Who is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)?
Unions like to present themselves as operating similarly to a nonprofit organization, working for the benefit of those they represent. One of the best ways to evaluate the trustworthiness of a nonprofit is to look at the percentage of total spending that goes directly into their stated programs, versus what they spend on running the organization.
Charity watchdogs like the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance and the Charity Review Council say this percentage should be no lower than 64%.
The average spending on programs of the top 100 charities in the country, according to the Forbes Top Charities list for 2023, was 87% – far above the minimum.
The image above is a list of how some well-known nonprofits stack up to this measure.
Did the IBT even come close?
Hardly! According to their own financial statement, the IBT posted total income of over $242 Million in 2023, yet spent only 29% on Representational Activities, including strike payments. The rest was spent on salaries, benefits and perks, office space and equipment, politics, taxes, and other overhead expenses. Almost the exact opposite of organizations whose stated purpose is to help people.
An old adage reminds us to “choose our friends wisely.”
The table at the right provides some indication of the “company you keep” with the IBT. Another indication is how many Unfair Labor Practice charges have been filed against them. Although the IBT has gotten better since the mid-90’s when they averaged about 1102 ULP’s per year, in the last 10 years they’ve still averaged 464 ULP’s each year.
They have also averaged about 15 strikes per year over the last five years. Over the last 10 years, the average strike lasted over 6 weeks. That’s quite a while to be without a paycheck. During that same 10 years, 29 strikes lasted over 100 days, and 4 strikes lasted over 700 days.
