King, left, and Hoffa, right, marched together in Detroit. More cooperation coming?
Teamsters union General President Jim Hoffa joined newly elected United Auto Workers (UAW) President Bob King yesterday in a march down to Detroit’s banking district to “tell big banks and corporations that the assault on the middle class must end now.”
Representatives from the AFL-CIO, NAACP and Interfaith Worker Justice joined them.
The “Good Jobs Now!” march and rally brought advocates from workers’ rights and social justice groups together to call for a reinvestment in the middle class and a commitment to creating good jobs.
“It’s time to stop the war on the American worker,” Hoffa said. “It’s time to put America back to work. It’s time for us to say – enough is enough.”
The march came just after King took over the leadership of the beleaguered United Auto Workers union. Because of the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors, as well as the cutbacks at Ford Motor Company and their unionized suppliers, the UAW is facing union membership levels at lows not seen since the epic organizing fights that started of the 1930s and continued through the 1950s.
The question remains can the UAW stay relevant and start building its memberships again? The larger and stronger Teamsters are currently embroiled in a struggle to unionize FedEx drivers, who because of a congressionally created loophole in what critics call “pay to play Washington” are classified as airline pilots.
“We’ve been under attack and we must win justice for our members,” King said. “To win, we must be part of a broad social justice movement, that’s why we are here with the Teamsters, NAACP, Jobs with Justice, Interfaith Worker Justice and the AFL-CIO. The fight for justice never stops. Today is a first small step.”
Over the years, there have been talks between the Teamsters and the UAW about merging. They never went anywhere. Insiders say it is because of the opaque procedures used to select the UAW president, among other factors. The UAW and the teamsters have a history of working together on issues that concern both unions, though.
“I have no doubt that this relationship will continue and grow in the future,” a Teamsters’ spokesperson told me when I asked about what Hoffa’s presence in Detroit signified.