Teamsters Select Keyser as Head of Pennsylvania Conference

Teamsters Select Keyser as Head of Pennsylvania Conference

Philadelphia Local 500 Secretary-Treasurer Has 28 Years' Experience

February 12, 2001

(Harrisburg, PA) – The Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters chose Edward F. Keyser, Jr. as its new President last Friday. Keyser was unanimously selected by the Conference's Executive Board to replace retiring President Thomas Griffith. The term runs through 2004.

"It is a great honor to be entrusted with this responsibility, but it also represents a great amount of work, Keyser said. "Working men and women must be vigilant not only in their workplaces, but they need representation in the halls of the legislature also.

The Pennsylvania Conference is the political arm of the Teamsters in Pennsylvania. It coordinates Teamster political activity and fights for working families on labor, construction and public employee issues.

Keyser began his career at Philadelphia's Local 161 as a dockman at Emery Air Freight in 1972. He was elected as a shop steward four years later. Over the course of the next 10 years, he served as a trustee, the local's Vice President and as its Secretary-Treasurer. When the local merged with Local 500, he was elected to his current Secretary-Treasurer position. In November 1999, Keyser was appointed Trustee of Philadelphia's Local 115 and an International Representative by Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa.

The Pennsylvania Conference represents more than 90,000 Teamsters from 47 local unions in the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and West Virginia. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.5 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States and Canada.