BY SCOTT BREEN
SEATTLE - As the Teamsters went into battle with UPS, their union officialdom was under government attack. The federal government was conducting an investigation into the financing of the campaign of Ronald Carey, who was reelected president of the Teamsters last year.

On August 22-barely three days after the Teamsters reached a tentative settlement with UPS that included many of the union's demands, ending a 15-day strike-a federal official overturned Carey's reelection and ordered a new vote.

Federal prosecutors and FBI agents filed court papers in June charging some of Carey's campaign supporters with illegally diverting union funds to his reelection fund- raising efforts. Martin Davis, a longtime Carey supporter, whose November Fund consulting firm is employed by Teamsters International, has been charged with fraudulently laundering Teamsters union funds into Carey's reelection campaign. He has pled not guilty.

Barbara Quindel, the federally appointed official overseeing the December election, had refused to certify Carey's election because of the allegations, and ordered the new vote.

This government attack was prompted by allegations from James Hoffa, Jr., the lawyer who ran against Carey and narrowly lost.

Appeals to government intervention only serve to weaken the union. The government is not a friend of labor, nor of the truth. It is, however, looking out for the interests of big business.

To call on federal investigation of the unions is like asking the wolf to search the chicken coop!

This is especially true in a battle like the one the Teamsters waged against UPS. As the stakes mounted, the big- business press gave even more play to the allegations of corruption and fraud among the union officials, including in relation to the pension funds that were under attack by UPS, in an attempt to sow divisions and demoralization in the union.

This can give a pretext for the government to weaken the unions - to mess around in our internal affairs. As a U.S. Chamber of Commerce spokesman said when the government indicted former Teamster president Jackie Presser in 1986 on charges of embezzlement and racketeering: "It gives employers one more weapon with which to fight Teamsters organizing drives."

In the end, government intervention in the internal affairs of the Teamsters can be used to try to discourage and demoralize the workers on the picket lines and in the union halls.

A similar development is occurring in my union, District 751 of the International Association of Machinists (IAM). This union organizes the aerospace workers at The Boeing Company.

A year and a half after a successful strike against Boeing, an election was held for various district offices. The incumbent, William Johnson, narrowly defeated David Clay, an official of the district Council and former Johnson supporter, in the Jan. 9, 1997, election.

Clay filed charges with the International Union accusing Johnson and his supporters of voting fraud. The union investigation has not been finished. Clay then filed charges with the U.S. Labor Department, seeking to hold a new election. He contends that Johnson used union resources to fund his reelection. The case is now pending.

Throughout this whole process, the ranks have been reduced to observers, non-participants. Meanwhile, the government of the capitalist rulers has another opening to meddle in the affairs of our organization. This is no way to build strong unions.

Instead, I would point to the example of the United Mine Workers of America, whose members mobilized and organized by the thousands during the 1970s to democratize their union in the course of fighting for health, safety, and better working conditions. They took back their union from the pro- company, corrupt officials around President Anthony Boyle.

Rank-and-file mine workers organized protest rallies, marches, and strikes against the bosses, and in defense of their union. Through their own efforts, they swept Boyle and his gang of pro-company bureaucrats out of office in a virtual revolution in the union in 1972 that gave the membership more control. For example, rank-and-file ratification of contracts, and greater rights on the job were won.

During the recent strike against UPS, more workers began taking responsibility for their union. As striker Craig Nelson from Atlanta put it to Militant reporters, "UPS wants eight hours work done in four hours. I'm going to make it my business that everyone knows their rights."

This is the road to forming strong, class-struggle unions. We must reject all government intervention into our unions.

Scott Breen is a member of the IAM and the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Seattle.  
 
 
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