The International Brotherhood of Teamsters
The Teamsters are America’s largest, most diverse union. In 1903, the Teamsters started as a merger of the two leading team driver associations. These drivers were the backbone of America’s robust economic growth, but they needed to organize in order to wrest their fair share from greedy corporations. Today, the Union’s task is exactly the same.
The Teamsters are known as the champion of freight drivers and warehouse workers, but have organized workers in virtually every occupation imaginable, both professional and non-professional. Private sector and public sector.
Our 1.4 million members are public defenders in Minnesota; vegetable workers in California; sanitation workers in New York; brewers in St. Louis; newspaper workers in Seattle; construction workers in Las Vegas; zoo keepers in Pennsylvania; healthcare workers in Rhode Island; bakery workers in Maine; airline pilots, secretaries and police officers. Name the occupation and chances are we represent those workers somewhere. See IBT Divisions
There are 568 Teamster locals throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Teamsters stand ready to organize workers who want to bargain collectively. Once a contract is negotiated and signed, the Union works to enforce it - holding management’s feet to the fire and invoking contract grievance procedures if management chooses not to. Wages and benefits under Teamster contracts are markedly better than those of non-union employees in similar jobs. Teamster contracts are the guarantors of decent wages, fair promotion, health coverage, job security, paid time-off and retirement income.
The IBT also performs vital tasks in such areas as pension management, safety & health, community outreach, governmental affairs and communications. For a century the Teamsters have been a public voice for the rights and aspirations of working men and women and a key player in securing them.
WHO WE REPRESENT
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents any group of workers who want to organize to bargain with their bosses on an even footing. We started out as a union of team drivers, the men who drove the horses that drove the economy, a century ago. That’s where the name “Teamster” comes from. But over the years we’ve expanded.
TEAMSTERS HISTORY
The rise of North America’s working families into the middle class. The empowerment of workers through collective bargaining. The protections of health, safety and retirement security. And the establishment of dignity in the workplace.
How did these remarkable gains take place in the short historical space of 100 years? All answers point in one unmistakable direction: the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Read more about how this great union made the 20th century the Teamster Century. And how the hard-working men and women who are proud to call themselves Teamsters helped build the world’s greatest economic engines in the United States and Canada.
UP-TO-DATE INFO
For the most up to date information visit the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Headquarters website.