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.