Missouri-Kansas Conference
Branson, Missouri
October, 4, 2000

Brothers and Sisters, it's a pleasure to meet with the two dozen local unions making up the Missouri-Kansas Conference.

We all benefit from the strength of leadership and commitment to the members of two great leaders from this conference - Jim Kabell and Phil Young. Their hard work and dedication truly make the Teamsters a stronger union.

Bob Miller, Gordon Sweton, Dan McKay, Dennis Speak, Bill Moore and Joe Galli have done so much to make Missouri-Kansas Conference a success. I think we should give them a round of applause.

I guess we should call it the Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference, now that we can welcome our brothers and sisters at Local Union 554. It points to the importance that Teamsters place on unity.

When many of us met in Las Vegas last month, we discussed the role of unity in the Teamsters Union. Unity is an essential part of what we do. It's unity in collective bargaining. Unity in organizing. Unity in politics.

We've all learned the hard way that without unity, action is impossible. With it, the possibilities are limitless.

When my administration took office, our union had deep divisions that weakened its ability to serve our membership. It was brother against brother, sister against sister, local union against local union and joint council against joint council.

Employers, sensing blood in the water, started circling us with an eye toward making a kill. But we set about healing the wounds and moving forward. We refused to be shark bait.

When we achieved total victory in the carhaul struggle-that was unity.

When organized labor sponsored a rally on Capitol Hill to say "NO" to PNTR for China, and more than 6,000 rank-and-file Teamsters, on a work day, at their own expense-that was unity.

When we forced UPS to keep its promises and deliver thousands of new full-time jobs-that was unity.

Right here in Missouri-Kansas, when AWG fired 1,400 members of 245 and 955 in Springfield and Kansas City;

• Members of 886 in Oklahoma City walked out in sympathy;
• It was Teamsters who shut down AWG facilities in three states;
• It was Teamsters who stood together with 6,000 fellow union members, community supporters and politicians at the Springfield Rally;
• It was Teamsters who walked the picket lines and never broke;

That is unity brothers and sisters. That is Teamsters Unity.

And when we stand by more than 1,800 brave men and women fighting an epic battle at Overnite Transportation-that is unity.

We must draw on our unity to mobilize for the coming election. The Overnite struggle is a good example of why the stakes are so very high.

Much has been made of the Republican ticket's ties to Big Oil. Less well known is the fact the Dick Cheney is a director of Union Pacific-the parent company of Overnite. What was George W. Bush thinking? His running mate is part of an outlaw company that is one of the worst labor law violators in American history.

Unfortunately, the Republican ticket has become captive to the forces of reaction-those who want to turn the clock back to the 1920s.

Only by winning the White House and taking back the Congress can we stop efforts by Big Business to:

• Dismantle programs to increase workplace safety;
• Deny the right to organize and bargain collectively;
• Ignore dislocated workers;
• Block equal pay, and;
• Weaken pensions.

Al Gore is a long-time friend of working families. In seven years as a U.S. senator, he voted with working families 88 percent of the time.

He stood with unions and their members to protect workplace health and safety, community wage standards, Medicare and Social Security. He helped to block attempts to bring back company unions and destroy the 40-hour week.

Gore opposed "paycheck deception" initiatives that would have silenced the political voice of working people. He steadfastly defended the freedom of working people to join unions and have a voice at work.

The region covered by this conference will be critical in determining where this nation goes after November. Both Missouri and Nebraska have key races in the U.S. Senate and their respective second congressional districts that could decide control of either house of Congress.

Our brothers and sisters in Kansas are struggling to send labor-friendly candidates to the state legislature. We cannot stand idly by while the forces of reaction try to roll back the gains achieved over the past century.

That is why I ask you to volunteer some time and energy in the next few weeks to our get-out-the-vote effort. Whether you man a phone bank, walk a precinct or put up lawn signs, you will help educate your union brothers and sisters and greatly improve our chances of victory.

That is Teamsters Unity. That's how we will win the fight for working families.

Thank you.