The History of Teamster Organizing

A Birth In struggle

Poor slaves who are sold by the hour,

 Why crouch to the master who buys,

  If you want to meet power with power,

   Organize! Organize! Organize!

    -1903 Team Drivers Journal’[i]

For more than a century Teamster members, organizers and union staff have poured their hearts and energy into organizing the unorganized and increasing the economic power of its members. As it has built on that strength through strategic dominance of key aspects of the transportation industry, it has gained ground in industries where workers are badly in need of help. Millions of hours and dollars have been spent to achieve that goal. The result of these efforts has been the creation of very strong local unions and joint councils that assist entire communities in lifting themselves into the middle class by acquiring Teamster representation. Despite our rich history, if you start a conversation with the average American about union organizing you’re likely to get one of a few common questions: what is organizing, how do you start the process, and am I allowed to do it?   

Teamster organizing has evolved parallel to American industry, starting with team drivers who drove horse-pulled wagons in the early nineteenth century.[ii] They worked 80 to 100 hours per week under deplorable conditions in strenuous working environments for what would be roughly $221 per week in today’s money.[iii] When the first Teamsters started to organize, it was not only for decent wages and an 8 hour work day, but also to improve working conditions. The most widely recognized entity of the early organized Teamsters was formed in 1899 and called the Team Drivers’ International Union (T.D.I.U).  The collection of nine locals was headed by General President John Callahan of local No. 1 in Kansas City, Missouri. Callahan represented his local at the Niagara Falls convention, and according to the Team Drivers’ Journal:

“In the darkest hours of the T.D.I.U. when there was not a penny in the treasury and the organization was many dollars in debt for printing and other necessary supplies, John Callahan, with others, cheerfully contributed a portion of his meager earnings, thereby making it possible to carry on the work of the office”.[iv]

Three years later in 1902, Chicago Teamster locals broke off into their own organization named the Teamsters’ National Union (TNU) for two reasons: the policy of allowing employer-owners with up to five horses to join the union and a raise of the “per capita tax of 5 cents per month” to “25 cents by the 1901 convention”.[v]  These disagreements were quashed the following year when the union faced its first major organizing challenge and started the process of unification between the two unions. The Chicago strike of 1902 exploded into what may have been the first Strategic Campaign and major organizing battle in Teamster history. Workers in and around the city of Chicago attempted to gain Teamster representation and improvements in working conditions. These basic aims pitted many unions against a major monopoly in the form of the corporate consolidation of the meat-packing industry[U2] .[vi]

[i]

[ii]Encyclopedia of United States Labor and Working-class History (Taylor & Francis Group LLC, 2007): P.667

[iii]M.H. Belzer, Sweatshops on wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation (Oxford University Press, 2000): P.22

[iv] Team Drivers’ Journal: (A Brief History of the Team Drivers International Union 1899-1903) August 1903.P.5

[v] Robert D. Leiter, The Teamsters Union (Bookman Associates, Inc. ,1957):20

[vi] Ronald L. Filippelli, Labor Conflict In the United States: An Encyclopedia (Garland Publishing, Inc, 1990): P.107