Hoffa stumps for
Teamsters' top job
James Hoffa Jr., left, autographs hats for Danny Guerrero, center, and
Francis Diaz last night during a campaign appearance at the Laborers' Union
Hall in Kalihi. Hoffa is running for president of the 1.4 million-member
Teamsters union.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
In an isle visit, the son
of
famed union leader
Jimmy Hoffa
vows to restore union's power
By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin
As he waits to get the man's autograph, three-year-old Mana Dowell points at the heavy-set union leader.
"That's Mr. Hoffa," said Dowell, whose parents are members of the Teamsters union.
The Hoffa name, long associated with the prominence of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters during past decades, continues to hold sway over the local public.
James Hoffa Jr., son of the famed former Teamsters boss, is running for the presidency of the 1.4 million-member Teamsters union, in a heated battle with incumbent Ron Carey.
Hoffa is in town this week seeking votes from Hawaii's 6,000 Teamsters, as part of a year-and-a-half nationwide campaign. He met yesterday with Teamsters at the local bus company and St. Francis Hospital.
Hoffa said he will meet today with workers at the local United Parcel Service plant.
The Teamsters' election will be held in November.
"If anything else, there's a lot of magic that goes with the Hoffa name," said Joseph Dowell, a mechanic with Ameron HC&D and father of Mana Dowell.
Local Hoffa supporters like Dowell and Walter Kelekolio, who helped organize Hoffa's visit to Hawaii this week, say that Carey's tenure has been a disaster for the Teamsters' local and international efforts.
According to Hoffa, the Teamsters went through $154 million in assets and $280 million in dues in just three years.
The union's membership has also decreased by 100,000 members nationwide during the past four years, he said last night during a campaign visit at the Laborers' Union Hall in Kalihi.
"This union is in trouble," said Hoffa, an attorney by training who currently serves as executive assistant to Larry Brennan, the president of the Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43.
Hoffa's father, former Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa, disappeared 20 years ago after leaving a Detroit restaurant and has never been found.
"Jimmy Hoffa would be shocked," Hoffa said. "He left this union with millions of dollars in the treasury and two million members. If he were to look at this union he would say 'What the heck has happened?"
He said he can restore the Teamsters to its former glory.
His goals include: balancing the Teamsters' budget, increasing the autonomy of the local union chapters, tripling size of the Teamsters' strike fund, and slashing the salaries of international officers.
William Puette, director of the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Hawaii, said Hoffa has a lot of support locally and will make a big difference in the way the Teamsters is run, win or lose.
Many Teamsters "associate the Hoffa name with the days when the union had more power in the workplace," Puette said.