Mr. Ron Carey that you had agreed to terminal closures and relocations that adversely affected thousands of members. Again, your "Propaganda Department" tried to convince the members that the freight contract was another "victory." But they know the truth, and you are selling them short if you think they don't. Now your Propaganda Department is trying to convince everyone that you are the one responsible for "restoring" the Union's financial stability. Do you really think anyone is going to believe this baloney? You are the one who got us into the mess in the first place. Then you refused to call a special convention and instead asked the members to write you a blank check for a 25 percent dues increase. You canceled strike benefits, imposed an "Emergency" one dollar per member per month assessment on the Local Unions and froze retirement benefits for Local Union employees while leaving your own untouched. More than a year-and-a-half later, the "Emergency" assessment is still in place. It has become a unilaterally imposed $1 increase in the International Union's per capita. And, despite the more than $20 million this "Emergency" assessment has brought in, you still haven't been able to balance the Union's finances and lift the "Emergency" assessment. Just who do you think your fooling, Ron? Your But it's not just the financial mismanagement and the poor contracts that have torn the Union apart. reign of political terror has frightened, demoralized and discouraged elected leaders from one end of the country to the other. Instead of building the consensus you promised, your obsession with internal union politics has encouraged dissension and back-room deals. Instead of turning to experienced Teamsters, you brought in a pack of outsiders, mostly from the Mine Workers, to run our Union. You and your staff have used trusteeships, mergers, personal representatives, International auditors, internal union charges and investigations by the Ethical Practices Committee to intimidate, coerce and frighten local union officers from speaking out against your abuses. You have followed a double-standard, letting your supporters, like Ron Owens and Tom Gilmartin, get away with almost anything, while crucifying your opponents for similar offenses. My personal experience is typical. The International Trustees sent you a letter in August 1993 suggesting various financial reforms to stave off the Mr. Ron Carey December 30, 1995 financial problems that led to the Union's near bankruptcy in April 1994. Although our letter was reasoned and constructive and sent only to you, you responded with a political diatribe, attacked us personally, ejected us from meetings of the General Executive Board, and began a long campaign designed to prevent us from learning just how you had spent so much of the members' dues money in such a short time. You and General Secretary-Treasurer Sever refused to let us see the financial documents we requested, refused to let have us copies of documents, had someone watch us while we looked at what documents you did let us see, and refused to let us have the assistance of an independent accountant. More recently, you, General Secretary-Treasurer Sever and newly appointed Trustee Padellaro have conspired to prevent us from even meeting to look at the documents you will let us see. Despite the provision of the IBT Constitution that specifically allows two of the Trustees to audit the books in the event of the "unavailability" of the third, GST Sever won't allow Trustee Leal and me to see anything in the absence of Brother Padellaro and Brother Padeliaro claims he can't make time to complete the review for 1994 until February 1996. As a result of my outspoken criticism of the International Union's financial mismanagement, you sent an auditor to spend a week-and-a-half auditing the books of my Local Union. Our books were clean and in order. The Local Union's finances are not complicated. So why was the auditor there for so long? Even more disheartening is the fact that the Government has done nothing to protect the membership, has done nothing to protect the Union's finances and has abandoned even the pretense of fairness. The Government seems interested only in protecting you, not the members. The Trustees complained to the IRB about your harassment. The IRB did nothing. We complained about the finances. The IRB did nothing. You ignore the members and their elected officers. You put affiliates into trusteeship for political purposes so you can control the information the members receive for purposes of the convention and the election of officers. The IRB does nothing. It's become all too clear that, as Judge Lacey wrote in one of his letters, you're their boy and they'll do almost anything to see that you are reelected, even if it means ruining the Union in the process. Mr. Ron Carey I fear for the future of our Union. My only hope is that good Teamsters will have the courage to stand up, speak out and fight for the members. Despite all your rhetoric, that's one thing you've never done. As I leave this great Union, my wish is that God will help the members fight back and restore the Union to its earlier position of strength and leadership in the American trade union movement. With regret, Robert &. Vefusha Robert G. DeRusha APPENDIX D - WRITTEN STATEMENT OF ROBERT SIMPSON, FORMER INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEE, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS |