On January 12th, the island nation of Haiti was hit with a cataclysmic earthquake leaving millions homeless and thousands dead. Our prayers are with the devastated in the capital city, Port-au-Prince. We want to encourage our members of Local 804 to donate to the various charities involved in the relief effort. If any members are already involved with a local charity that is involved with helping the people of Haiti, we want to hear from you to coordinate with them.

  In addition to local charities, members can go to the IBT website for more information on the Teamster Disaster Relief Fund or The AFL-CIO Haiti Page. Wireless carriers also have "text" donations in increments of $5 and $10 that are added to your phone bill.  Let us pull together and contribute what we can, to assuage the grief in Haiti. In our unity lays their strength.

 -Tim Sylvester

New Leadership and a New Direction

by Tim Sylvester

A new direction for Local 804.  That’s what Local 804 members demanded.  And that’s what you’re getting.

The new Local 804 Executive Board held our first meeting on New Year’s weekend and immediately passed a series of reforms to put members first.

• Grievant’s Bill of Rights:  As our first order of business, the Executive Board adopted a Grievants' Bill of Rights. Deal-cutting and horse-trading of grievances are out. Grievances will be settled on their merits and members will be informed and involved at every step.

• Cut Officers’ Salaries: We voted to lower the salaries of all Executive Board members and Business Agents and to eliminate contributions to a retirement plan that was exclusively for Local 804 officers. These financial reforms will save more than $400,000 a year—money that will be put to work serving the members.

• Ron Carey Memorial Education Fund:  We voted to establish the Ron Carey Memorial Education Fund to pay for Local 804 members to participate in labor education programs.  Ron believed in building union power through an informed and mobilized membership.  We will honor his memory by living up to this principle. 

We have inherited serious problems—weak contract enforcement, an enormous grievance backlog, and mismanaged benefit funds. During the lame duck period, outgoing Local 804 officials removed and erased hard drives and destroyed computer files needed to represent the membership. We will meet these challenges and move forward.

Look for a full report on these and other issues in a membership bulletin soon.  This is your union and you will know where Local 804 stands and where we are headed.

The Scholarship Fund awards three $12,000 scholarships, $3,000 per year for four years, to High School seniors who are the son or daughter of an active, retired, disabled or deceased Local 804 member.

Call (718) 786-5700 to request your application or click on the link below. Please do not delay, the closing date for the Scholarship is JANUARY 31, 2010.

  Download Application

Inauguration of Local 804 Executive Board

The inauguration of the new Local 804 Executive Board will take place at the first General Membership Meeting of the year on Sunday, February 21 at 9 a.m.  Location to be announced.

General Membership Meetings will be held at 10 a.m, with the exception of the inauguration, on the following dates at locations to be announced:

Sunday, February 21 (9 a.m.)

Sunday, April 18

Sunday, June 13

Sunday, October 17

Shop Stewards Meetings

Shop stewards meetings will be held at 10:00 a.m. at Local 804 on the following dates:

Saturday, February 6

Saturday, April 10

Saturday, June 5

Saturday, October 9

Local 804 President Tim Sylvester defeated Howie Redmond by a margin of 2,348 to 1,091.

In all, 3,579 ballots were returned the highest total in any local election in our 804 history, further proof of how much Local 804 members care about our union.

During the campaign, we were divided between Row A and Row B.  But first and foremost, we are all Teamsters. Your new Executive Board will reach out to every steward and every member.  And we will work hard to earn your trust and support.

In the coming weeks and months, we will get to work informing and uniting members to revitalize Local 804.   We need you to make it happen.  We will be looking for your ideas—and asking for your involvement. 

Together, we can build a stronger Local 804.