Jack Goldsmith is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches and writes about national security law, international law, internet law, and, recently, labor history. Before coming to Harvard, Professor Goldsmith served as Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel from 2003-2004, and Special Counsel to the Department of Defense from 2002-2003.
As I mentioned, I am writing a book about Jimmy Hoffa’s historical significance in American labor, law, and politics. There are dozens of books written about Hoffa, but almost all of them focus on his disappearance on August 30, 1975 (and the vast majority of these “disappearance” books are dreadful). The best books on Hoffa’s historical significance are, I believe, Arthur Sloane’s definitive biography, David Witwer’s nuanced treatment of the Teamsters and corruption, and Thaddeus Russell’s insightful study of the social and material influences on, and of, Hoffa. I have learned a great deal from these books and hope to build on them in various ways that I will be writing about here.
Most of my students have little idea who Hoffa was beyond his association with organized crime and famous disappearance. But of course Hoffa was also one of the most successful labor leaders of the twentieth century. He was adored by his millions of members, in no small part because he raised their wages and benefits significantly, and at a much greater rate than most other unions. His crowning labor achievement was the 1964 National Master Freight Agreement that brought more than 400,000 over-the-road drivers under a single national contract. “The Teamsters Union is the most powerful institution in this country” besides the government, Bobby Kennedy wrote in The Enemy Within. “Quite literally your life – the life of every person in the United States – is in the hands of Hoffa and the Teamsters,” Kennedy added. Kennedy, who was not paying Hoffa a compliment, was right.
Some of Hoffa’s success in labor resulted from his connections with organized crime, which Hoffa deployed to knock heads both on the picket line and within the union (for example, in getting independent unions to be patient on wages in order to secure the important 1964 national contract). In general, however, the significance of Hoffa’s organized crime connections to his labor successes has been overstated. Most important was Hoffa’s unparalleled knowledge of the trucking industry and the economics of trucking, and his extraordinary bargaining skills (all of which is detailed in the James’ Hoffa and the Teamsters: A Study of Union Power).
More broadly, Hoffa had three commitments that undergirded his labor success but that are, in various degrees, out of fashion in the modern labor movement and labor scholarship. First, he was committed to “business unionism” in the sense that he focused relentlessly and pragmatically on enhancing material benefits for members (as unions still do, of course), but eschewed larger progressive political and social goals for labor unions and members. Hoffa was also, relatedly, suspicious of many welfare programs. Second, Hoffa was pragmatic about political support, and threw his union’s weight to Republicans nearly as often as Democrats. Third, Hoffa believed in centralized union power and was hostile to decentralizing and union democracy impulses – a combination few in the modern labor movement embrace. (One can of course be for centralized union power and for union democracy, however conceived; Hoffa didn’t much like either.)
There were many reasons why Hoffa held these views, not all of them principled. And it was a quite different era. Nonetheless, I hope to explore here and in the book whether these ideas – Hoffa-style business unionism, greater union political diversity, and a de-emphasis on union democracy – deserve a more important place in the contemporary labor movement.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 4
The DOL scraps a Biden-era proposed rule to end subminimum wages for disabled workers; millions will lose access to Medicaid and SNAP due to new proof of work requirements; and states step up in the noncompete policy space.
July 3
California compromises with unions on housing; 11th Circuit rules against transgender teacher; Harvard removes hundreds from grad student union.
July 2
Block, Nanda, and Nayak argue that the NLRA is under attack, harming democracy; the EEOC files a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels; and SEIU Local 1000 strikes an agreement with the State of California to delay the state's return-to-office executive order for state workers.
July 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Department of Labor proposes to roll back minimum wage and overtime protections for home care workers, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by public defenders over a union’s Gaza statements, and Philadelphia’s largest municipal union is on strike for first time in nearly 40 years. On Monday, the U.S. […]
June 30
Antidiscrimination scholars question McDonnell Douglas, George Washington University Hospital bargained in bad faith, and NY regulators defend LPA dispensary law.
June 29
In today’s news and commentary, Trump v. CASA restricts nationwide injunctions, a preliminary injunction continues to stop DOL from shutting down Job Corps, and the minimum wage is set to rise in multiple cities and states. On Friday, the Supreme Court held in Trump v. CASA that universal injunctions “likely exceed the equitable authority that […]