US moves to end monitoring of Teamsters union

By Daniel Wiessner

June 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department moved on Wednesday to end its oversight of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters after nearly four decades, telling a federal judge that one of the country’s largest labor unions had purged itself of corruption and organized crime. 

The Justice Department and the Teamsters said in joint filings in Manhattan federal court that under a court settlement first approved in 1989, the 1.4 million-member union had restored democratic governance and eliminated what prosecutors once called “a campaign of fear” that included murders, bombings, theft and extortion.

The settlement stemmed from a 1988 lawsuit filed by the office of then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani, before he became New York’s mayor. The lawsuit claimed the mafia had operated the Teamsters as a racketeering enterprise for decades and that organized crime’s influence deprived union members of their rights.

The settlement called for a court-appointed monitor to oversee the Teamsters’ internal affairs and for the union to change its election process to root out corruption. It also established a review board to investigate allegations of corruption. The board has permanently barred about 400 people from union membership, according to Wednesday’s filings. 

In 2015, the Justice Department agreed to gradually wind down outside oversight of the Teamsters. Prosecutors on Wednesday said that process had run its course and asked U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska to approve their agreement. 

“The (settlement) achieved its objectives of ridding the union of widespread corruption and organized crime,” they wrote in the filings. 

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters gained influence in the mid-20th century for representing most of the growing number of U.S. truck drivers, giving the union considerable sway over American industry. 

The Teamsters now represent workers in a broader array of industries, including more than 300,000 UPS drivers, Costco warehouse employees, and freight and airline workers. 

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Rod Nickel)