Thank you for that kind introduction.

Members and officers of the National Press Club, other members of the working press, my fellow Teamster brothers and sisters:

It gives me great pleasure to report to you that the state of the Teamsters is strong and united.

On May 1, 1999, I took the oath of office as General President of the most democratic union in the AFL-CIO. I promised to restore unity, pride and strength to this great union.

I knew we had to build bridges to all of the union's constituencies.

And just look at the Teamsters Union now! Just one year after taking office.

All around us, we see the fruits of our efforts.

There is renewed vigor in our union.

Teamsters today are winning better contracts, receiving higher wages, getting stronger pensions, organizing new members.

We are building clout on Capitol Hill and fulfilling my promise to run a clean union.

The latest evidence came just two days ago when 68 percent of Teamster flight attendants at Northwest Airlines ratified a contract that gives them industry-leading wages, health and welfare and pensions.

This victory means that these hard-working men and women will no longer struggle on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

I am proud of the work of the Local Union 2000 negotiating committee and the support my administration provided to bring a good contract home to our Northwest flight attendants.

Nancy Larson is an 11-year Northwest flight attendant based in Detroit. She knows first-hand how bitter this three-and-a-half-year struggle has been with Northwest Airlines.

Nancy has walked the informational pickets, educated customers and kept Northwest management's feet to the fire.

Today, Sister Larson's years of struggle have paid off. Today, she is looking forward to a brighter future. Please welcome Nancy Larson.

I'm also pleased to announce that we are in the process of reaching agreement with Associated Warehouse Group (AWG) in disputes at facilities in Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri and Oklahoma City. This would end their 9-week lockout and strike.

If ratified, the contract will give 1,450 courageous workers increased pay and benefits stemming from our NLRB unfair labor practice charge.

This is just one more example of how my administration utilized the resources of the International Union, including our Strategic Initiatives Department, to take on a large employer-and WIN!

Yes, this is the state of a union on the move again.

Sadly, that has not always been so. In years past, division, political infighting and corruption took their toll on our membership.

When I came to office, it was brother against brother. Sister against Sister. Local union against local union. And Joint council against joint council.

Our union was on the brink of bankruptcy and on the edge of extinction.

The union was broke-and demoralized.

Our members wanted strong leadership and they wanted unity.

They wanted to regain our rightful place in the forefront of the trade union movement.

To allow each of us to once again be able to say, "I'M PROUD TO BE A TEAMSTER!"

Let's take a look at some of what the Teamsters Union has accomplished in just one short year.

In September 1999, our renewed strength helped us organize 625 apple workers in Washington State, giving this largely Hispanic workforce what they had demanded: union recognition.

300 Minnesota public defenders voted by a ten to one margin to join the Local Union 320. They were later joined by 90 support staff.

And just two weeks ago, we filed a representation petition with the National Mediation Board for nearly 11,000 workers at Dobbs International.

This will be the first new national contract of my administration.

In every industry and every region of the country, workers are choosing the Teamsters to gain a strong voice at work.

From the 475 workers at Pittsburgh Plate and Glass in Huntsville, Alabama,

To 460 nonprofessional employees at Uniontown Hospital in Pennsylvania,

To 1,200 public employees in the State of Maryland

American workers are attracted to our strong, militant leadership.

And then there's Overnite. After years of attempting to organize Overnite Transportation Company, only to be thwarted by management's systematic violations of American labor law - the Teamsters said, "Enough is enough!"

These brave men and women walked out in an unfair labor practices strike in October 1999.

Since then, management has failed to bargain in good faith.

Despite over 160 bargaining sessions, we are still without a contract.

But rest assured, our members will prevail.

The strike has spread to 140 terminals in 39 states.

We're using ambulatory picketing to make sure that any company that takes Overnite deliveries can expect a picket line close behind.

Management's strike costs alone are more than $1 million a week - driving the parent company's stock price down.

The strikers remain strong, helped by the support of their brothers and sisters throughout the labor movement.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to A.C. Parker, from Macon Georgia. A.C. is one of the courageous Overnite workers who is fighting the good fight for workplace justice.

