Opulent Teamsters

Dissidence within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is not rare; indeed, it is to be expected in the nation's largest union, which has 2.3 million members ranging from over-the-road truck drivers to nurses and policemen. But a report last week by the Washington-based Professional Drivers Council (PROD), a small but increasingly vocal organization of reformist Teamsters, amounts to one of the strongest indictments yet of corrupt, self-serving and autocratic Teamster leadership.

Though it comes not quite a year after the mysterious disappearance last July of former Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa, the 177-page PROD report does not dwell on the union's violent history and associations with organized crime. Instead, drawing chiefly on Teamster financial records filed, as required by law, with the Department of Labor, it focuses on the style of life enjoyed by Teamster officials--and finds it far removed from that of the rank and file, who pay $ 120-5300 a year in dues to support it. The picture that emerges is of a clubby, entrenched leadership enjoying benefits unmatched in any other union and indeed in few corporations.

In the PROD study, the top Teamsters appear as a cabal of executives with six-figure salaries and perks to match, including free vacations, French chefs at international headquarters in Washington, and the use of the seven jets and turboprops in the Teamster "air force," which is one of the largest private fleets in the country. Some specifics:

SALARY SANDWICHES. In 1974, the most recent year covered by the report, 17 officials received at least $100,000 a year, with some getting more than $150,000. President Frank Fitzsimmons, at $125,000 plus expenses, receives less than some of his underlings but is still doing better than any other labor-union leader. President Leonard Woodcock of the 1.4 million-member United Auto Workers Union is paid $48,000, and $60,000 is tops at the big (700,000-member) American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union.

At the Teamsters, multiple salaries are common. One Kansas City, Mo., Teamster chief holds ten posts, including "general organizer," a title Fitzsimmons can bestow at will. It brings few duties but carries a $30,000 salary.

GIVING AT THE OFFICE. Intramural gift giving is prevalent. Two years ago, for instance, Chicago Local 781 gave $72,000 in bonuses to three of its officials, including the president and his son, the secretary-treasurer. Sweetheart deals on cars are common: in Cleveland, nine Teamsters bought late-model autos from the union for a total of $13. For top officials, there are fully paid vacations, with expenses for wives, secretaries and aides.

PENSION-FUND POWER. Unlike their colleagues in unions belonging to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., which prohibits salaried officials from being paid for managing pension funds, Teamster bosses have turned these funds into another source of bounty. For managing the fund at Local 182 in Utica, N.Y., for example, Teamster Boss Rocco dePerno drew nearly $20,000 in 1974, over and above his regular salary of $46,000 and the $30,890 he got as a general organizer. Even non-Teamsters share the pension riches. In 1974 the administrator of the Ohio Drivers' Welfare Fund, Dayton Attorney Robert Knee Jr., was paid $878,900--about 5.5% of the fund's assets.

PROD was organized by dissident long-haul truck and bus drivers in 1972 to lobby in Congress for improved health and safety conditions for Teamster members; today PROD claims 2,000 dues-paying members. Executive Director Arthur Fox, 33, a former National Labor Relations Board lawyer, launched the study of Teamster executive peccadilloes after Hoffa's disappearance last year and is persuaded that the report will show other Teamsters "what their leadership is--a collection of money-hungry men most interested in lining their own pockets."

PROD hopes its report will add fuel to a recently launched Senate investigation of Teamster practices and cause trouble for Fitzsimmons as he seeks election to a second five-year term as president at the union's convention in Las Vegas next month. Yet not even PROD'S prodders see much chance for genuine reform from within the Teamsters soon. Although they are hopeful the Government may force some changes, about all dissidents can do under the current entrenched union management is complain. With so much money and power at the top, concludes PROD'S report, the average Teamster has almost no voice in how the union is run.

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