Labor Unions The Good Guy Finally Won

When Ronald Carey declared that he would run for the presidency of the Teamsters Union two years ago, most labor experts considered the reform candidate a do-gooder with little chance of winning. A virtual unknown outside ; the New York City borough of Queens, where he heads a local chapter representing 6,600 truck drivers, Carey did not have the support of regional union officials. Moreover, his rivals outspent him 5 to 1.

Against all odds, Carey emerged victorious last week in the biggest election in U.S. labor history. Carey, 55, rolled up 49% of the vote to beat two insiders, including R.V. Durham, the front runner, who had been handpicked by the union's bosses and backed by a campaign war chest of $2 million. Although only a quarter of the Teamsters' 1.6 million members participated in the vote, the first in which the rank and file was allowed to vote directly for the president, many observupset victory as a solid mandate to clean house.

Besides being the largest private-sector union in the U.S., the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has also been the most Mob influenced. Three of its past five presidents were sentenced to prison. In 1988 the Justice Department hit the union with a racketeering lawsuit. To settle the case, the union agreed to let the government monitor day-to-day operations and organize a secret-ballot election. In the past, a small group of union insiders had chosen the Teamster president.

Carey vowed to rid the union of Mob influence. His most effective campaign poster showed three pigs with their snouts buried in a trough of dollar bills. It read, THEY'RE FEASTING ON YOUR DUES. Carey painted his opponents as part of "the Old Guard" that was controlled by mobsters. In his victory speech he reiterated his promise: "To those who think that the Mafia is in charge, the party's over." Carey's first order as union president was to cut the job's $225,000 annual salary to $175,000.

The Carey victory may signal a new round of union militancy. During his campaign, the former delivery driver for United Parcel Service tapped growing rank-and-file resentment by railing against union concessions to employers. The union, which has seen the real wages of its members decline during the 1980s, has been alone among big unions in endorsing Republican Presidents. Carey says that policy will change.