Happy Birthday Jimmy Hoffa,wherever you are!

Tomorrow is not only Valentines Day,it is also what would have been the 95th birthday of the infamous James Riddle Hoffa better known as Jimmy Hoffa,former President of the Teamsters,who has been missing and presumed dead since 1975.To this day,references to Hoffa and his whereabouts are made in films,books and Tv shows.Numerous mob affiliates have confessed to being involved with his disappearance and there are all sorts of wild speculation as to where his final resting place is,the most popular theory being that he was buried in the Meadowlands,where the Giants Stadium stands today!The cable TV show "Mythbusters" debunked the Giants Stadium myth in the 13th episode of the first season of the show,when they used ground penetrating radar to search the field area and came up with zilch!
You can say what you want about Hoffa,and many people might think he was a crook but as a former union member I still have alot of respect for a guy who works his way up from unloading produce trucks to presiding over one of the largest labor unions in the country.
In the spring of 1931,fed up with the conditions under which they worked,Hoffa and his coworkers unloading trucks for grocer Krogers fought back by declaring a work stoppage and Kroger,needing the perishable foods unloaded,had no choice but to negotiate with Hoffa-and they subsequently formed a charter as Federal Local 19341 of the American Federation of Labor.
He may have "gotten in with a bad crowd" in his later life,but there isn't a union member out there who does not owe this man a debt of gratitiude.Personally,I think wherever Hoffa's grave is,he must be rolling in it now to see what has become of the labor unions in our country now.Not only are there less unions and members,but the unions that ARE left are driven by greed and are driving business out of our country and helping to put people out of work(General Motors comes to mind).For those of you who only know what the movies like "Hoffa" tell you,educate yourselves and read one of the many books about this labor pioneer.Happy Birthday,Jimmy,wherever you are!