- Carey, Ron
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▪ 2009Ronald Robert CareyAmerican labour leaderborn March 22, 1936, New York, N.Y.died Dec. 11, 2008, New York, N.Y.as president (1992–97) of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), was one of the foremost American labour figures of the decade; although he spearheaded efforts to clean up corruption within the union, he was eventually forced from office after becoming embroiled in a campaign-finance scandal. Carey was a Teamsters member from 1958. He served (1967–91) as president of Teamsters Local Union 804 before he successfully ran for the presidency of the IBT; he was the first president elected by direct vote of the organization's rank-and-file members. Carey was reelected to a second term in 1996 and in August 1997 led a widely publicized strike against United Parcel Service (UPS), winning substantial concessions from UPS management. Soon after the strike was settled, however, allegations emerged that he had illegally diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in union funds to finance his reelection bid. He was subsequently removed from his post and in 1998 was banned from the IBT. Carey was indicted on federal perjury charges related to the scandal but was acquitted of those charges by a federal jury in 2001.
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▪ American labour leaderin full Ronald Robert Careyborn March 22, 1936, New York, N.Y., U.S.died Dec. 11, 2008, Flushing, Queens, N.Y.American labour leader and general president, from 1991 to 1997, of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters Union) (IBT), the first Teamsters president elected by direct vote of rank-and-file members.Carey, the son of a Teamster, joined the union in 1956 as a United Parcel Services (UPS) truck driver in Queens, New York, and was elected president of Teamsters Local 804 in 1967. He often spoke out against the IBT, claiming the union was a locus for mobsters and was run as an autocracy. In 1991, however, Carey was elected general president of the Teamsters. Buoyed by a reform movement within the union, he began cleaning house, reducing his own salary and firing officials with ties to organized crime. He won a second term as Teamsters president in 1996, beating James P. Hoffa (Hoffa, James P.) by about 16,000 votes.Carey's greatest triumph was the August 1997 UPS strike, which won substantial concessions from management and represented the high-water mark for organized labour in the 1990s. Carey's success was short-lived, though. Only three days after the UPS strike was settled, his reelection victory over Hoffa was voided when an election overseer claimed that the Carey campaign had illegally financed last-minute electioneering by diverting more than $200,000 in Teamsters funds. Carey was dismissed from the union and barred from running for reelection. His testimony in response to those charges led to a perjury indictment in January 2001 by a federal grand jury, but, in another twist, a New York jury found him innocent of perjury in October 2001.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
