Road Not Taken: Dissident Teamsters and the End of the New Deal Order, 1969-1980

Abstract

This thesis investigates how the rank-and-file members of the Teamsters Union reacted to the economic crisis of the 1970s. I argue that they countered a variety of social and economic problems of the era with the tools of union reform as they adhered to the ideal of unionism throughout the decade. When their movements, which were scattered around the United States, came together, they showed a steady belief in rank-and-file unionism modeled upon the Depression-era labor upsurge. However, they struggled to find a balance between the egalitarian ideology of class-solidarity and the pragmatic focus on truckers, who were exclusively white men. As a result, although racial and gender equity was always one of their goals, they could not present a more inclusive form of unionism. I conclude that the movement which aimed for the expansion of postwar liberalism turned into a vehicle for working-class white men to protect their privileges.