Redefining the Union Boss (first woman to run for the presidency of the Teamsters)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/business/women-are-becoming-unions-new-voices.html?_r=1


Sandy Pope is the first woman to run for the presidency of the Teamsters. She worries that her daughter can't afford health care, and that her son may not find a job with benefits. “Workers are getting killed on productivity standards, and they're terrified to speak out,” she said.


By KATHLEEN SHARP
Published: November 19, 2011

NOT long ago, truckers pulled off highways across America and tuned in to someone whose CB handle was “Troublemaker.”

“I’m barely hanging on,” one driver lamented. His employer, the U.P.S. freight unit, was turning to nonunion drivers — people outside the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, he said.

“We need to start enforcing our contracts!” Troublemaker replied.

Troublemaker, better known as Sandy Pope, is the first woman to run for the presidency of the Teamsters, against the powerful, three-term incumbent, James P. Hoffa.

Yes, Hoffa.

FULL story at link.

I am currently reading the chapter on Rose Schneidermann in my Labor Leaders in America book (ISBN 0-252-01343-3). We need more women involved in the labor movement.