Hoffa, Teamsters Face Federal Racketeering Charges from Transportation Company
International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James P. Hoffa and other executive members of the union are named as defendants in a suit filed Jan. 25 in federal court, alleging the Teamsters engaged in a host of illegal activities, including attempted murder, aimed at extorting a labor contract with Overnite Transportation Co.
A 225-page suit, which was filed in the United States District Court in Jackson, Tenn., alleges a pattern of racketeering activities that includes 57 predicate acts of attempted murder and 131 predicate acts of extortion, as well as numerous violations of Tennessee law.
Jackson, Tenn., is the home of one of Overnite's 166 service centers and serves as the epicenter of many shooting incidents that occurred in Nashville, Memphis, eastern Arkansas and northern Mississippi, Overnite Transportation said.
The suit alleges a scheme to "put Overnite out of business if Overnite and its employees do not agree to collective bargaining representation by the Teamster International and its affiliated locals and to the terms of a collective bargaining agreement proposed by the Teamster International."
The suit seeks damages in excess of $5.2 million for security expenses, damage to Overnite property, damage to the property of Overnite employees for which Overnite has provided compensation, and costs of replacing workers who missed work due to the lawlessness. The suit also seeks an unspecified amount of relief for lost profits and other damages.
Overnite is seeking the triple damages authorized by the Racketeering Influenced and Corruption Organization Act (RICO), which could bring the amount of the award to more than $15 million.
The suit claims the defendants violated the RICO Act by recruiting Teamster members from unionized competitors to picket Overnite facilities, persuade workers to strike and persuade Overnite customers to discontinue using Overnite, and then unlawfully supplementing those efforts with a pattern of criminal activities.
According to Overnite, which is predominantly non-union, the company has been targeted by union organizers for more than 50 years. A new push began in 1999 in the wake of the installation of Mr. Hoffa as general president of the union.
The suit notes that within days of Mr. Hoffa's May 1, installation, Mr. Hoffa, Phil Young, Central Region Vice President and Director of Freight Operations, and representatives of a number of Teamster locals met in Chicago to discuss how to force a Teamster contract on Overnite and its employees.
The Teamsters, who represent just 14 percent of Overnite's total workforce of 13,000 and are the certified and recognized bargaining agent for freight- handling employees at 22 of the firm's 166 service centers, called for a nationwide walkout on Oct. 24. Less than 6 percent of the company's employees have honored the Teamster picket lines, which have been manned, for the most part, by Teamster members from other companies.
On Sept. 17, five weeks prior to the Teamster strike, the union broke off contract talks. There is no contract between the company and the union.
Violence has marked the strike, with judges in 14 states issuing 21 restraining orders in an attempt to stop it. Police reports have detailed 26 separate shootings and two dozen instances of projectiles thrown or dropped at moving vehicles.
In the most serious incident, on Dec. 1, driver William Wonder was shot in the stomach and critically injured as he was driving on I-240 near Memphis, Tenn. A law enforcement task force, headed by the FBI, is investigating this incident and other shootings, and Overnite has issued a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the incident.
Overnite Transportation, the trucking subsidiary of Union Pacific Corporation, reported revenue in excess of $1 billion in 1999. The less-than- truckload carrier has 13,000 employees and operates 166 service centers serving more than 45,000 points in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.
SOURCE Overnite Transportation Co.