As an agreement between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Molson Coors was being discussed, union leaders of Local 997, the Fort Worth-based chapter, were excluded from the negotiations.
According to a letter obtained by the Fort Worth Report, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters reached out to Local 997 members on May 15. The letter informed them of a panel where they could address whether an emergency trusteeship should be continued on their chapter.
The trusteeship began April 28, according to the letter sent to Local 997 members. The message also was published on the local chapter’s website.
The letter was signed by IBT General President Sean M. O’Brien.
“During the course of the local’s dispute with the company, the International became aware of significant representational concerns and financial improprieties, and therefore initiated emergency trusteeship — to take needed action to restore proper representation,” said Kara Deniz, the Assistant Director of the IBT’s Strategic Initiatives Department, in a statement sent to the Report.
Former Local 997 board members did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
An agreement between the Molson Coors Teamsters chapter and the Fort Worth company was announced by the IBT on May 22. But, by May 24, the press release announcing the strike’s end had been removed from the organization’s website. Social media posts on Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, were also removed.
Despite the removal of the agreement online, workers are no longer striking at the Molson Coors Fort Worth Brewery.
Details of the new contract have not been made available, but the press release said the three-year agreement included wage increases, improved benefits and restored healthcare for retired members.
Cathy Creighton is the director of the Buffalo Co-Lab at the New York State School of Industrial Labor Relations at Cornell University and worked as an attorney in several sectors of labor relations for 30 years. During her career, she has been involved in trusteeship situations four or five times.
“There are many more across the country I’m aware of,” Creighton said in a message to the Report. “But they are rare.”
Mark Clayton Hand, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington, said trusteeships are rare because the national organization relies on the trust, dues and goodwill of the local chapters.
“The national organizations are going to be really reluctant to impose trusteeship because each time they do they are overriding democratically determined leadership of that local chapter,” Hand said.
What is a trusteeship?
The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 establishes guidelines on how to establish trusteeships. Trusteeship refers to the appointment of a trustee by the general president to “take charge and control of the affairs” of the local union, according to the IBT’s Constitution.
Reasons to justify trusteeship include:
- Correcting corruption or financial malpractice.
- Assuring performance concerning collective bargaining agreements.
- Restoring democracy within the chapter.
- Interference of performance obligations.
To invoke trusteeship, the IBT must set a time for a hearing with the local chapter to determine if move is necessary. However, if an emergency situation exists within the chapter, the IBT can begin emergency trusteeship prior to the hearing, with the hearing being scheduled within 30 days.
The IBT constitution does not specify what constitutes an emergency situation and the general president makes the determination. The results of the May 15 hearing are unclear.
The day after the emergency trusteeship began, a petition was filed on change.org by Local 997 member Ben Guentner, demanding the immediate reinstatement of the Local 997 board. The petition claims the IBT took over because of low morale and concerns that the local chapter board were incompetent.
Guentner could not be reached for comment. The petition currently has 193 signatures.
Tevita Uhatafe, the 1st vice president of the Tarrant County Central Labor Council, is not a member of the Local 997 chapter, but gave daily support and aid to members during the three-month strike. The Tarrant County labor council has supported several strikes in Tarrant County, including the Arlington United Auto Workers strikes in 2019 and 2023.
From the perspective of the Tarrant County labor council, the agreement was a surprise.
“Nobody had told us anything leading up to even an agreement,” Uhatafe said. “There was no talk about it at all.”
Despite helping the union members regularly during the past month, Uhatafe said he had not been told of the emergency trusteeship and the removal of Local 997’s board until the announced agreement.
“This is not anything that’s normal,” Uhatafe said.
This story will be updated as more details become available.
Ismael M. Belkoura is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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