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The Agitator Interview: Liam Russertt

        Liam Russertt is truly a rising star in Local 804. He is the young, activist, fighting steward of the Flushing Center in the Maspeth Building. Russertt is part of a growing vanguard of rank-and-file leaders at the forefront in defeating the initial concessionary contract pushed by this Executive Board as well as pushing the recent bylaws changes to our constitution.
        He is a regular speaking up at General Membership Meetings as well as Steward Meetings: always asking the right questions and standing up for the rank-and-file. Russertt is also a proud member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU).
        I sat down with Liam after Sunday’s Union Meeting and asked him a few questions:

Local agitator : Liam, tell the members a little bit about yourself. How long have you been a steward, etc?
Russertt: Ok. This May I will be 39. I've been with “brown” for 14 years now. I was elected steward the 1st time I ran actually in May 2006, against a 9 year incumbent. It was a tough decision to run because I was friends with the guy and ate lunch with him everyday. It came down to how things were being addressed as a steward even though he was a good guy. I understand why he handled things in a more passive manner than I do, but I felt our center wanted to be more aggressive and was ready to start an ongoing reform.
        The vote was very close; I won by two votes. The exciting thing was that everyone finally got involved in something. Though I attribute the conscious awakening of the center back to the year prior to that, when my current alternates ran against the incumbent for the first time in 8 years, whom I was a supporter of in that year. Now that I won, I had the hard task of proving myself in the position to the constituents and management.
        Also the Flushing center was divided right down the middle and I wanted to unite it. We could not succeed while divided against ourselves. This is exactly where brown wanted us to be.
 
Localagitator: I then asked Russertt how he went about achieving unity.
Russertt: To start down the path of unity, I had to rely on military experience (4 years in Army intelligence during operation Desert Storm), my father's wisdom as a steward before he retired from UPS (yes, I am 2nd generation), the excellent support of my alternates, and the knowledge I had ravenously perused from Teamster websites and books, labor law websites and books and a great source of information from TDU.
        The unity grew through hard work, time put in, and proven results. Even if victories were small, an improvement in conditions is still a step in the right direction. Given time and persistence conditions will change, never in one instance. The main dilemma is how to continue and maintain the drive throughout time without burning out.
        The answer ironically lies with UPS. If you take a close enough look at this company, not only has it endured through time and economic challenges, it has grown tremendously through being strict in its enforcement of methods through fear and intimidation of its
employees. UPS uses fear of reprimand or termination to get both union and management employees to stretch themselves beyond normal productivity and time limits whether it translates to stops per hour to ungodly hours worked to Gestapo tactics to make things happen.
        Now there is an equally powerful and opposite way to persist and endure. Instead of fear and intimidation I believe in vision and willpower. When we look to accomplish goals together and envision the process and result, you want to continue to make it happen because you want it to succeed. This works much better long term than fear of failures consequences.
        We all face the consequences of failure, and we all fear them, whether admitted or not everyone knows fear, union or management. This always put forth a choice; whether to do what is easy or what is right. The right choice is always harder but working and succeeding through those struggles is what makes people stronger in will, more confident in aptitude and closer together. That is what a strong union is about! It is the employees of UPS that drives the company, an overstated maxim.
         Nevertheless once the majority instead of the minority realizes we can improve work conditions and still maintain our jobs by setting precedent instead of accepting it, we will overcome the roadblocks and paper tigers UPS sets up.

Localagitator: Wow, you seem to come at it from a very philosophical
angle.
Russertt: Indeed, following these beliefs and communicating them to the members got me re-elected in May 2007 51 to 24. More people got involved and unity was growing. People were standing up for themselves and worked through the fear and shared their experiences.
 
Localagitator: What’s the hot issue you and you alternates are trying
to tackle?
Russertt: Trying to overcome the excessive overtime problem. UPS shouts performance but preaches safety .In reality UPS wants the optimum mix for the most profit. Hence the battle begins: Employees are not working fast enough for if they were, there wouldn't be an overtime problem. Yet the faster the employees work, the more chance for mistakes, which equal discipline. Or for that matter, the faster the employee works, the more chance for accidents, which of course leads to being disciplined “for not following methods.”
        I have demonstrated in the Flushing center that by using the methods and working safe, you will not meet their required speed of optimum productivity. I have also shown that by being safe and following the methods and not meeting production standards, you will eventually be fired!
        Yes, I was fired for production in February of 2008. I stayed on the job and am still working. I was again fired in April for my overall record.: trumped up charges on various methods and procedures. I stayed on the job and am still working. Listen, I don't steal, I don't abuse drugs or alcohol and I do my job in a safe manner. I stayed on the job and am still working.
        We can crush the paper tiger of fear that UPS threatens us with just by working our jobs at a safe pace and by working through their intimidation and fear. I am sure that I will be charged with termination again, but I have the determination to show everyone that vision and willpower will beat fear and intimidation. Just stay honest and work with your heart.

Localagitator: I hear you are up for re-election this May.
Russertt: Yes, I have another election this May and hope to win again by an even larger margin in order to show that we are growing and enduring through tough times just like UPS does. I believe that Local 804 as a whole wants to grow and endure despite the tough times we are facing and that we will accomplish our will and vision in the spirit of Ron Carey

Thank You TDU

I would like to state publicly ...thank you Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) for helping to keep us all informed during the entire contract debacle. It was TDU who put together the makeUPSdeliver website:

Attend the TDU Convention

To read the entire article, click here.

WHY WE NEED TDU !

If you really want to send a message to our own Executive Board, join Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU)- the brains behind the monthly Convoy Dispatch; that would really piss them off-they hate TDU! TDU is a nationwide grassroots organization made up of all different types of Teamsters; its mission is to be the voice of the rank-and-file movement to reform the Teamsters into a more democratic institution. The Localagitator tries to emulate what TDU does on a very local scale for the members of 804.

Teamsters Find Pensions at Risk

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

Published: November 15, 2004
                                                                                                                                                                           
    In the 1960s and 70s, the Teamsters' huge Central States pension fund was a well-spring of  the union.  Tens of millions of dollars were loaned     to racketeers who used the money to gain control of Las Vegas casinos.  Administrative jobs were awarded to favored insiders who paid themselves big fees.  A former Teamster president and pension trustee was convicted of trying to bribe a U.S. senator.

Visit the TDU.org