Teamsters chief rallies the union troops.

• Position: Jack Cipriani

When Jack Cipriani moved, to the Triad, he proudly put on his resume that he'd been a shop steward in New York. He didn't know his management-relations and teamwork credentials would be undone by one word - union. "No one would touch me, and I didn't know why," he recalls.

The Manhattan native has learned a lot since then. In November, he became president of Kernersville-based Teamsters Local 391, which has 8,300 members at companies such as UPS, Miller Brewing and Roadway Express.

Cipriani, 47, replaced R.V. Durham, who in 26 years as president spearheaded 391's growth into the biggest local in the state and the third-largest Teamsters local on the East Coast. Under Jimmy Hoffa and other leaders, the Teamsters' image was tarnished by corruption and ties to organized crime. But 391 earned a reputation for democracy and accountability. Last year, national membership, which is close to 1.4 million, dropped 20,000 while 391's increased 8%.

Cipriani joined the Teamsters while working in air freight at New York City airports. Tired of city life, he moved to Middletown, N.Y., near the Catskills. "You had to go that far to be able to afford it as a working person," he explains. But the commute proved too much, so in 1975, he and his first wife, a Tar Heel native, moved to Gibsonville. Cipriani struggled three years to land a permanent job before signing on as a forklift driver with Miller in Eden. "When 391 launched a campaign...