Thank you, Brother Parker, for your strength and persistence.

The importance of the Overnite battle extends beyond the freight industry.

It symbolizes the flagrant violations of labor law that employers use to deprive their workers of a voice at work.

United, we will win this struggle.

The bosses at Overnite are learning the hard way: TODAY'S TEAMSTERS ARE UNITED!

Yet there's more to a union than organizing.

We promised our members that we would deliver strong contracts, even where management dragged its feet for years.

We've kept that promise.

The unity, pride and strength of the Teamsters make possible the strong contracts that we deliver.

In May 1999, one of our first tasks was to jump-start the carhaul talks.

Management was demanding concessions, including a call for first-ever use of part-time drivers and Mexican-owned and -operated rigs.

We reached out to our members through on-site visits, union meetings and member-to-member contacts at the local union level.

Our members used today's technology and resources to stay informed and mobilized.

And thanks to our member's unity, pride and strength, 80 percent of carhaul members voted yes.

We won a good contract with real improvements in pay and benefits.

Before I took office, 138 meetings with Anheuser-Busch failed to yield an agreement.

At the same time management imposed terms on our membership.

In September 1999, our members ratified a national agreement that keeps all 12 breweries open over the five-year term of the contract.

All members won access to grievance panels and real job protections.

When food giant Kroger's Arizona operation subcontracted its warehouse work to a non-union firm, members of Local Union 104 went on strike.

They were helped by Joint Council 42 President Jim Santangelo and Local Union 63 Secretary-Treasurer Randy Cammack, who set up picket lines throughout Southern California.

In February of this year, Teamster solidarity allowed the Arizona warehousemen to win the strike and return to work with job security that is now a benchmark for the industry.

That's unity, pride and strength at work.

From locked-out workers at the Detroit newspapers to Florida Minute Maid workers striking against unsafe working conditions, our union has proven that we will not rest in the pursuit of a strong contract.

Yet an unenforced contract is no better than the paper it's written on.

When my administration came in, UPS refused to abide by its commitment to create 2,000 new full-time jobs every contract year.

But we held their feet to the fire. All 10,000 jobs will be in place.

Sue Ordakowski of Washington, DC, is one of the UPS workers for whom going from part-time to full-time has meant getting better wages, pensions and health care. Please stand, Sister Ordakowski.

Teamsters must take pride in the accomplishments of the last year.

But the challenges we still face are awesome.

The so-called economic boom has left many families behind.

Yes, unemployment is at three percent.

But people are working three jobs-without pensions, health care and decent wages-to make ends meet.

The Teamsters and, indeed, all labor organizations are under ferocious attack from multinational corporations.

Management's obsession with short-term profits has them exporting their production capacity and destroying American families and communities.

Tens of thousands of Americans have lost good-paying jobs because of the U.S. Government's misguided trade policies.

Our elected officials refuse to see that behind those numbers are actual working families, with real hopes and real hardships.

Real people, like the more than 300 mostly African-American women assembly workers in Cleveland who lost their jobs when Mr. Coffee moved their profitable operation from Ohio to Mexico.

NAFTA accelerated big business efforts to send our jobs, literally, south.

Business leaders no longer talks about making money-they talk about maximizing profits.

But when they wanted to open our southern border to unsafe Mexican trucks, we fought to keep the border closed-and we won.

When the WTO tried to meet behind closed doors and craft new schemes to shift money and jobs around the globe, we fought them in the streets of Seattle-and we won.

When Congress said there was no longer any need to keep an eye on China's appalling human rights practices, we refused to give them a free pass.

We will hold members of Congress accountable for their vote.

The American public understands the truth of that old union slogan: "An injury to one is an injury to all."

The granting of PNTR for China, backed by a White House-led campaign of outrageous lies bankrolled by big business, was a deep disappointment to all working Americans.

But it was a valuable learning experience as well.

This was a decisive vote that rendered in the starkest possible terms who our real friends are-and who are not.

There's another old union saying: "Reward your friends."

