Fed monitoring of Teamsters, started in the 80’s, is ending

A history from 1988

The first steps taken toward federal monitoring of the union go back to 1988. But as the Teamsters’ announcement notes, the decree itself goes back to 1989, with the goal to “eliminate organized crime influence with the union and ensure fair, democratic, member-driven elections.”

Sean O’Brien was elected president of the Teamsters in 2021, and re-elected last week at the company’s convention in Las Vegas, an event that takes place every five years. 

“Since the election of Sean M. O’Brien as Teamsters General President in 2021, the Teamsters have built a new system of rigorous checks and balances in which every member complaint is investigated, and when appropriate, referred to legal authorities,” the union’s statement on the joint request said.

Allegations of organized crime influence

The joint memo filed with the federal district court for the Southern District of New York, which had supervised the monitoring and is now backing its cessation, spells out what led the Justice Department in 1988 to seek action against the Teamsters.

“Among other things, the Government’s complaint alleged that the La Cosa Nostra defendants, aided by IBT defendants, had seized ‘an interest in and control of’ the Union to implement an extensive ‘pattern of racketeering activity’ that included mail fraud, embezzlement, bribery, and murder,” the joint memo recaps. “The claimed pattern of racketeering encompassed the ‘use of force, violence and fear to intimidate union members,’ and systematic racketeering activities by which corrupt union officers engaged in ‘fraudulent deprivation of union members’ money and property rights.'”

The 1989 consent order mandated that Teamsters members and officials be barred “from committing acts of racketeering activity and knowingly associated with various organized crime groups or persons otherwise enjoined from participating in union affairs.”

The rest of the 1989 consent decree includes such things as mandates on voting practices and the creation of an Independent Review Board “as a permanent part of the Union’s constitution.”

There were modifications to the consent decree in 2015, when the government and the union “agreed that the organized crime influence that the Government found to have reached the highest echelons of IBT leadership in 1988 had long been expunged, and the number and gravity of disciplinary offenses within the Union had substantially diminished over time,” according to the latest dual motion.

Most of that 2015 agreement dealt with the conduct of elections.

The latest proposed changes, referred to as the Final Order, “involve the provisions relating to union discipline,” according to the court filing. “Over the last four years, the IBT has devoted substantial resources to develop and enhance its internal investigative, disciplinary, and audit systems.”

Two positions disappearing

The latest proposal sees the eventual elimination of the Independent Investigations Officer (IIO) and the Independent Review Officer (IRO), who separately worked to enforce some of the disciplinary standards set out in earlier agreements between the union and government.

“The proposed Revised Final Order requires the IBT to continue to maintain rigorous internal investigative, disciplinary, and audit systems to effectively identify, address, and eliminate the influence of organized crime and all forms of major corruption within the Union,” the court document says. 

But that would not involve monitoring. The proposed final decree would be focused on the elimination of the positions like the IIO that were needed because of the criminal influence in the union, according to the court filing. 

“The IBT has demonstrated its ability to conduct effective internal investigations and audits,” the two sides say. “It is appropriate at this point to eliminate the IIO role and further reduce the Government’s and Court’ s role in the IBT’s disciplinary and electoral functions.”

If the joint memo is accepted by the court, the IIO would disappear on December 31. The IRO job would “sunset” three years after the Revised Final Order was approved.

In arguing for the court’s approval, both sides say the original agreement back in 1988 was needed “because of the influence of organized crime within the Union. The Consent Decree achieved its objectives of ridding the union of widespread corruption and organized crime.”

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