TPMDC Teamsters
Jimmy Hoffa
White House: 'Hoffa's Words Are His Own'
Teamsters President James P. Hoffa
White House spokesman Jay Carney put only a bit of distance between President Obama and incendiary comments Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa made warming up a crowd before Obama's pro-union speech Monday.
Hoffa's comments caused a stir in GOP circles with many conservative figures and commentators accusing the Hoffa of inciting violence against Tea Party activists and the members of Congress they support.
Topics: 2012, 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Jay Carney, Jimmy Hoffa, Tea Party, Teamsters, White House
James Hoffa
Teamsters President: 'No Regrets' After Fiery Speech Draws Right-Wing Criticism
Teamsters President James P. Hoffa
Updated: September 5, 2011, 6:30PM
Teamsters union president James Hoffa would say it all again if he could, he told TPM Monday.
Hoffa riled up Fox News and the right wing Monday with a Labor Day speech in Detroit in which he called Republican members of Congress "sons of bitches" and said union workers are ready to "go to war" with the tea party next year and "take out" Republicans at the ballot box.
Hoffa said he'd say the exact same words all over again.
"I would because I believe it," he said. "They've declared war on us. We didn't declare war on them, they declared war on us. We're fighting back. The question is, who started the war?"
The speech came shortly before President Obama took the stage in Detroit -- and Hoffa's remarks certainly overshadowed Obama's on Fox. But the Teamsters chief said he was just matching fired-up conservative rhetoric when it comes to organized labor and Obama with some fired-up rhetoric of his own.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Fox News, James Hoffa, Teamsters
Jimmy Hoffa
Hoffa: 'Let's Take These Sons Of Bitches Out!'
Teamsters President James P. Hoffa
Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa didn't mince words when warming up the crowd before President Obama's pro-union speech in Detroit Monday.
Hoffa described the recent Republican-led assaults on collective bargaining rights as a "war on workers" and described Obama as union workers' general who will lead them to victory in 2012 over the Tea Party and like-minded allies.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Jimmy Hoffa, Tea Party, Tea Party Express, Teamsters, collective bargaining , unions
Health Care
Hoffa: I Could Accept Reform Without Public Option
Teamsters President James P. Hoffa
Two weeks ago, International Brotherhood of Teamsters leader James Hoffa warned Blue Dog Democrats they were making a big mistake by opposing the President's health care reform proposal--and in particular, the public option.
"A lot of these people we supported, and I think they're making a big mistake by not supporting the president," Hoffa told Bill Press
Yesterday, he made a big concession to them, telling Bloomberg that dropping the public option is "not a deal killer."
"We've got to find out what's doable," Hoffa said.
The Teamsters are affiliated with the labor federation Change to Win, which has taken a less aggressive approach to the public option in recent days. AFL-CIO's incoming president Richard Trumka has said his group will oppose health care reform legislation that does not include a public option, and will not support Democrats who oppose the measure.
Topics: AFL-CIO, Health Care, Public Option, Teamsters
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Hoffa: Sorkin and Morning Joe Show Complete Failure To Understand
New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin went on MSNBC this morning and set off the entire labor movement.
"Name a successful unionized company. Think. You're going to go to [commercial] break before you come up with one. And that's the problem," he said before a room full of unionized NBC employees.
Unions are aghast. "Sorkin and the Morning Joe crew just showed their complete failure to understand how unions contribute to the success of the American economy by blindly assuming that unionized companies haven't been profitable in the last year," said James Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, in a statement to TPMDC.
Off the top of my head I can give you several Teamster-represented companies who continue to thrive, despite the economic downturn, but there are thousands more: UPS, Eight O'Clock Coffee, Coca-Cola Enterprises, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. The Morning Joe team really should be embarrassed for showing their lack of knowledge on the subject.
And that's just on the record.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)Topics: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Labor, Teamsters
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