TEAMSTER WOMEN WARRIORS FOR FREEDOM!

This year as we celebrate #WomensHistoryMonth and we reflect on recent history making events such as the #WomensMarch, #MeToo movement, #Time'sUp initiative and that record numbers of women are running for office we wanted to share with you the history of some incredibly amazing #TeamsterWomen who organized & fought back against labor's enemies by bringing their #PowerToThePolls.  

Between 1961-1967, before the internet and social media, thousands of DRIVE Ladies Auxiliaries donated their time and leadership skills all across the country by hosting thousands of parties, picnics, back yard barbecues & banquets, making thousands of phone calls, passing out thousands of voter ed flyers, registering thousands of voters, organizing motorcades of buses to lobby representatives in Washington, D.C., spent hours picketing the White House, had thousands of conversations with members, family, friends, neighbors & elected leaders, collected & shared with thousands the voting records of those elected representatives, launching the DRIVE program on behalf of the #Teamsters, their families, working people, civil rights, human rights and freedom.  Along with dong all of that they took care of their children, families and homes.  Whew!  These Teamster Women were warriors!

Officially launched in 1960 DRIVE which stands for "Democratic Republication Independent Voter Education" has two main objectives:

To elect candidates to public office who are friendly to the interests of Teamster members;

Passage or defeat of legislation of special concern to Teamster families.

In 1959, The Teamsters recognized the need to develop comprehensive legislative and political programs within the union following the passage of the Landrum-Griffin bill and other anti-labor legislation.

A great idea is born in November of that year when James R. Hoffa established the Department of Legislation and Political Education calling for the development of a political action program with member support.  I would also say it was the DRIVE Ladies Auxiliaries who took the time to nurture true solidarity, using grassroots organizing skills & labor, that gave birth to the power and strength of the program.  Senator Hubert Humphrey said "he had never seen a more effective political action program."  DRIVE quickly became one of the strongest political action groups in the country.

From a U.S. News article The 1960s: A Decade of Change for Women "in the 1960's, deep cultural changes were altering the role of women in American society. While Lesley Gore's hit song 'You Don't Own Me' climbed the charts, Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best dominated television."  To seek that woman's voice in history, though it may not be written in a book somewhere, we must ask ourselves, "What is she thinking, doing, saying etc...?"  Well we know what Josephine Hoffa & DRIVE's Ladies Auxiliaries(DLA) were doing... they were making history!

Here's a brief timeline of events to keep in mind:

1955

• Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.

1961

• April, 250,000 Teamsters & wives attend 226 meetings throughout the country.
• May, Freedom Riders begin.  DLA members picket the White House.
• July, first Jo Hoffa luncheon to kick off  DRIVE Ladies Auxiliary program.

1962

• Equal Pay Act
• DLA house parties were held across the country.  
• DLA motorcades(the most powerful & memorable political action tactic) begin.  Teamster women of all races, and from different neighborhoods and states -- boarded buses and traveled for hours to speak with their senators and representatives about labor and social justice issues.

1963

• January, "Gloria Steinem, then a freelance journalist, packed her leotard in a hat box and auditioned to become a Playboy Bunny in an undercover assignment for Show magazine. Steinem exposed the low pay, sexual harassment and racism..." - The Guardian
• Betty Friedan published her book "The Feminine Mystique" about the problem with no name.  Symptoms included, from an article in The Guardian, "creeping fatigue, tranquilizer and alcohol abuse, bleeding blisters that appeared suddenly on their arms, which doctors attributed not to the cleaning fluids they used constantly, but a deeper malaise. In the years since the war, women had grown smaller (department store buyers reported they had shrunk three or four dress sizes), more feminine, and apparently much sadder.
• Thousands attend DRIVE rallies in the south.  "Through the Ladies' Auxiliary being launched here, your voice will be heard.  It will be heard in your neighborhood, it will be heard in your community.  It will be heard in the Nation's Capital." Josephine Hoffa in Houston.

