Teamsters Pledge More Than $1.4 Million
To Fight Against Addiction
  
(LAS VEGAS) – Today, Teamsters at the union’s 29th International Convention pledged more than $1.4 million to the fight against addiction.
“This is what it is to be a Teamster, what it means to be united and proud,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “Our organization is full of amazing people giving back to those around them.”
The International Union, Joint Councils and local unions showed tremendous support after hearing the story of the Bornstein family from Akron, Ohio.
Travis Bornstein, President of Teamsters Local 24 in Akron, spoke to the thousands of Teamsters about the loss of his son Tyler to a drug overdose. Tyler, an accomplished college student and athlete, became addicted to drugs after being prescribed pain medication for injuries.
After Tyler’s death, the Bornstein family formed “Breaking Barriers – Hope is Alive” in his honor. The 501(c)3 non-profit organization brings awareness, educates the public and inspires breakthroughs in treating people suffering from addiction. Every 19 minutes in the U.S. someone dies from a drug overdose.
“Addiction is not a moral failure; it is a disease. Tyler is my hero to have accomplished so much with such a gut-wrenching disease,” Bornstein said. “Thank you. We are going to make a difference. We won’t let you down.”
A long line of Teamsters from throughout North America lined up at the microphone for over an hour, each pledging their financial support. They also shared emotional personal stories of loved ones who are battling or who have lost the battle against addiction.
Other business during the third day of the convention included the passage of a resolution in support of continuing work to protect the retirement security of Teamster members and retirees.
The Teamsters’ organizing success in the school bus and transit industry, as well as the airline industry, was featured.
Convention participants heard messages of solidarity from Hassan Yusseff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress; Dennis Williams, President of the United Auto Workers; and Ariel Jacobi, General Secretary of the Israeli union IUGE.
Nominations for regional vice presidents were held earlier in the day.
The International Convention, held every five years, is the supreme policymaking body of the union with the power and authority to modify the Constitution, establish programs, address fiscal issues and set priorities.
This week, delegates will consider constitutional measures and resolutions. Delegates will also nominate candidates for the International offices of General President, General Secretary-Treasurer, Vice Presidents and Trustees.
Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.
TEAMSTERS LOCAL NO. 24 ASSIST RAHAB MINISTRIES IN AKRON
 
 
 
