Founded: 1903
Current membership: 1.4 million
Retirees: Approximately 500,000
Industries: The union is organized under 21 Industrial Divisions that include virtually every occupation imaginable, both professional and non-professional, private sector and public sector.
Affiliates: There are nearly 1,900 Teamster affiliates throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. They can be broken down as:
- 440 U.S. Teamster Locals
- 35 Canadian Teamster Locals
- 573 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) Locals
- 635 Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) Locals
- 206 Graphics Communications Conference Locals
The Teamsters are members of the Change to Win Coalition.
Teamster Mission and Purpose
The second article in the Teamsters Constitution establishes the mission and purpose of the organization. It states, in part that the Union’s primary responsibility is to organize and educate workers so that they will attain a higher standard of living. In summary the key role that the union plays includes:
- Organizing workers so that they have a voice in the workplace.
- Educating workers so that they know their workplace rights and can participate fully in our democratic society.
- Involving workers in the political process so that their issues are addressed.
- Negotiating and enforcing contracts with employers so that each worker will be treated with dignity, justice and respect.
Leadership
General President Jim Hoffa
General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall
The Union Advantage
According to the U.S. Department of Labor:
Wages of union members are, on average, 27 percent higher than those of workers without union representation.
- Women in unions earn an extra $170 a week – $9,000 more a year.
- African Americans in unions earn an extra $150 a week – $8,000 more a year.
- Latinos in unions earn an extra $225 a week – $11,650 more a year.
88 percent of union workers have job-related health coverage while only 69 percent of non-union workers do.
More than two out of three union jobs offer a dental plan; only 44 percent of non-union workers receive dental coverage.
More than half all union jobs offer vision coverage; only about one-quarter of non-union jobs provide vision care.
85 percent of union jobs offer prescription drug coverage; only 66 percent of non-union jobs provide prescription drug coverage.
Union workers pay an average of 8 percent of the total monthly premium (employer pays 92 percent) for single coverage; non-union workers pay 20 percent. Union households pay an average of 12 percent of the monthly premium for family coverage while non-union families pay 32 percent.
72 percent of union workers have a guaranteed defined-benefit pension compared to 15 percent of non-union workers.
