Labor Beat: Richard Berg - The Battle for Teamsters Local 743 {LB544}

[Omaha Steve]

In late December 2007 Richard Berg was elected president of Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago. Every union election is an important event, but the reasons this particular election became national labor news had to do with the extraordinary circumstances.

Richard Berg, over three elections, had led a rank-and-file challenge to a corrupt union leadership (they were recently indicted). Each of these elections were rigged and declared invalid by the government.

This video narrates, with interviews and observations from family members and union supporters, Berg’s determination not to give up.

Finally, in December 2007 a re-run of the election was carefully overseen by the Department of Labor, and Berg’s New Leadership Slate won -- officially this time. And on New Years Day 2008 they walked into a union office with important documents shredded and computer hard drives missing, as they feared.

An inspirational story told through exclusive documentary footage, and showing the hard battle, on the personal level, for union democracy--a battle that now continues to rebuild the union.


Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5948146454470394722&hl=en

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