If you want to get anything done at Allied Waste, you have to clear it with some of the toughest Teamsters around. Steward Cesar Lira runs one of the tightest shops in our membership.
Cesar Lira, MLK Parade, Dallas, TX
During the past ten years, Allied Waste has torn through several increasingly bad contracts, loss of retirement benefits, two failed decertifications, and numerous human rights and labor violations in the workplace — all of which have gone without quality representation in most cases. These workers refuse to give up no matter how many battles they’ve lost, no matter how many times they’ve been forced to stand against their company alone.
“We are loyal to the Teamsters and the brotherhood here, not the President or any one man or woman. If the President was doing his job right now, he’d have no reason to worry about this election,” Cesar told me in an interview earlier this week. “Everything was good in the beginning, but it didn’t last too long. It all started to change little by little until we were left out in the cold. Now things are not getting fixed, and my people are very upset about that.”
We talked about the long strike Allied Workers faced year before last and the effect it had on Cesar and his fellow union members. He paused, “You know, we lost seven guys during that strike. Some of them were injured when we went out, but when their short-term benefits expired, those seven were told to return to work or they wouldn’t have a job. We knew our jobs were protected, and they couldn’t fire us for refusing to cross a picket line, so those seven stood with us and didn’t cross. The company said they should have come back to work and fired them. All seven of them, gone, and that was it.”
Apparently, the local even went as far as to tell Cesar and his co-workers they had a contract, but then Lira said the Labor Board ruled against it. “We didn’t have a contract. It all boiled down to bad communication between the local, its agents, and the members. Finally, we were back four months or so, and then they dragged us through another de-cert. It was terrible, so much so that they had to call in John Mahoney and Chuck Stiles from the IBT to help clear everything up with the mess from that last contract.”
Unbelievably, Cesar managed to keep his group unified and strong through this last decertification procedure. He knew they weren’t being treated fairly by our local and its leadership, but he stated, “We won’t give up. We believe we are doing something good if we stay together. My people want change.”
When asked about what he’d like to see improved at Allied, Cesar replied, “I am filing grievances we’ve won in the past — the same ones! And now, we’re losing them all the time, and that’s if they get processed. We definitely need protection there. We also have repeatedly asked for our contract books to be printed in Spanish, but the leadership at the local keeps refusing. My guys, most of them understand English, but they have a hard time reading it still. They aren’t sure what their rights are as a result of that, and that’s when violations occur. I have seen contract books from other locals that are printed in English and Spanish for cases like this, but the guys at our local won’t listen to us. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask.”
Cesar said he knew things weren’t going well for the rest of us in other buildings, too. “I remember there was a nice woman named Sheila from UPS who brought us food while we were on the strike line. I saw her not too long ago at a union meeting, and we were talking when John Shorts walked past her and said, ‘F*** you, B****.’ Then he circled around and said it again to her. I couldn’t believe it. It was incredibly rude, and I thought it seemed like a weird thing for him to do. I mean, I felt real bad for her. She said he’d done that because she’d requested a copy of the local’s by-laws, and he must have thought she was planning on running against him. Shelia just wanted to know what was going on; she didn’t want to run for office. Why did he have to lose his temper like that? It wasn’t necessary.”
Lira has met the Members First slate and says they’re definitely good guys. “Billy is serious about making a big change. I asked them for more representation, more involvement, and that’s his biggest point. I also like how they are from all over and not just from one area. I really like them and believe they’ve got what it takes to help lead us in a better direction.”
So what about the other guys? “Yeah, we have seen the BA lately, but that’s just because it’s election time, and we know it. If they come out here, they won’t be received well. I can tell you that. We will keep walking without them.”
Luckily, Allied workers never have to walk alone again. This election process has closed embarrassing gaps within our membership and brought brothers and sisters together with the help of Billy Smith and his Members First slate.
Many thanks to Cesar Lira for standing his ground and granting this interview.
For more information about how to help the Members First slate through volunteer efforts and donations, please contact the candidates here.
