NPR, October 5, 2011, Wednesday

NPR

October 5, 2011, Wednesday

NPR (full article/listen)

Sandy Pope Tries To Unseat Hoffa As Teamsters Head

AHMED: Pope isn't a typical Teamster. Her father managed an investment firm. She attended Hampshire College in hopes of becoming a lawyer, but dropped out to work a minimum wage job - much to her family's dismay.

RICHARD HURD: She has her own excess baggage to carry.

AHMED: That's Richard Hurd. He's a professor and associate dean at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

HURD: If Jim Hoffa's baggage is that he got his job because his father was the president, hers is that she's an activist who came into the labor movement to be an activist.

AHMED: James Hoffa is the current president of the Teamsters. His father and namesake was an iconic figure who led the union during its heyday. But a lot has changed since then.

HURD: The reality for the Teamsters was that their hold on the industry began to wither away. It's not unique to the Teamsters .