How Teamsters Officer Salaries Changed Dramatically

Exorbitant salaries for union officials is a direct result of undemocratic union structures such as boards that are comprised of a majority of paid staff and officers. This kind of corruption siphons off union resources from important functions like organizing and bargaining and uses them to enrich the people at the top of these structures.

When members make up the majority of their union boards and convention bodies coupled with strong rank and file movements, they can bring exorbitant salaries in line. See how the Teamsters rank and file membership did it!

"Top Teamster officials once paid themselves nearly $2 million a year in today’s dollars. TDU, the right to vote, and leaders who put members first have brought salaries in line with the rest of the labor movement.

When Ron Carey was elected General President in the first ever one member one vote election, his first announcement was that he would cut his own salary to $150,000 in 1992. It signaled a new day in the Teamsters.

A few years earlier, IBT President Jackie Presser had a salary of $755,474, which would be a whopping $1,900,357 in today’s dollars."