After raising membership dues by 25 percent in July 2002, Teamster officials funneled much of the extra cash into management raises, according to a report released by an organization that says its purpose is to reform the powerful union.
Teamsters for a Democratic Union offered its annual "$100,000 Club" roster of union officials collecting paychecks of $100,000 or more a year. The list is 20 percent longer this year than last. Among the well-paid union leaders on the list: Kenneth Wood, president and business manager of Local 79 in Tampa, which represents Southwest Florida.
Wood made nearly $200,000 in total compensation in 2002, including $177,542 in salary for his work as a local president, as vice president of the southern region and as president of the Georgia-Florida Conference of Teamsters, according to the report. The year before, Wood made about $158,000, indicating he received a 12 percent raise, according to TDU organizer Ken Paff.
"They never bargain more than 3 percent for the members, and in some cases, there's a rate freeze," Paff said. "People like Ken Wood and others think a little too much like employers."
Neither Wood nor Teamsters International spokesman Bret Caldwell returned phone calls last week.
