Panel Urges More Oversight of Teamsters
The report, based on a 16-month investigation, found that corruption “on a significant scale” existed during the regime of Teamsters President Ron Carey and recommends a number of steps to make union officials more accountable for their actions.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Education and Workforce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, launched the investigation following revelations that Carey aides made payments to the Democratic Party, the AFL-CIO and liberal advocacy groups in return for donations to his re-election campaign against James P. Hoffa in 1996.
Carey’s victory was overturned and the election repeated under government supervision in 1998, with Hoffa beating challengers Tom Leedham and John Metz. Hoffa can’t officially take over, however, until the results have been certified.
The subcommittee said in its report that organized crime’s presence in the union is “far less than it was” but that corruption still exists, as evidenced by Carey’s campaign violations, the union’s deteriorating financial condition and the imposition of trusteeships on many local unions.
The subcommittee urged greater oversight of the 1.4-million-member union by the Justice Department and the Labor Department, but also said the ultimate goal is to have a union that “governs itself.”
The subcommittee recommended that the Teamsters:
- Adopt a code of ethical conduct.
- Give trustees greater power to review financial records.
- Establish an office of inspector general with the power to audit financial records to prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse.
- Increase financial disclosure to members and require the union to file annual reports with the Department of Labor.
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