Secretary-Treasurer's Report December 2007

I would like to thank the entire membership for the white ballot I received at the nominations meeting. I am truly humbled by this. Many of you know that I am a second generation union official. What you may not know is that my immigrant grandfather supported his family by shining shoes and doing whatever it took to keep food on the table. My father never forgot the abuse and humiliation his father went through and never let me forget it. Everyday, I want to make them both proud by ensuring that members of Local 853 have dignity at work and security to provide for their families.

As I said at the nominations meeting, workers cannot honor one of their brothers or sisters more than to choose them to lead them in their struggles for a decent living for themselves and their families.

This will be my 11th term of office, and I pledge to you that I will continue to work tirelessly to improve and protect what we all have as members of this great union. Thank you on behalf of all of the Board.

Secretary-Treasurer's Report Autumn 2007

I am basking in the good feeling that the drivers at Reliable Trucking finally have a contract. That's what unions are all about.

These hard working truck drivers have worked under conditions that our members would never dream of putting up with. Working long hours for little pay or no pay, paying huge amounts of a small paycheck for health care for their families, having no pension or no way to deal with injustices, except to quit -- all of the classic symptoms of working without a union, except in this case, sometimes worse.

With our help, the Reliable drivers decided to fight for something better for themselves and their families. The fight was long and difficult. Along the way, several drivers were fired or quit when they couldn't stand it anymore. But in the end, the majority stood tough and won their battle for rights on the job, and most importantly, for dignity in their workplace.