Labor: Jimmy Wins Again

Teamsters Boss Jimmy Hoffa might not win any national popularity contests. But when it comes to elections within his union, he is usually unbeatable.

The latest anti-Hoffa effort came last week in the Philadelphia area, where a group of rank-and-file rebels sought to win a National Labor Relations Board election, take 8,000 members of Local 107 and three other locals out of the Teamsters and into the A.F.L.-C.I.O. The Hoffa forces were headed by ham-fisted Raymond Cohen, 55, for eight years 107s secretary-treasurer. Last August, it took more than 100 Philadelphia police and firemen to break up a pitched battle between the rebels and Cohen's followers. Since then, rebel leaders say their cars have been bombed and shot at; just before the election, four rebels said they had been clubbed by goons carrying baseball bats. The outcome was predictable though the margin was surprisingly close: Hoffa's side won the election by 3,870 votes to 3,274Cohen himself is not yet home free. Last week he and five others appeared in a Philadelphia court to plead not guilty to a three-year-old charge that they conspired to loot the union treasury of about $100,000. Next month, Cohen is up for reelection. Presumably he has the muscle to win again.