1964 

• January, The National Master Freight Agreement was signed, 16,000 trucking companies(yes, you read that right) were signatory to the 3 year agreement.
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans discrimination & creates the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
• 1 out of 5 union members is a woman. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

1965

• About 26 million women are in the labor force.  This is 37 percent of all women of working age.  Women are 35 percent of the labor force.  BLS
• 190 DLA members were in the hearing room as Sidney Zagri, Teamster legislative director, testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the unions concern over the denial of the right to vote to minority groups.

1966

• DRIVE & DLA members successfully protected the jobs of more than 40,000 Teamsters in the Parcel Post Rates Bill.

1967

• Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against women is a human rights proclamation.
• November, the Teamsters & allies in the House protect consumers by defeating a motion to severely weaken the USDA meat inspection laws.

1968

• Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to the House.
• Miss America 1969 Protest.
• DLA member wins election.
• 115,000 show up to a DLA sponsored Labor Day picnic in Ohio.

1969

• Women who meet the physical requirements can work in many jobs that had been for men only.
• DRIVE motorcades come to an end, in six years more than 15,000 Teamster women came to Washington D.C. to fight on labor's behalf, lawmakers had never seen such a powerful, tenacious group of women.

1971

• U.S. Supreme Court outlaws the practice of private employers refusing to hire women with preschool children.

From the DLA's first victory of electing a Teamster, Lendall Bates as Mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma to the election of Lyndon B. Johnson as President of the United States who later signed the bills that led to Medicare and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 it is made clear that when Teamsters educate, agitate and organize we win!

This year for our locker room collage posters we used some photos from the book every Teamster must read to truly see how AMAZING the women of the DLA's were, "Life In The Teamsters The History of DRIVE" by David R. Piper.

You can view our posters below:

Directly from the book:

"1960 The legislative agenda included promoting an upgrade of the federal highway program, expanding Social Security, encouraging the enactment of a Federal Aid to Education bill, pressing Congress to do more to find jobs for the unemployed, raising the minimum wage, and fighting compulsory arbitration laws."

"The political action of the Teamsters proved influential again when Congress passed the National Highway Safety Act."

"Teamster truckers who serviced mines benefited from the Metallic and Non-Metallic Mine Safety Act of 1966.  This legislation placed the responsibility of enforcement of safety guidelines at mines on the Federal Government.  It was considered groundbreaking reform at the time because it helped break control over enforcement of mine safety by state agencies dominated by representatives of mine companies."

"Members of DRIVE managed some local victories in 1969. When Teamster truck drivers in Minnesota began to be victims of high insurance surcharges, Minnesota DRIVE took action to help the truckers. What prompted the involvement of DRIVE was that many Teamster truckers had their personal auto insurance premiums increased from $100 to $200 annually, while others had their insurance cancelled altogether because of accidents they had been involved in while behind the wheel of commercial vehicles. 

DRIVE members contacted the Minnesota insurance commission to stop the surcharges from being levied against Teamsters. After DRIVE made its case to the commission, the insurance companies were ordered by the Minnesota insurance commissioner to stop putting surcharges on the drivers’ personal auto insurance if they were involved in accidents while driving commercial or emergency vehicles."

The Women's History Month celebration will continue as we share more of our Teamster women & DRIVE Ladies Auxiliaries history. We hope that you, sisters and brothers, will be inspired to use your leadership skills, get involved, volunteer your time and grab your boots because labor unions are under attack, women's rights are under attack, your fought for & died for freedoms are under attack and just like these Teamster Women Warriors we must organize and FIGHT BACK!

     

Resources

Life in the Teamsters The History of Drive by David R. Piper

https://teamster.org/about/teamster-history/drive

https://teamster.org/content/his-words-still-resound-teamsters-today

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/03/12/the-1960s-a-decade-of-change-for-women
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/07/1963-beginning-feminist-movement

#ItsAboutFreedom