Roy Lee Williams
| Roy Lee Williams | |
|---|---|
with Ronald Reagan in 1982
|
|
| Born |
March 22, 1915 Ottumwa, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | April 28, 1989 (aged 74) Leeton, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation | Union leader |
| Children | Two daughters |
Roy Lee Williams (March 22, 1915 – April 28, 1989) was an American labor leader who was president of the Teamsters from May 15, 1981, to April 14, 1983.
Born in Ottumwa, Iowa, Williams was one of 12 children in a very poor family. He grew up in the Ozark Mountains in southwestern Missouri. He got work as a truck driver in 1935.
Williams served in the United States Army in World War II and personally took 41 German soldiers prisoner, earning him the Silver Star.
After the war, Williams returned to trucking. He was elected business agent of the union's Wichita, Kansas local in 1948. He later was elected president of Joint Council 56 and president of Teamsters Local 41 in Kansas City, Missouri. He married and had two daughters.
In 1955, Williams was elected a trustee of the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, one of the union's largest and most important pension funds. He later testified in federal court that leaders of organized crime paid him $1,500 a month in order to funnel $87.75 million in loans from the pension fund to construction projects run by the mob. During this period, Williams formed a close working relationship with Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa.
Williams quickly rose to power in the post-Hoffa Teamsters by associating himself with new president Frank Fitzsimmons. In 1967, Williams was appointed spokesman for the union's national surface transportation negotiating committee by Fitzsimmons. In 1971, Williams elected appointed a vice president of the international union. In 1976, Fitzsimmons appointed Williams to be director of the Central Conference of Teamsters, a regional council which controlled union locals in 14 Midwestern states.
In 1977, Williams was forced to resign from the Central States Pension Fund after the United States Department of Labor sued Williams and four others for violating their fiduciary duty.
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