mexican trucking companies can come in and have TAX FUNDED EQUIPMENT that the US trucking companies are REQUIRED to pay for themselves? Not to mention the labor/wages/work comp/etc... which will never compete for shipping.
Hell, if I had a trucking company, I think I’D move to Mexico.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.