LABOR: Charity for All

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"I am inviting you to a duck dinner," a gluttonous comic-strip character named J. Wellington Wimpy used to say. "You bring the duck."

Last week the St. Louis Post-Dispatch uncovered a Wimpy-like scheme thought up by tough, well-tailored Harold Gibbons, boss of Teamster Local 688 (9,000 members) and idea man for Teamster Czar Jimmy Hoffa. A free spender who ran through $63,000 in hotel tabs and other expenses in three years, Gibbons has set up a Local 688 charitable foundation to channel money to the United Fund and other St. Louis charities. Where is the money coming from? As new Local 688 contracts are negotiated, each employer will be required to kick in a dollar or two per employee every month as a contribution to the fund. Teamster contributions: zero. The Gibbons pitch: "Let's give some money to charities. You bring the money."