News
Back to Back Victories
After working previously for 11 years in a Teamster-represented job, Ronnie Brazier knew he had to fight for positive changes in his new job at an intermodal rail transportation company near Chicago.
“The differences between my Teamster job and my new job were like night and day,” said Brazier, an operator/driver who has worked at Parsec for about four years. “There are no comparisons. As Teamsters, we had great representation. Here, we had no representation. That’s why we formed our union with the Teamsters.”
In July, Brazier and his co-workers at Parsec, Inc., in Elwood, Ill. voted to join Local 179. The win was the second major worker victory at the company in nine months, and there are 507 intermodal workers in the bargaining unit. Late last year, 777 workers at Parsec in Commerce, Calif. voted to join Local 986.
The Parsec workers had been “represented” by a company-friendly association, the National Production Workers Union (NPWU, Local 707). For years, workers had to endure no representation and lousy contracts, resulting in high health insurance costs and poor coverage, no on-the-job protections and no voice to help make conditions better.
“We needed a union that would actually stand with us and not against us,” said April Scroggins, a driver who was hired earlier this year. “The pay, benefits and opportunities as Teamsters are so much better. Being a Teamster means I now have a family that is going to stand behind me. As Teamsters, our union is going to be there for us.”
Scroggins said workers are very happy.
“We’re excited,” she said. “It’s a new beginning for everybody and it’s something that’s going to be a lot better. We actually have a union meeting hall now. We have someone to call if we need something. It’s going to be done the way it should be done.”
First Contract
The Parsec workers service the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad line in Elwood. The workers remove shipping containers from trains, stack up the containers in the terminal yard and then lift them onto tractor-trailer rigs, which then carry the containers to other locations.
The workers are looking forward to negotiating a first contract with the assistance of Local 179.
“The Teamsters successfully organized Parsec members in the Los Angeles area, which empowered workers to unite and win right here in Illinois,” said Tom Flynn, President of Local 179 in Joliet, Ill. “These hardworking men and women deserve real representation, and they are finally getting it. We have already started the bargaining process and we look forward to negotiating a strong first contract so the workers will gain the strength they have been missing for so long.”
Once again, Teamsters who work at UPS, YRC, ABF, UPS Freight and other companies, as well as rail members, were instrumental in the victory. The Teamsters reached out to the Parsec workers about the union. Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED) from the nearby Cicero yard, some of whom are directly responsible for the track leading into the Parsec yard, and BMWED members near Kansas City, appeared on a solidarity flier that was given to the Parsec workers.
Leo Loera is a machine operator who started in 2001 at a company that had the contract before Parsec took over in 2005. He said the lack of representation has allowed Parsec to cut shift-differential pay and the overtime pay structure, which have cost workers tens of thousands of dollars over the years. At the same time, he said he has to pay more than $4,000 annually for poor health insurance coverage.
“In short, we have lost a lot of money due to the lack of representation and we need to get it back,” Loera said. “We have worked hard to bring this yard to the top, making it one of the most productive in the country. We need to be rewarded for our hard work. As Teamsters, we will finally be heard.”
Overall conditions have already improved, Loera said.
“Today there is hope with the Teamsters, there is an atmosphere of trust and security, and we hope and believe that the best is yet to come,” he said.
Health Costs
Brazier said he is hoping for improved health insurance and would like to negotiate Teamster health insurance coverage in the first contract. Last year, he received a $16,000 hospital bill related to a hospital emergency room visit because the insurance company claimed the emergency room was “out-of-network.”
“I have never heard that an emergency room was out-of-network,” he said. “I am fighting that bill.”
Retirement security is another important issue.
“Right now we have a 401(k) but we want a pension,” he said. “If the market drops our 401(k) drops.”
Workers also want better wages and to not be forced to work overtime.
“The company has forced workers to work 60 hours a week and, as a result, we don’t get adequate rest between shifts,” Brazier said.
The Teamsters Union plans to continue organizing intermodal rail yards, and Brazier has words of advice for workers around the country.
“You’ve got to stand together and get that one, strong voice,” he said. “Pick the union for you—the Teamsters!”