Former Irish international Sean O’Brien has been reinstated as the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 813, the union announced in a statement released by the organizers.
“After six and a half months of trying to rejoin our Local and hold onto my position as secretary-treasurer, I’m very happy to announce today that we have the support and solidarity from all 6,000+ members in our union. The sustained effort we made, and the hard work by the Teamsters, myself and other new leaders has been rewarded in the form of re-affirmation,” O’Brien said in a statement from the Teamsters.
“This is not over yet, we are not out of the woods yet. We have some serious decisions to make and preparation to do, but with Local 813 showing that it means business, we can start to realize our goals. It wasn’t an easy fight, but it has been a struggle worth fighting for. Now we have a long road ahead of us to meet our full membership’s needs and keep our union strong. We will continue to be a voice for unions like mine in the struggle for minimum wage, pensions, fair representation and benefits.”
O’Brien was fired from the post last September by new Teamsters president Jim Hoffa, the grandson of founder Jimmy Hoffa.
But he refused to retire from the Teamsters and appealed his firing with a class-action lawsuit in the US District Court in Detroit. The federal court in November last year granted Hoffa summary judgment because O’Brien did not serve as a substitute secretary-treasurer for 10 days.
Since the December 22 re-affirmation vote, 11 local presidents in various chapters throughout the Midwest have asked Teamsters to join with them in a strong representation effort within the union.