Chicago Teamster Leader Blasts Hoffa for “Betrayal of Basic Union Democracy” and Creating a “Climate of Fear”

In a move that signals deep discontent within the Teamsters Union, a former ally of International President who served as leader of Chicago Local 714, blasted Hoffa for imposing a “politically motivated” trusteeship over the local, and a “betrayal of basic union democracy” on a wide range of issues.

In a four page open letter, Robert Hogan, who was elected four times as leader of the 9,000 member Local 714, said Hoffa’s actions helped the Independent Review Board (IRB) suppress free speech within the union and aided “the IRB vendetta against the Hogan family.”

Hoffa placed Local 714 in an “emergency” trusteeship several days before Hogan was supposed to return following a six-month suspension under pressure from the Independent Review Board (IRB) a controversial, government-imposed watchdog which targeted Hogan for not punishing his organizing director Robert Riley for simply speaking privately to Hogan’s father Bill the former head of Local 714. The elder Hogan and Riley have been best friends for 55 years.

Bill Hogan, then President of Joint Council 25, had been expelled as the result of IRB action in 2002 because he intended to negotiate a “substandard” labor agreement for temporary trade show workers in Las Vegas, a charge which many in the union viewed as baseless because no contract for temporary workers was ever signed and negotiations with management were in an early stage.

Bill Hogan was not only suspended, but banned from speaking to his many friends within the Teamsters union over three decades of service. Riley, a much admired figure within the union, who is active in numerous philanthropies, was suspended in 2005 for violating the IRB prohibition on speaking to any official who had been expelled. Robert Hogan, at the instigation of the IRB, was suspended for six months from his duties as head of Local 714 in December of 2007. The IRB subsequently held a hearing at a non-union hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois in April of 2008, which was picketed by union members, to determine if Robert Hogan would also be expelled for life from the union for not punishing his organizing director for practicing free speech. No decision has yet been reached by the IRB.

In his letter to Hoffa, Robert Hogan states “Your transparent effort to justify a trusteeship is contradicted by the actions and comments of the International Union.” He goes on to note that the international union twice suspended planned hearings a on a possible trusteeship because of Local 714’s cooperation with the International Union on administrative issues raised by the IRB. He noted that two top aides to Hoffa had told an IRB official and the acting head of the local that Local officials were doing a good job.

Hogan notes that this is the second time the Local was put in trusteeship as a result of an IRB “vendetta” against the Hogan family. The first trusteeship was imposed in 1996 and resulted in the loss of 3,000 members and five de-certifications, although no wrongdoing was ever found by local officers who had been removed. No charges were ever made.

He notes that neither he nor his father before him were ever charged with corruption, any illegal activity or association with organized crime figures which was the original justification for installation of the IRB.

“The IRB was installed 19 years ago to remove mob influence from the Union under controversial use of the Civil RICO statute. It was intended as a short term measure and indeed mob influence was broken within the first few years as confirmed by a 1999 government study, a Harvard study and a 2005 internal union audit conducted by Ed McDonald former head of a Justice Dept organized crime task force.”

“To justify its continuing existence and the obscene salaries paid to its investigators, (according to Labor Dept records, chief IRB investigator Charles Carberry made $1.1 million in salary over a two and half year period) the IRB needs to keep the pot boiling, taking political sides and trumping up charges against targets in the union. The IRB is an ongoing drain on the union treasury built through the hard earned efforts of teamsters who work hard for a living. It’s a shame you never really stood up to the IRB when it was clear this power hungry overreaching organization consistently exceeded its authority by trampling on due process, curbed free speech and overturned union democracy.”

Hogan says he writes “on behalf of the many dedicated Teamster officials and members who have been silent and who fear to speak publicly against the loss of internal democracy and free speech. You have done more damage to Local 714 in the past six months than former IBT President Ron Carey or the IRB, acting on its own, ever did. If you persist in this course, other union members will also find their voice, and undertake the effort to take back their union and return it to its rightful purpose as a democratic institution that protects and advances the interests of its membership.”

Bob Hogan Letter to James Hoffa pdf