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I Am a Teamster: A Short, Fiery Story of Regina V. Polk, Her Hats, Her Pets, Sweet Love, and the Modern-Day Labor Movement | 
 enlarge | Author: Terry Spencer Hesser
Publisher: Lake Claremont Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.35
You Save: $6.60 (41%)
New (15) Used (6) from $9.16
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 1609143
Media: Paperback
Edition: First Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 157
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 1893121356
EAN: 9781893121355
ASIN: 1893121356
Publication Date: May 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"Imagine an environment dominated by men unconsciously comfortable with sexism, racism, and brute force. Further imagine a young working-class woman courageously embracing the principle of justice for all workers and compelled to navigate a terrain dominated by complex, flawed, sometimes deeply compromised and always powerful men. Such elements are typically the ingredients of wonderful fiction, but in Terry Spencer Hesser's colorful and personal portrait of labor leader Regina V. Polk, we have a truly inspirational story for anyone who believes in fighting against the power of patriarchy and abusive employers. "I am a Teamster" is how Regina Polk defined herself and in the accounts of her tragically brief life, as told by Ms. Hesser, the reader finds an exemplary model of what the very best of union leaders can offer workers and society." --Robert Bruno, Director of Labor Education Program, University of Illinois A Whole-Hearted Life On Valentine's Day, 1950, a beautiful and determined child was born with a birthmark between her eyebrows in the shape of half a heart. She spent the rest of her life living fully, caring deeply for those around her, and advocating for the things she believed in, particularly the dignity of all work and all workers. She recognized early the growing service and clerical sectors of the economy and the need to unionize this overlooked group of low-paid employees. An utterly compassionate and confident woman, she sparkled with excitement and mystery. Her intelligence and passion were formidable. She lived easily in a world of comfort and high culture as well as that of the streets, the workplace, and the tough, male-dominated union halls. Regina V. Polk was a Teamster. A warrior. A champion. A humanitarian. And the most remarkable American labor leader you haven't heard of until now. "After working in the cotton mills from 1956 until 1973 when I was fired from J.P. Stevens in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, for working to organize a union, I can appreciate the hard work and challenges that Regina Polk faced as one of the first woman Teamster leaders. It is sad that I had not heard about Regina Polk before reading I Am a Teamster. Polk was a woman with so much love, courage, and knowledge of labor laws. She was a woman as dedicated, as intelligent, and as tough as her idol Jimmy Hoffa. This is a wonderful educational book for anyone who wants to know about organizing the unorganized. It also does a wonderful job of honoring a woman who 'felt that it was more important to actually help one person than to talk about saving the world.'" --Crystal Lee Sutton, "The Real Norma Rae"
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
One Of a Kind Woman September 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book will make you feel that there is hope. I knew Regina Polk (and her husband Tom) as friends in graduate school. When Gina left school and joined the Teamsters I doubt that anyone knew the magnitude and course of her success. When she was in a room one could sense her presence and when she was out organizing one felt that the blow had been struck for equality at a particular employer. She was driven to succeed and she did. Her efforts made working women's lives easier and she never gave up. Her standards as a modern day organizer are still in place and I hope that this book will inspire more women to follow her course towards workplace equality.There was little that she comprised on and this created a wedge which she used to collectivize women in voting for group power and better benefits and appropriate salaries.Her successes remain to this day and I miss her greatly even after all this time. She was a positive force in an area that has taken a real beating: the union movement.She also is one of my heroes.
I am a Teamster August 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Interesting story about a little know women. A must read about a real tuff cookie!
 Gina Polk, my girlfriend and mentor July 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Gina and I spent the better part of 2 years together back in the 70's. The stories about her pets are very true as I can attest to. Her love of finding new experiences was always there. When we lived in New Mexico I was involved in working with the IBEW to organise the electronics company I was working for at the time. Gina helped me with this and this was probably Gina's first experience with the unions. After our move back to Chicago I could see there was no stopping her and I would just be slowing her down so we parted ways. One of our trips through the deep south was a real wake up call to her and how Women were being treated in those days.
After reading the book I now can see very clearly that she had made the right decisions in her life and how to live it.
Gina Polk, Teamster June 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Here's a readable, professionally written and published story about a real woman named Regina Polk who was born poor in Arizona, went to California in the 1970s and wound up in Chicago, of all places, working as an organizer for the biggest, toughest Teamster local in the country. This book brings her to life, complete with pictures. Filled with energy, beautiful in an unconventional way, gifted in her ability to build relationships, committed to honest representation, she broke some serious glass ceilings. Then, at age 33, she gets killed in a small plane crash. This book does not penetrate all the mysteries around her life and death, but it probably does the best that can be done. Women around Chicago today benefit from funds raised in her memory by the stewards council at her local, IBT 743,to pay for labor education and labor leadership development.
Inspiring June 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
What a full and passionate life Regina lived. As another reviewer pondered, one can't help but wonder - what if she'd lived beyond her 33 years? Where would she be now? The story told in the book is colorful, touching, inspiring, sad and yet filled with hope. That she touched so many lives in such a short time, and that both her life and her death impacted so many people is somewhat amazing.
The book takes the reader on a fast paced journey through the very short but amazingly full life of this young labor leader. Would make a great "Norma Rae" style movie!
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