Tom Leedham, General President
Local 206, Oregon
Tom Leedham is the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 206 in Oregon, representing warehouse, freight, UPS, public employees, sanitation and other Teamsters. Leedham spent years as a working Teamster. Fed up with weak contracts and benefit cuts, including the elimination of retiree health benefits, Leedham organized his co-workers to elect reform local leadership. After being elected, Leedham inherited a union health trust that was almost broke. Instead of making excuses or pointing fingers, Leedham instituted reforms in how the trust was operated and negotiated higher employer contributions to the benefit fund. He won back retiree healthcare that previous leadership had eliminated and eliminated two-tier contracts that allowed employers to pay lower wages and benefits to newer Teamsters. In today’s tough bargaining climate, Leedham continues to bargain industry-leading contracts by organizing strategic contract campaigns. Leedham has served at every level of Teamster leadership, including shop steward, local union representative, local union principal officer, Joint Council officer, IBT Warehouse Division Director and International Vice President.
Dan Scott, Vice President at LargeDan Scott, Vice President at Large
Local 174, Seattle
Dan Scott joined the Teamsters at UPS and got involved as a steward, safety committee member, and as a volunteer for his local. For the past six years he has served as an officer of Seattle Local 174, the largest trucking local in the Northwest. Dan is now Secretary Treasurer of Local 174 and responsible for bargaining contracts and representing and organizing members in trucking, UPS, construction, warehousing, waste disposal, public employment and other fields. Dan is an innovator, a leader and a Teamster who is not afraid to take a stand—from the picket lines at UPS in 1994 and 1997 to the floor of the Teamster Convention where he stood up for the rank and file as an elected delegate.
Sandy Pope, Vice President at LargeSandy Pope, Vice President at Large
Local 805, New York
Sandy Pope first joined Teamsters Local 407 in 1977. There she worked as a dock worker and driver under the master freight contract, and later as an organizer along with Local 407 President Sam Theodus. She later served as the Executive Director of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). She worked as a business agent, and later as an International Representative in the Warehouse Division, until Hoffa came into office in 1999. Sandy previously served as the Secretary Treasurer of New York Local 805 and as its Pension Fund Director. When Local 805’s President announced he would go along with employers’ demands for pension cuts in 2004, Sandy put together a reform slate and was elected President by Local 805 members. She recently settled successful litigation that rolled back pension cuts and instituted reforms in the Local 805 pension plan.
Scott Webber, Vice President at LargeScott Webber, Vice President at Large
Local 728, Georgia
Scott Webber is a second-generation Teamster and a 17-year member of our union. Scott comes out of the freight industry, where he worked for ABF as a mechanic and served as a steward. Angry at the Hoffa administration’s weak contract enforcement in freight and at the Central States pension cuts, Scott joined the Members First Slate in 2004 and was elected Recording Secretary of Local 728, one of the largest locals in the Southern Region. Scott serves as a business agent for freight and manufacturing Teamsters. He knows first-hand the problems working Teamsters face, and wants to see improvements in the grievance procedure and more organizing in our core industries. Scott joined the Strong Contracts, Good Pensions Slate to achieve these goals and to fight to roll back the pension and retiree healthcare cuts which the Hoffa administration has imposed.
Tim Buban, Central Region Vice PresidentTim Buban, Central Region Vice President
Local 200, Milwaukee
Tim Buban is a veteran Teamster union reformer. He worked for 24 years at Consolidated Freightways after serving in the Army Airborne. By 1992 Tim was involved as a rank and filer in volunteer organizing and other solidarity activities in the Union. From 1996 through 1998 Tim worked full time for the International Union and was a Regional Coordinator for the successful 1997 UPS strike. Tim was an elected delegate at the 1996 and 2001 Teamster Conventions. He was an outspoken advocate for pension reform calling for direct accountability of pension trustees to Teamsters members. As a delegate to the 2002 IBT Special Convention Tim spoke out for the member’s right to vote on any dues increase. Tim served six years as recording secretary of Milwaukee Local 200 and he is now the Secretary Treasurer of Local 200 in Milwaukee.
