IBT General Secretary-Treasurer Candidates Forum – September 29, 2021, Chicago, IL

The third and final Candidates Forum was held on September 29, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.  General Secretary-Treasurer candidates Ron Herrera and Fred Zuckerman.  answered questions posed by a panel of journalists and submitted by Teamster members around the country.  Members viewed the Forum live on the Teamsters web page and Facebook page. You can view the forum here by clicking on the picture below.  For a full-screen view, place your cursor on the picture to view the control bar and click the icon at the right end of the control bar. If you would like to view the video directly from the Vimeo host page, where you may download a copy, please click the link below each video.

Transcript of Candidates Forum

2021 Candidates Forum Video Segments

Segment 1: Forum introduction by Mr. Franklin, Moderator.

Segment 2: Opening statement by Mr. Herrera.

Segment 3: Opening statement by Mr. Zuckerman.

Segment 4: Question to Mr. Herrera: When was the last time the Teamsters accomplished an organizing project on the scale of organizing Amazon?

Segment 5: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: What changes need to be made in the Union’s support for strikes to make national organizing efforts more viable?

Segment 6: Question to Mr. Herrera: What is your evaluation of the Union under Mr. Hoffa? Can groups within the Union form alliance and work together?

Segment 7: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: What changes would you make to the Union Constitution at the next convention?

Segment 8: Question to Mr. Herrera: What should the Union to hold accountable elected officials who fail to support the passage of major labor priorities?

Segment 9: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: What would you do differently to organize in the Union’s core industries? And, should the Union reach out to organize outside of the core industries?

Segment 10: Question to Mr. Herrera: What should the Teamsters’ role be in protecting the health of its members, in the context of vaccination against covid-19?

Segment 11: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: What is the highest priority to protect Teamsters jobs, and to promote appropriate regulation, regarding use of autonomous vehicles?

Segment 12: Question to Mr. Herrera: How will the campaign to organize Amazon differ from prior efforts to organize XPO or port drivers?

Segment 13: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: What is the legacy of the 1997 UPS strike, and does it provide a model for how to fight UPS in the next contract negotiation?

Segment 14: Question to Mr. Herrera: How should the Union make the case to younger workers that they need a union and, specifically, the Teamsters?

Segment 15: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: Will the Teamsters re-join the AFL-CIO? Can labor succeed with two competing organization s(AFL-CIO and Change to Win)?

Segment 16: Question to Mr. Herrera: Does your slate think that the UPS 22.4 provision is good?

Segment 17: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: How would you balance talking about labor policy successes of the Biden administration with other, differing political opinions among Teamsters members?

Segment 18: Question to Mr. Herrera: Should Teamsters negotiate more national contracts? Why does the Teamsters leave many issues to local negotiation?

Segment 19: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: What is the labor movement’s role in the wider political discussion concerning the attacks on democratic institutions?

Segment 20: Question to Mr. Herrera: What is the next goal in promoting pension security?

Segment 21: Question to Mr. Zuckerman: Regarding your 2016 position criticizing Mr. O’Brien, has he really changed since then or has he made a change of convenience?

Segment 22: Closing statement by Mr. Herrera.

Segment 23: Closing statement by Mr. Zuckerman.

Segment 24: Forum concluding remarks by Mr. Franklin, Moderator.