Local 24 members and families volunteered to assist Rahab Ministries of Akron to fill 36 backpacks for homeless women who are on the street. Local 24 Executive Board and members approved a $600 donation to assist in the assembly of 10 backpacks. Backpacks included winter hats, scarves, gloves, blankets, hygiene products, hairbrush, granola bars, peanuts, etc. and information on how to get help in the Akron area.
A DOCUMENTARY ON THE HEROIN EPIDEMIC IN OHIO. TRAVIS BORNSTEIN, PRESIDENT OF LOCAL NO. 24 SHARES HIS STORY WITH 10TV
PRESIDENT, TRAVIS BORNSTEIN TESTIFIES AT THE STATE HOUSE ON HOUSE BILL 249
The Ohio House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee
Chairman Representative, Jim Butler
(Written Testimony to be Read Orally October 27, 2015 on House Bill 249)
Mr. Chairman,
I first want to thank all of you for the opportunity to let me testify here today and tell my family story at this hearing on House Bill 249.
I would like to begin by telling you a little bit about myself, my name is Travis Wilson Bornstein. After high school I voluntarily enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. I spent four years on active duty and two years in the inactive reserves. I was meritoriously promoted to sergeant (E-5) at age 21.
For the last 27 years I've been a Teamster member of Local No. 24 in Akron Ohio. 20 of those years I've been a full-time officer and the last 17 years I've served as the President and Principal Officer of Local No.24.
I'm 49 years old and I've been married to my wife Shelly for the last 26 years she works at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist. She's been there for 27 years. We have 3 children, our youngest daughter Taylor is 18 years old and a graduate from Lake High School in 2015 with her license in cosmetology and she has a full-time job and her own apartment.
Our oldest daughter Tana is 22 years old and a graduate from Lake High School in 2012 and she is in her senior year of college at Walsh University studying exercise science.
That leads me to my only son Tyler Wilson Bornstein. Tyler was a 2009 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Lake High School. He participated on the back to back Federal League Championship golf teams earning all-league and all county honors his freshman, sophomore, and junior years. His senior year he decided not to play golf and instead participate on the Lake Bluestreak Football Team. At the end of the season Tyler earned the Senior Ironman Award.
After high school, Tyler attended Walsh University to study accounting and finance. After not playing competitive golf for over two years, he decided to walk on the golf team earning a golf and academic scholarship. See Tyler was smart, athletic, a hard worker, he was gentle and kind and had lots of friends. He also had a physique like a Greek God. In March of 2013 he entered the Natural Junior Mr. Ohio Bodybuilding Show, taking second place in his very first competition. Of course I get to say all these nice things about my boy because I'm his dad, but it's also true. So how does a kid like Tyler who comes from a middle class family, with loving parents and tons of family and friends who loved him get addicted to heroin?
Well let me try and give this committee and explanation...See Tyler broke his right arm four times and had two surgeries on his right elbow, the first at age 11 and the second surgery at age 18 and in the process he became addicted to the opiate pain medication which ultimately led him to heroin.
Tyler spent the next five years in and out of rehab facilities in Ohio and Michigan and in January of 2014 took a leave of absence from college and entered into a six-month treatment program at a sober living facility in Florida. He came back home to Ohio in June of 2014. He enrolled back at Walsh University and talked to the golf coach about getting back on the golf team. But in mid-September of 2014 Tyler relapsed and after our insurance ran out he was seeking treatment in a state-funded rehab facility but was put on a three week waiting list before he could get help. Tyler could no longer deal with the pain from opiate withdrawal and therefore decided to use heroin one more time.
On September 28th 2014, one year and 29 days ago, Tyler met up with another heroin addict and was in the process of overdosing and instead of the other individual calling 9-1-1 for help, he took my son to a vacant lot on the corner of Arlington and Alfred in Akron, Ohio and left him there to die. Later that day the Summit County Sheriff's Department showed up at my house. I was not home but he proceeded to tell my wife and 17 year old daughter that a resident found a dead body in a vacant lot and it was our 23 year old son. The Sheriff went on to say that the Medical Examiner determined that Tyler did not die at that site but instead was moved from another location.
How does a family recover from such a tragedy?
If I may, let me leave you with a couple thoughts….the first thought is FORGIVENESS... I've learned that I have to forgive a whole lot of people for me to recover and move forward. Guys like the drug dealer, the person who dumped my son's body in a field like a piece of trash. The Doctor who prescribed opiates to a kid.
But most all ...MYSELF... I was embarrassed and ashamed to talk to anyone about my son's addiction because I thought I failed as a Father and my son was a Moral Failure. I was embarrassed of my son.
My second thought is EDUCATION…. See, my wife and I and our family attended the National Rally for a Federal Response to the Opiate Epidemic in Washington, D.C. What I learned there was, that the over prescribing of opiate pain medicine has harmed millions of pain patients and led to a sharp increase in addiction, heroin use and overdose deaths. I also learned that the United States Government acknowledged that this is the worst drug epidemic in US history. I was stunned when I heard the top Doctor of the United States.... The United States Surgeon General say "that addiction IS NOT Moral Failure that it's a disease just like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes and should be treated like a disease". Wow a Disease not Moral Failure. I am learning to forgive myself and I’m no longer embarrassed of my son.... he is now my hero to accomplish so much with such a gut-wrenching disease. I'm only embarrassed that I was a fool.
Unfortunately it's too late to save my son however there are many lives that can be saved by passing a Good Samaritan Law in the State of Ohio ...I know in my heart if we were leaving cancer patients... or any person with a disease in the streets to die... because someone was afraid to call for help... I know the people of Ohio would be outraged.
Therefore I am respectfully requesting that you support House Bill 249 Aaron's Law.
Respectfully Submitted,
Travis W. Bornstein
Proud Father of Tyler W Bornstein
ADVOCACY DAY
OCTOBER 5, 2015
 
President Travis W. Bornstein had meetings with Senator Sherrod Brown & Congressman Tim Ryan’s staff to discuss changes in healthcare laws and the rising opiate epidemic that is devastating the state of Ohio and sweeping across our County.
Page Last Updated: Mar 11, 2026 (11:54:02)
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