Bill Gibson, Eastern Region Vice PresidentBill Gibson, Eastern Region Vice President
Local 96, Washington D.C.
Bill Gibson helped lead the effort to affiliate his independent union with the Teamsters in 1996. He won election as President of Teamsters Local 96 in 2000 and before that served on the executive board for nine years and as a shop steward. He is the Recording Secretary Joint Council 55. For six years he has been a delegate to the Metropolitan Labor Council of the AFL-CIO and serves on the steering committee of the Inter-Union Gas Conference. Bill knows how to take on a tough corporation, using strategic campaigns to win strong contracts and good benefits. Bill is well-known in the labor movement for promoting solidarity and was honored by Washington, DC Jobs with Justice with their “I’ll Be There” Award in 2004.
Chris Roos, Eastern Region Vice PresidentChris Roos, Eastern Region Vice President
Local 1035, Connecticut
Chris Roos is the Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 1035. which represents brewery, soft drink and vending Teamsters as well as public employees in the state of Connecticut. Roos became a Teamster when he went to work at Coca-Cola Bottling Company. In 1991, he became a business agent. Roos has served as the principal officer of Local 1035 since 2000. In 2003 Roos led a Teamster political action campaign that won overtime rights for 4,500 workers, including soft drink, bakery and other route sales Teamsters across the state—reversing unfair state legislation that allowed employers to pay salaried and commissioned employees half-pay instead of time-and-a-half after 40 hours. In May, 2005, Roos led a successful 7-day strike against Coca-Cola after management demanded healthcare concessions and tried to force members to accept a company plan. By coordinating with locals in New York, New Jersey and California, Local 1035 members maintained their Teamster health and welfare benefits. He believes the International can help Teamster members win stronger local contracts by promoting strategic coordination, solidarity and strike support.
T. C. Bundrant, Southern Region Vice PresidentT. C. Bundrant, Southern Region Vice President
Local 549, Tennessee
T.C. Bundrant comes out of the Freight industry and has been a Teamster for more than 30 years. T.C. serves as President of Local 549 in Kingsport, Tennessee. As a hard-working International Representative and Organizer, T.C. helped organize Overnite terminals in Memphis, Lexington, Atlanta and Bowling Green during the successful Overnite campaign of the mid-1990s. T.C. sees UPS’s purchase of Overnite as an opportunity to revive the organizing drive there that Hoffa destroyed with a reckless, unprepared strike in 1999.
Millie Gonzalez, Trustee Millie Gonzalez, Trustee
Local 901, Puerto Rico
Millie Gonzalez has been a Teamsters Local 901 member since 1986 when she went to work for Crowley Liner Services. In 2000, she helped to organize Teamsters for Change, a movement of Puerto Rican Teamsters for a stronger, more democratic Local 901. After members elected Teamsters for Change leaders, Millie helped form Local 901’s first Women’s Committee. She represented the Teamsters Union in an IBT-endorsed campaign to stop the bombing of the island of Vieques by the U.S. Marines. Millie has also been active in labor and community struggles against privatization in Puerto Rico.
Eunice Rodriguez Eunice Rodriguez
Local 237, New York City
Eunice Rodriguez is an NYPD School Safety Agent and a former Recording Secretary and Business Agent of Local 237—the largest local union in the Teamsters. As a local officer and Convention Delegate, Eunice backed Hoffa in 2001. She joined the Tom Leedham Strong Contracts, Good Pension Slate because of the International Union’s failure to help Teamsters win strong local contracts—including the 23,000 public employee members of Local 237 who went years without a contract.
John Thyer John Thyer
Local 604, St. Louis
John Thyer is the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 604 in St. Louis and a Teamster expert on the carhaul industry. A former Hoffa supporter, John joined the Tom Leedham Strong Contracts, Good Pensions Slate because of weak enforcement of contracts, a lack of effective organizing, and concessions that the Hoffa administration has given the employers that violate the contract and have locals underbidding each other. John has been a Teamster for 31 years and the principal officer of Local 604.