Opinion: Why Jimmy Hoffa still casts a long shadow over labor (via latimesopinion)
On a summer afternoon in 1975, the most notorious labor leader in the United States disappeared, the presumed victim of a mob hit. Today, the case remains unsolved, Hoffa’s body has never been found, and his story continues to fascinate the public. Martin Scorsese’s new film, “The Irishman,” about a mob hitman who claims to have killed Hoffa, is only the most recent in a long line of film and TV productions about the one labor leader most Americans have ever heard of.
Hoffa first emerged as a national figure representing the menace of union power in the 1950s, entering the spotlight just as the labor movement reached its zenith, with union members making up one third of the workforce. Accompanying labor’s postwar rise was a series of congressional investigations into union corruption, extortion, bribery, collusion and embezzlement. These probes were promoted by business groups like the National Assn.
Instead, he argued that to build a union in his industry he had to work with these people. Hoffa’s union supporters shrugged off the allegations that he had turned over portions of the union to gangsters and celebrated the strong contracts they gained under his leadership. They identified with his pugnacious style and accepted his claim of being persecuted because of his aggressive efforts on their behalf. “Jimmy Hoffa speaks my language,” one member told a reporter in 1960.
Hoffa was a boon to the anti-union groups who had pushed for these congressional probes. A 1959 Wall Street Journal editorial titled “The Virtue of Mr. Hoffa” noted, “The difficulty in curbing labor union power thus far has been that the people have not clearly seen, or believed, the danger.” His reputation solved that problem.At the same time, union corruption provided a wedge issue that separated the labor movement from its liberal supporters.
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