Is Bad Blood Flowing Between The Old Guard And New Guard In The Teamsters' Marble Palace?

Incoming Teamsters' President O'Brien's staff alleges Hoffa's administration has "stonewalled" the new administration over the past four months.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ Washington, DC headquarters (known as the “Marble Palace”)

On Tuesday, March 22nd, the transition between long-time Teamsters’ President James P. Hoffa’s administration and the new administration of President-Elect Sean O’Brien will officially occur.

However, according to a Bloomberg article published on Monday, the transition has, apparently, been somewhat acrimonious.

Brian Rainville, O’Brien’s incoming chief of staff, told Bloomberg that, over the past four months, incoming staff had been “regularly stonewalled.”

For weeks, staffers coming on board were denied ID badges to roam the building and were only allowed to talk to union staff in the presence of the Teamsters’ in-house counsel, giving what were intended to be casual conversations the aurora of a deposition.

The tension came to a head this past Tuesday, when Rainville and Fred Zuckerman, the incoming general secretary-treasurer, went to get a first look at the president’s office with two people from the building’s IT department and were unceremoniously turned away.

“We got stopped at the door and told, ‘No, this isn’t a good day,’” Rainville said. “Basically, ‘You can come back on Tuesday when you take over.’”

Why?

According to Bloomberg reporter, Ian Kullgren, it is likely the bad blood is due to Hoffa’s one-time ally Sean O’Brien turning against Hoffa and turning last year’s presidential election a “referendum” on Hoffa leadership and his policies.

For their part, the Hoffa regime is accusing Rainville of “lying or either having memory problems.”

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

NEW: New Teamsters president Sean O'Brien takes over tomorrow—and the transition has been a nasty one, his top aide says. 1/

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

Hoffa's inner circle has stonewalled O'Brien's team at every turn, O'Brien's chief of staff Brian Rainville told me. Things boiled over last week when he and the incoming secretary-treasurer were unceremoniously denied access to the president's office at Teamsters HQ. 2/

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

“We got stopped at the door and told, ‘No, this isn’t a good day,’” Rainville said. “Basically, ‘You can come back on Tuesday when you take over.’” “Everything that we’ve experienced has just been incredibly petty." 3/

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

Hoffa's folks didn't take kindly to Rainville's criticisms. John Murphy, a Teamsters international vice president under Hoffa, suggested he was either lying or suffering early memory loss. Murphy said both sides had agreed to transition protocol, including Covid restrictions. 4/

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

“I am just bewildered why they are asserting these things to the press,” Murphy said in an interview. “What’s their motivation? Is it to paint a negative impression as the Jim Hoffa administration winds down? I don’t know, but it’s just bizarre.” 5/

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

But a senior Teamsters official backed up Rainville's account. In recent weeks, the official said, Hoffa cut off all communication with staffers he saw as too accommodating to O’Brien and has refused to speak to the incoming president directly. 6/

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

Rainville also said staffers coming on board were confined to a single conference room and were only allowed to talk to union staff in the presence of the Teamsters’ in-house counsel, giving what were intended to be casual conversations the feeling of a deposition. 7/

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

“On Tuesday, we’re going to parachute in there—all of a sudden we’re going to magically appear like we’re in Star Trek,” Rainville said. “It’s like, I don’t even know where the pencils are because we haven’t been allowed in the office.”

news.bloomberglaw.comPunching In: Hoffa’s Teamsters Reign Ends With Hard FeelingsA new era will dawn tomorrow at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters when longtime president James P. Hoffa hands the reins over to Sean O’Brien, a one-time ally who obliterated Hoffa’s preferred successor in the November election. Meanwhile, Virginia considers canceling its first-in-the-natio…

Ian Kullgren @IanKullgren

Context: Even though Hoffa wasn't on the ballot last year, O'Brien made the election a referendum on his leadership. It was a *huge* embarrassment when O'Brien got 67% of the vote, trouncing Hoffa's candidate in every region except for Canada.

Hopefully, the outgoing Hoffa regime will not put any obscene graffiti in offices, or cut telephone lines and take any letters off of computer keyboards.

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