Teamsters Local 726 in Trusteeship

By Kevin Robinson in News on Aug 4, 2009 3:20PM

In a swift and startling move, Teamsters Local 726, which represented truck drivers in the city's Departments of Streets and Sanitation, Transportation, Water Management and Aviation, was taken over by the international union yesterday. Local 726 was one of two unions that held out against the mayor's cost-cutting efforts in this year's budget battle, resulting in nearly 150 city truck drivers being laid off. At the time, the local refused to give up overtime and take furlough days. Tom Clair, then secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 726, had said that "during the winter program, our people work snow. They also work out on the runways at O'Hare. They felt it was too big a hit on the comp time. That accounts for $15,000-to-$30,000 more a year. They weren't willing to give that up."

Local 726 has been under scrutiny by the international union for some time now. In 1989 a national consent decree established an independent review board with investigative and subpoena powers. That board found a veritable laundry list of financial misdealings and questionable practices, including bad bookkeeping, skipping pension fund payments, and waiving dues payments for 27 members without proper authorization.

Although the move was confirmed by IBT spokesman Galen Munroe, the union was largely mum on the details of the action. "Local 726 was put into trusteeship today," Munroe told the Tribune. "Beyond that, we can't comment." When asked if the action meant that the city drivers might be going back to work, Brian Rainville, executive director of Teamsters Joint Council 25, told the Sun-Times that he's "not in a position to predict. But with the new leadership, anything could happen." He added, "My understanding is there was a negotiated offer, and it was voted down. If there was a new negotiated offer, the trustee could bring that to the membership for a vote." As part of the trusteeship all seven elected officials of the local were swept out of office.