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"agitating for the Rank-and-File"

Ron Carey Speaks At Book Launching

    On May 7, Ron Carey spoke at the book launching of "Outside the Box" (by Deepa Kumar), which looks into the media coverage during the UPS strike. He spoke about the legacy of the successful national strike 10 years ago.

    There were no Teamsters in the room, since Ron Carey is barred for life from contact with any Teamster.

    "I think we’'re at a crossroads right now, and I think it can be very difficult," he said. "I look at the dim picture coming out of the labor movement and I wonder, are we just heading backwards?"

    "We were thinking for two years about what we had to do before we ever went on strike," he said. "You don't keep members in the dark, you don't have secret negotiations and then tell people, 'It didn't work out, so get behind us and follow us.'"

    Ron Carey, the former UPS driver, argued that member involvement in the process was key. "We put rank-and-file members on the committees, we educated our members, and we told them don't be afraid to talk to the press," he told the crowd at Stony Brook University's Manhattan offices.

    "What [management] wanted was to push us into the street, not having all the t's crossed and the i's dotted," he said, "and the end result was the members would have suffered. Their last and best offer came 25 times."

    He also had advice for members in unions where the leadership seems unresponsive ...maybe like in 804?. "You have the right to get answers from your leadership," he said. "The local leadership will turn their back on the international leadership if you push. Responding in a very activist way is the way to go."

    Ron Carey, like many of us who knew and respected him, still believes that the government targeted him because of the success of the UPS strike, and stands by his claim that while his advisors broke the law, he had no knowledge of their actions.

    Though he was never accused of participating in the plot, Ron Carey was charged with perjury for proclaiming his innocence and lack of knowledge about the plan. In 2001, a Manhattan Federal court jury found Carey not guilty of seven counts of perjury.

    Ron Carey said he continued to believe that some current union leaders were helping themselves to too much of members' dues money ( see the $100,000 Club on localagitator.org). "I took a decrease in pay when I first got into office," he said. "I don't think anyone should be making a quarter of a million dollars. The treasury is the members' money; it isn't the union officers' money."

    Ron Carey is no longer directly involved in union politics, and said he is working with some retirees' groups and concentrating on being a good grandfather. But he said he still closely follows the developments in the labor movement.

    "I'm not going to lose hope," he said. "Somebody's going to come along who's going to fire up the unions in this country."

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