More than 185,000 Teamsters walked out on UPS during the two-week strike settled last week, enduring lost wages and the nagging uncertainty that comes from any strike. But no one had more riding on the walkout than union president Ron Carey.
Now, with word on Friday that federal officials have ordered a rerun of his hard-fought campaign for the union presidency against James P. Hoffa last year, Carey has a dramatic contract victory to show off to the Teamsters' 1.4 million members.
``He came out a winner on all counts in the strike - in his position with the rank and file, his unification of the leadership, restoring his image as a fighter for the members, and generally, with the public,'' said Greg Tarpinian, director of the Labor Research Association, a union-consulting organization in New York. ``He catapulted himself into the highest-profile labor leader in the country right now.''
But that public attention is two-edged. Yes, Carey won an important victory while skillfully mastering public opinion during the UPS strike. But, just as the limelight is most intense, he has been hit with the decision ordering a new election because of fund-raising improprieties by his campaign staff.
He now runs the risk of seeing his image as a union reformer and a new voice for labor damaged by the revelations.
After an investigation, the election officer appointed by the federal courts to oversee last year's balloting, Barbara Zack Quindel, said that key officials in Carey's campaign circumvented the rules and the law to funnel money from employers and the union treasury to help Carey's reelection.
In her decision, she said she gave ``serious consideration'' to disqualifying Carey's victory and declaring Hoffa, son of legendary Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, the winner.
But because she could find no evidence that Carey knew of the improper fund-raising, she held off. Quindel said that if new evidence was uncovered, she might consider disqualification.
The federal government has overseen the last two Teamsters elections as part of a takeover that occurred in 1989 after prosecutors declared the union had become intertwined with organized crime. Taxpayers spent $22 million for last year's election. It is unclear how much a rerun of the mail balloting will cost, but taxpayers will likely pick up the tab again.
