Rebel Teamsters

The "rebel Teamsters" (SUN, May 6) don't seem to be bothered by International Teamster Union "boss" Frank Fitzsimmons coming down hard on Teamster dissenters at the recent Teamsters convention in Las Vegas. Fitzsimmons said that all Teamster reformers could "go to hell" as delegates cheered him on. Fitzsimmons also called the reformers "a bunch of prostitutes akin to communist infiltrators."

"The convention was no surprise to us," says Steve Kindred, a Cleveland volunteer organizer for Teamsters for a Decent Contract (TDC). Kindred explains that delegates to the convention were "payrollers" of the Teamsters, and not rank and file members.

Kindred says that when Fitzsimmons "went hysterical on national television and delegates booed the dissenters, thousands of rank and file members at home and their families were cheering for the reformers."

Pete Camarata, a leader of Detroit TDC and a member of controversial Teamsters Local 299, was the lone dissenting vote against Fitzsimmons' re-election. Camarata was later beaten up by Teamster thugs. Kindred says that Camarata's lone vote against Fitzsimmons was representative of Teamster rank and file members across the country.

-Jan Prezzato