James P. Hoffa

Hoffa is the second-longest serving General President of the Teamsters Union, after Dan Tobin, who served from 1907 to 1952.

Hoffa's final term as General President ended in 2022.

James Phillip Hoffa (born May 19, 1941), also known as James Hoffa Jr., is an American labor leader and attorney who was the tenth General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

He is the son of Jimmy Hoffa.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on May 19, 1941, Hoffa attended Cooley High School.

There, he became a member of the National Honor Society, and an all-city and all-state football player.

During the summer months, the Hoffa family visited their cottage in rural Orion Township outside Detroit.

Hoffa is married to Virginia (Ginger) Sue Harris (born 1945), a former teacher and licensed veterinary technician since 1969.

Hoffa is the son of Jimmy Hoffa, who served as General President of the Teamsters from 1957 to 1971, and Josephine (née Poszywak) Hoffa.

He has one sister, Judge Barbara Ann Crancer.

Hoffa often accompanied his father to Teamster meetings and events, and became a Teamster in 1959 on his 18th birthday.

Hoffa holds a degree in economics from Michigan State University (1963) and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Michigan Law School (1966).

Hoffa was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship to work in the Michigan State Senate as an aide to senate and house members doing constituent relations and research.

Hoffa is a member of Alpha Tau Omega.

He was an attorney for the Teamsters from 1968 to 1993.

Following 23 years as the leader of the union, Hoffa announced his intent to retire at the end of his term and backed the Vairma-Herrera Teamsters Power Slate.

In November 2021, the O'Brien-Zuckerman Teamsters United Slate beat the Hoffa-backed slate by a more than two-to-one margin.

O'Brien and his slate were sworn into office on March 22, 2022, at Teamsters headquarters in Washington, D.C. On the day his administration was installed, O'Brien fired more than 80 employees at the headquarters.

He did not offer any severance or extension of benefits to the terminated staff.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters currently faces charges with the National Labor Relations Board in connection the terminations.

As of November 10, 2022, the union was required to pay eligible terminated employees more than $175,000 as part of a settlement with the District of Columbia Attorney General's Office for violating D.C. Code 32-1303.

They have two sons, David (born 1970) and Geoffrey (born 1972), and six grandchildren.

Hoffa was first elected in 1998, and subsequently re-elected in 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016 to five-year terms.

The Teamsters sued the Bush administration in 2005 to overturn regulations that extended the number of hours a driver could spend behind the wheel of a truck.

The Teamsters argued the rule would contribute to driver fatigue.

The Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided with the Teamsters, but it was the Obama administration that finally agreed to change the rule.

The Teamsters successfully encouraged Congress to pass legislation increasing rail security in 2007.

Hoffa led Teamster efforts to protect defined-benefit pension plans for more than a decade following the economic collapse of 2008.

The legislation championed by Hoffa and the Teamsters was known as the Butch Lewis Act, named after a Teamster retiree pension activist, and became law as part of President Biden's American Rescue Plan stimulus package in 2021.

As part of the ARP, more than 50 Teamster pension plans – including its largest, the Central States Pension Fund – are eligible for assistance at the outset of the bill's enactment, with more of the union's plans becoming eligible in 2022.

Under the new law, money to assist eligible plans will come directly from the U.S. Treasury Department in the form of grants which would not need to be repaid.

Plan participants will receive 100 percent of their earned pension benefits.

Under his leadership, the Teamsters ended a federal program in 2009 that allowed Mexican truckers to haul goods beyond the border zone in the United States.

In 2018, Hoffa was elected chair of the Road Transport Section of the International Transport Workers' Federation at its quadrennial Congress in Singapore.

(2019 – Present) Chair, Road Section, International Transport Workers Federation; (2019 – Present) Member, Executive Board, International Transport Workers Federation; (2015 – Present) Board Member, Roosevelt Institute; (2010 – Present) USTR Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations; (2009 – Present) Department of Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy; (2013 – 2015) National Freight Advisory Committee; (2002 – 2004) President's Council on the 21st Century Workforce; (2002 – 2004) Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board

Hoffa earned a reputation as an advocate for fair trade and worker safety.

He transformed the Teamsters into a premier political force by changing alliances

and rhetoric unpredictably.

Under his leadership, the Teamsters ended a federal program that allowed Mexican truckers to haul goods beyond the border zone in the United States.

The Teamsters strongly opposed a trade deal with Colombia through lobbying and street protests, and were credited with helping to prevent a similar trade deal with Panama.