Local 237 President Carl Haynes proved to be a top vote-getter in the Teamsters general elections last month. Haynes, who ran on the Hoffa Unity Slate, easily won election as a vice President-at-large on the International Teamsters Union General Executive Board with a commanding 65 percent of the national votes.

“The members have spoken,” Haynes declared. “This administration moves forward with a mandate to fight for working families. The Teamsters will remain the strongest voice in labor.”

Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa, who helped celebrate the victory at Local 237 headquarters Nov. 30, praised Haynes as “a strong leader, and a dedicated trade unionist.” He added that Haynes “is my partner in building up and restoring the pride in the Teamsters Union. Now more than ever, our union is united and strong. Together we will meet the challenges facing America’s working families.”

The Teamsters union, Hoffa added, is poised to take on “the important battles ahead for the Teamsters, that the Hoffa Unity Slate is ready to build on the progress of the past 33 months.” Hoffa has vowed to increase Teamster political power and remove government oversight of the union.

Highest Vote Getter

Haynes, who is already well-known on the national labor scene as a vice president on the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO and director of the Teamster union’s 200,000-member Public Employees Division, received the highest number of votes among the candidates for vice president at large, with a total of 193,760 votes across the country and Canada. Thomas O’Donnell of Local 817 in New York, another Hoffa Unity Slate member, came in a close second with a total of 193,517 votes.

As one of five vice presidents-at-large on the Teamster union’s new Executive Board, and the only local president from a public employees-only union, Haynes’ new title strengthens Local 237’s national prominence in the labor arena, and gives greater credence and leverage to Teamster public employees across the country.

More than 300,000 Teamsters voted in this election, which was supervised by a federal election administrator.