Teamsters for a Democratic Union Leaders Explain Their Strategy
As the union reform organization Teamsters for a Democratic Union turns 50, we spoke to its cochairs about their work building rank-and-file power inside one of the most important unions in the United States.
“TDU’s job is to build union power from the bottom up. We call that rank-and-file power, and that’s our focus no matter who is running the union at the top.” (Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images)
Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the organization dedicated to rank-and-file organizing within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is one of the most important labor reform organizations in the United States. The group has played a key role within one of the most powerful unions in the country over the years, including in the election of insurgent Ron Carey as Teamsters president in 1991 and then the United Parcel Service (UPS) 1997 strike, as well as the election of current Teamsters President Sean O’Brien and within the UPS contract campaign in 2023.
This year, TDU turns fifty. In an interview with labor scholar and organizer Eric Blanc, TDU cochairs Antonio Rosario and Bryan Trafford talk strikes, organizing, Amazon, Donald Trump, the upcoming Teamsters election, and building union power from the bottom up.
Eric Blanc
Five years ago, Teamster members elected Sean O’Brien and the Teamsters United slate to lead the international union. What’s your balance sheet of what’s been accomplished since then?
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