ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

November 17, 1999 9:46 AM, EST

CLEVELAND — When a small group of union activists came here in 1975 to form Teamsters for a Democratic Union, they were met with a show of force orchestrated by future Teamsters president Jackie Presser, who overpowered police guards and broke up the gathering.

For three days earlier this month, about 400 Teamsters members returned to the site of that first TDU convention to devise strategies for protecting democratic reforms made within the 1.4 million-member union during the past decade and to build support for the defeat of current Teamsters leader, James P. Hoffa, in the 2001 election.

Twenty-four years after launching a fight to promote democracy in one of the nation’s most autocratic and corrupt unions, TDU finds itself right back where it started – facing a hostile union administration and a president bent on eliminating the group.

Hoffa has made no secret of his desire to rid the union of TDU’s influence, which he considers detrimental because it undermines unity and usurps the power of local union leaders.

For the full story, see the Nov. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. .