Kevin Moore is an official in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents transportation workers and is one of the largest private-sector unions in the United States. Moore serves as Vice President of Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43, as well as President of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit. He is also the director of the Carhaul Division, which represents workers who transport vehicles such as cars and trucks. ¹ In 2020, he announced he intended to seek the international union presidency. ²

Car-Haul Contract Controversy

In October 2019, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), an activist caucus within the union that frequently opposes national leadership, reported that the administration of Teamsters president James P. Hoffa had refused to disclose the results of a vote on a major car-haul contract. Citing a “sunshine rule” which requires national contract vote results to be open for review, TDU challenged Hoffa and Moore to “release the numbers” if they “have nothing to hide.” ³

A letter from a local union to Hoffa and Moore alleged that while the national union had initially promised to publish the final vote count, a representative later indicated that vote tallies would not be disclosed. The local union leadership accused the national organization of failing to follow a procedure “required by the IBT Constitution.” ⁴ The union released the numbers a month later. ⁵

Intention to Seek IBT Presidency

Moore announced that he would run for the Teamsters presidency in March 2020, after Hoffa announced that he would not seek re-election in 2022. However, a contract that Moore had negotiated several years prior as head of the Carhaul Division was extremely unpopular among union members, 87 percent of whom voted to reject it. ⁶ TDU alleges that “Moore was Hoffa’s original choice to succeed him as General President until they had a falling out.” ⁷

Both before and during the leadership fight, Moore has been criticized by further-left elements within the labor movement. TDU called him “Hoffa’s despised Carhaul Director” after the union election supervisor fined him for using union resources to support Hoffa’s re-election campaign. ⁸ An op-ed written by a TDU member in the openly socialist magazine Jacobin claims that Moore is “associated with concessionary contracts” and that two people endorsed by TDU to run for leadership of the national union were “early favorites.” ⁹

1.             Officers & Staff, Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43. Accessed December 23, 2020. http://teamstersjointcouncil43.com/?zone=/unionactive/officers.cfm
2.     John D. Schulz, “End of an era: Hoffa Jr. to leave top Teamsters post in 2022,” Supply Chain Management Review, March 9, 2020. Accessed December 23, 2020. https://www.scmr.com/article/end_of_an_era_hoffa_jr._to_leave_top_teamsters_post_in_2022
3.        “Why Has Hoffa Hidden The Carhaul Contract Vote?,” Teamsters for a Democratic Union, October 2, 2019. Accessed December 23, 2020. https://www.tdu.org/why_has_hoffa_hidden_the_carhaul_contract_vote
4. Fred Zuckerman et al., “RE: 2019 Jack Cooper Transport ‘Last, Best, and Final Offer’ Local Unions’ Vote Tally,” General Drivers, Warehousemen, & Helpers Local Union No. 89, September 24, 2019. Accessed December 23, 2020. https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/teamstersforademocraticunion/pages/11004/attachments/original/1570021949/JCT_Vote_Tally_letter_to_Hoffa-Moore_9-24-2019_%281%29.pdf?1570021949
5.             “Carhaul Contract Votes Finally Revealed,” Teamsters for a Democratic Union, October 10, 2019. Accessed December 23, 2020.https://www.tdu.org/carhaul_contract_votes_finally_revealed
6.             John D. Schulz, “End of an era: Hoffa Jr. to leave top Teamsters post in 2022,” Supply Chain Management Review, March 9, 2020. Accessed December 23, 2020. https://www.scmr.com/article/end_of_an_era_hoffa_jr._to_leave_top_teamsters_post_in_2022
7.        “Hoffa Takes Aim At Teamsters Elections,” Teamsters for a Democratic Union, March 12, 2020. Accessed December 23, 2020.https://www.tdu.org/hoffa_takes_aim
8.          “Hoffa Slate’s Kevin Moore Gambles & Loses In Vegas,” Teamsters for a Democratic Union, June 29, 2016. Accessed December 23, 2020. https://www.tdu.org/hoffa_slate_s_kevin_moore_gambles_loses_in_vegas
9. David Levin, “The Teamster revolt against the Hoffa era,” Jacobin, January 2020. Accessed December 23, 2020. https://jacobinmag.com/2020/01/teamsters-democratic-union-tdu-hoffa-ups