STATEMENT OF ROBERT T. SIMPSON PRESENTED Thank you for the opportunity to share my case with the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. I am glad you are looking into the mismanagement of Teamsters' finances by former President Ron Carey. I tried to investigate this exact issue in 1993 and my career was destroyed as a result. More specifically, after over 40 years of impeccable service to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ("IBT") and Local 743, the largest local in the IBT, I now come before you having been wrongfully found guilty of bringing reproach upon the one and only union I ever loved and still love, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. To understand why I have pursued this case to the verge of personal bankruptcy, it is necessary for me to explain my distinguished history of service to the IBT. I am a 63-year-old African-American man who pulled myself up by my own bootstraps from being a Montgomery Ward warehouse worker to become the president of Local 743, the largest local in the IBT. I obtained this position by working 75 to 80 hours a week up to the time I was removed from office by then IBT President Ron Carey on August 22, 1994. I have never been accused of having ties to any organized crime organization. I have never associated in any manner with any member of organized crime. Neither the Chief Investigator nor the Independent Review Board ("IRB") alleged or presented a single piece of evidence to the contrary. In fact, I have undergone and cleared two FBI investigations initiated by Arbitrator Lacey, the head of the IRB, in connection with my becoming an International Trustee. I became an International Trustee at the 1991 IBT Convention when I was elected by the delegates to the convention with the highest vote total of any person running for any office at the Convention. Until I was charged and removed from office for these bogus charges I had never even been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with my service to the IBT or otherwise. The only time I have ever been charged with anything was when I was arrested on union picket lines fighting for the rights of my fellow Teanster members. For almost four decades I have been, and still am, well-respected labor leader and was one of the highest-ranking African-American labor leaders in the country. The former Attorney General of Illinois, Roland Burris, and the former Mayor of Chicago, Eugene Sawyer, testified at the IRB hearing that I am a man of impeccable character and honesty who has spent his entire adult life fighting for the rights of working men and women. I was chosen by the United States State Department to oversee the recent history-making elections in South Africa. The City Council of Chicago unanimously passed a Resolution, that was sent to the IRB, demanding that I be given my job back. But most importantly, I am a man dedicated to serving the members of the IBT and Local 743, who desperately wants and deserves my job back. Essential to this committee's understanding of why I know the charges against me, the IRB's Opinion and Decision and the District Court's approval thereof were politically motivated, is an understanding of the history of the relationship between myself and Ron Carey. Prior to August 3, 1993, when I, in my capacity as an International Trustee, with the two other trustees, wrote Carey a letter (See Exhibit A) questioning his handling of the IBT's finances, I had the full and uncompromised support of Carey and my character and integrity were never questioned. Some examples of Carey's respect for my character and integrity are as follows. On February 17, 1992, Carey requested that I escort him to a luncheon at the AFL-CIO winter meeting in Miami with elected Illinois politicians and labor leaders. On March 3, 1992, Carey appointed me Chairman of a three-man panel to hold hearings on trusteeship issues involving Local 1714 in Washington, D.C. On April 29, 1992, Carey appointed me to be a member of the three-man panel charged with hearing a jurisdictional dispute involving Local 413. This same day, Carey later appointed me to be a member of another three-man panel to conduct a hearing concerning a raid of Local 407. On November 24, 1992, Carey appointed me Chairman of a three-man panel to hear the trusteeship hearing concerning Local 507 in Cleveland, Ohio, which was headed by Harold Friedman. On January 13, 1993, Carey made me Trustee of Local 703, after he had removed Daniel Ligurotis. forever. In June of 1993, my relationship with Carey changed 55-063 99-6 International Trustees performed an audit of the IBT's finances and discovered that the union was in a negative financial condition that put its financial stability in serious peril. Specifically, our audit showed, among other things, a significant increase in operating costs, low rates of return on our investments, and exorbitant per capita/affiliation fees. In connection with this audit, in August of that year, myself and two other Trustees sent Carey a letter concerning these discrepancies and Carey's handling of the IBT's finances. (See Exhibit A.) We informed Carey that with a per capita tax at 38 per month and IBT membership having declined to below 1.5 million, prudence dictated that we devote our immediate attention to addressing the financial crisis facing the Union. To help this crisis we suggested to Carey that we look into the following areas for cutbacks: An immediate freeze on hiring. A review of our compensation and benefits policies and practices. A reduction in Executive headquarters staff. The elimination of all non-essential positions. A review of the qualifications, duties, responsibilities, and need for all International Representatives hired in 1992 and 1993. Place an immediate hold on hiring any new employees to the organizing department and review all 1992 and 1993 hires, their IBT affiliation, membership, experience, etc. The IBT should cease paying the employee portion of II. Devise a more modest policy to replace the unlimited sick leave policy now in existence. All IBT officers and employees in a country other than the U.S. should be compensated based upon the position's value in the relevant labor market of that country. EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT, TRAVEL AND RELATED PRACTICES A return to a per diem method or expense reimbursement system and the elimination of IBT credit cards, with minor exceptions. Impose stringent controls on all IBT air travel, car rentals and hotel expenses. Require IBT employees to cease the use of limousine service and utilize shuttle service and taxi-cabs when shuttles are unavailable. Control the frequency of travel by General Executive Board (GEB) members and other employees to or from the IBT offices in Washington, D.C. The purpose and duration of the stay should be established prior to travel. III. STRIKES AND OUT-OF-WORK BENEFITS IV. Establish a procedure for site review of strikes, the eligibility of members for out-of-work benefits including, but not limited to, whether recipients are employed elsewhere, if strikers would have been on layoff at the strike company, and a determination of when strikes or boycotts are ineffective, lost, terminated, or abandoned. IBT ORGANIZING DEPARTMENT The IBT organizing department must be immediately surveyed as to the costs being incurred; personnel employed; compensation and expenses of personnel, the origin and experience of the personnel employed; and of course, we need to know how many millions of dollars are already spent; the number of new members who are under a contract and paying dues since the advent of the budget (multi-million) to put on these organizing drives. |