The Teamsters Union was formed in 1902 with a decentralized group of horse-and-buggy men, otherwise known as team drivers. They wielded tremendous power because businesses depended on their deliveries (Brill, 1978, p. 3). Because strikes affected the public adversely, the public was supportive of business owners against the workers. In order to fight back against the business owners, police and the public, the workers enlisted the assistance of local gangsters. Therefore, from the beginning of its existence, the Teamsters were plagued by internal conflicts, violent strikes and association with gangsters (Friedman & Schwarz, 1989, pp. 8-9).
During the '20s, Teamster membership hovered around 75,000; compared to other labor unions, the Teamster Union exerted little influence. However, after 1934, with the passage of the federal Norris-La Guardia Act in 1932, the New Deal's National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933 and the 1935 Wagner Labor Act, a pro-labor environment allowed increasing numbers of workers to join unions (Brill, 1978, p. 348).
Nonetheless, it was the militant strategies employed by Farrell Dobbs, a Teamster leader in Minneapolis, which paved the future for the emergence of a powerful Teamster Union. In May 1934, Dobbs and other local leaders called a strike of all Teamsters in Minneapolis to seek higher wages. The four-month-long violent strike resulted in Dobbs' victory. Not only did the union succeed in their demands, it also achieved recognition as a formidable force. Cemented by his triumph, Dobbs sought to further expand the power of the Teamsters. His plan was to force all drivers coming into his Minneapolis terminals to become union members. If they did not comply with this requirement, the goods would not be permitted to leave. By organizing membership drives in all the Minneapolis terminals, Dobbs succeeded in increasing the membership of Teamsters from 75,000 in 1933 to 420,000 in 1939 (Brill, 1978, pp...