Largest private-sector labour union in the U.S., representing truck drivers and workers in related industries such as aviation. It was formed in 1903 with the merger of two team-drivers' unions, and local deliverymen using horse-drawn vehicles remained the core membership until the 1930s, when intercity truck drivers became predominant. From 1907 to 1952 the union was headed by Daniel J. Tobin, who built it up from 40,000 members in 1907 to more than one million in 1950.
Disclosures of corruption in the leadership led to the Teamsters' expulsion from the AFL-CIO in 1957. Between 1957 and 1988 three Teamsters presidents—Dave Beck, Jimmy Hoffa, and Roy Williams—were convicted of various criminal charges and sentenced to prison terms. (Hoffa has been missing, and presumed dead, since 1975.) While Teamsters representation of truck drivers declined with the growth of nonunion trucking companies in the 1980s, the union gained new members in clerical, service, and technology occupations. The union was readmitted to the AFL-CIO in 1987. Presidents Ron Carey (1992–99) and James P. Hoffa (1999– ), son of the former president, focused on job security and family issues.
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