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With expansion has come wealth; in its last report in 1971, the union put its net worth at $95 million. Its annual revenues from dues alone come to $34 million. Such resources enable the union to publish a slick monthly magazine (Nixon was on the cover of the January issue), maintain a fleet of Lincoins and Cadillacs for its Washington-based staff and keep a pilot for its leased Hawker Siddeley jet on the payroll at $36,000 a year. The Teamsters' plodding, phlegmatic president Frank Fitzsimmons gets $125,000 a year in salary, a union-owned house in Chevy Chase, Md., to live in and an all but inexhaustible expense account. Though corruption at the top has ceased to be a major charge against the union, records kept by the Labor Department show that Teamster officials outdo those of all other unions in being arrested, indicted and convicted for crimes that range from embezzlement to taking kickbacks from employers.
None of this has interfered with the warm relationship that has grown up between the Teamsters, especially Fitzsimmons, and the President. As an earnest of his regard, "Fitz" stayed on the President's Pay Board when Meany and three other labor leaders walked off. He led the Teamsters in backing Nixon for reelection. In return, Fitzsimmons gets special White House treatment. Important Teamster functions are often attended by a galaxy of Administration stars, and Fitz has been put on an equal footing with Meany in clearing Labor Department appointees. Fitzsimmons himself was offered appointment as Secretary of Labor, but declined.
As a favor to the union, Nixon commuted former Teamster Boss Hoffa's jail sentence for fraud and jury tampering on condition that he steer clear of union politics at least until 1980. Though the mercurial Hoffa is aching to return to power—as his gratuitous attack on the Chavez union attests—neither Fitzsimmons nor the Administration wants him back in his old seat. Last month Attorney General Richard Kleindienst stated again that the terms of Hoffa's release are not negotiable.
With his new prestige, Fitzsimmons has gained a tight hold on his office. The real test will come when the National Master Freight Agreement, covering 450,000 over-the-road truckers, expires in June. The expectation among union members is that with friends in high places, they will somehow do a little better than most other workers.