Those who would put trade over people are not our friends.

That is why we are currently reassessing our relationship with all elected officials who failed to stand with us on an issue critically important to working Americans.

Similarly, we have not and will not follow the herd mentality of an early endorsement for president.

In recent months, we have met with candidates representing the entire political spectrum, including George W. Bush, Al Gore, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Nader, Bill Bradley, John McCain and Orrin Hatch. In fact, Ralph Nader and George W. Bush are expected to address our Executive Board in just three short weeks.

We continue to listen to our members and local union leaders for their views and input.

We have yet to make our decision, but rest assured-should we make an endorsement, our candidate will enjoy the full resources and support of the members of this Union.

By holding our elected representatives accountable, today's Teamsters will increase our political clout.

That's the key to advancing a legislative agenda that works for working families:

The Teamsters demand fair trade-not just with China, but with all nations.

We will continue to oppose "fast-track" and new trade agreements with countries that ignore core worker and human rights standards.

The Teamsters are fighting to protect labor standards.

To shielding the 40-hour work week.

To defending workers' right to organize.

And to blocking efforts by employers to classify workers as temps or independent contractors.

The Teamsters insist on the solvency of pension funds, and protection of Social Security and Medicare.

The current budget must be used to beef up these two very important programs.

The Teamsters demand health care reform-including prescription drug coverage for retirees.

And we support a Patients' Bill of Rights to stop widespread abuses by providers and insurance companies.

I've listed a number of our accomplishments today, and I'd like to list one more.

Due to prior incompetence and high-level corruption of my predecessor, my administration faced the awesome task of rebuilding our treasury.

I'm proud to report that thanks to financial control systems put in by Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel. We have a program to protect our members' money.

We are cutting waste, balancing our budget and reversing the erosion of the strike fund.

We will continue to seek restoration of the funds that were stolen from us by the previous administration. Secretary-Treasurer Keegel has already recovered $425,000, and we have filed a lawsuit to recover the rest.

And, we will continue to protect our members from those who would loot our treasury and disgrace the Teamster name.

I'm also proud that after inheriting a grievance system that was essentially broken, we now have Teamsters in charge of grievance panels that work for our members.

We also have kept our promise to run a clean union. The RISE (RESPECT, INTEGRITY, STRENGTH, ETHICS) program is creating a Code of Conduct written, implemented and enforced by our membership.

The code is being created by a Task Force consisting of 22 Teamsters representing our diverse membership.

Our union's comprehensive anti-corruption plan is assisted by former federal prosecutor Edwin Stier; former FBI agent James Kossler; and former New Mexico Court of Appeals Judge Harris Hartz.

We are consulting with a board of advisers comprised of experts on labor unions, ethics, organized crime and corruption.

And we're sponsoring a national ethics conference next year.

Further, we've implemented a set of election rules more stringent than anything the government has imposed.

The government has released the Teamsters to run our own election in 2001.

That's because they recognize we are a democratic union.

And that our members, from rank-and-file workers to the president, have a voice in our union.

Which brings me to my final point.

Every day offers more proof to the government and our members that the Teamsters logo is again a badge of honor.

This is a union that should be run by its 1.5 million members-not by government bureaucrats.

We have accomplished much in just one year.

After more than a decade of government control, the consent decree has cost our union more than $88 million dollars.

It is unfair and undemocratic to deprive 1.5 million working men and women of the full effectiveness of their duly elected leadership.

We are dedicated to working with the government to end the trusteeship of the Teamsters and give the union back to its members.

There is a new spirit in the Teamsters union.

Our members look to their leaders to deliver the benefits that make a real difference in their daily lives:

strong contracts,

quality health care,

a secure retirement.

But they look for something else: Belonging to a movement, a family, a brotherhood.

From the rank-and-file member to this president, it's people like Nancy Larson, A.C. Parker and Sue Ordakowski working every day to make this union united, proud and strong.

The future is bright, brothers and sisters.

The Teamsters are back.

Together, we will restore a strong voice for America's working families.

I will be pleased to take any questions you may have.