'Teamsters TV' - Teamsters Local 25

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1842_Local25_Sum07.qxp 8/14/07 5:00 PM Page 26StewardsSpotlightBrian MayallSteward, Boston Towingand Transportation, Co.Brian Mayall is a nine-yearTeamster working at BostonTowing and Transportation inEast Boston.Boston Towing operates afleet of tug boats that serviceBoston Harbor. As a deck hand, he handles all of thetowlines, provisions and supplies for the vessels. “We arejust like a cab stand. They call us and we go,” Mayall said.The crew spends one week on the boat and one weekoff the boat. The tugs have all of the comforts of home.These mammoth boats have a sticker price of up to $5million and can pull up to 60 tons in the water. “Thelargest ship I have ever pulled was the aircraft carrierU.S.S. John F. Kennedy when it came into Boston Harboron its decommission tour. The ship had an overall lengthof 1,050 feet,” Mayall said.Mayall is the steward serving as the workplace leaderfor 18 Local 25 Teamsters. Before arriving at Boston Towin 1998, he was a commercial fisherman off the coast ofNew Bedford for 25 years. He hails from a long family historyof fishermen.“My father was born on the boat coming over fromIreland in 1909,” Mayall said. “My dad became a fishermanwhen he grew up. I spent many hours at sea with him. Ihave always loved the water.”Marie KeohanSteward, City of EverettMarie Keohan is a citywide chiefsteward in the City of Everett.Teamsters Local 25 has 116members in Everett. Keohanworks as an Emergency 9-1-1operator, where she has workedsince the program’s inception in1997. She is one of only three ofthe original 12 operators still working there.“At the start we just served the police department, butnow we service the fire department and the emergencymedical service,” Keohan said. “Our job has changed drasticallyover the years. In the beginning the calls were infrequent,but in the last 10 years Everett has become a meltcallvolume.”ing pot, and we sometimes match the City of Chelsea withIn 1997 after she joined Teamsters Local 25, workersbargained to get both CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)and EMD (emergency medical dispatch) training.Keohan was born in Everett and has lived there herwhole life. Her biggest highlight as a Teamster was whenSean O’Brien became her business agent.“When Sean became our business agent things justtook off for us,” Keohan said. “We were up against the tidewith Mayor David Ragucci’s administration. One night in2001 we were able to block Ragucci’s endorsement at theBoston Central Labor Council. He disrespected us, so weshowed him some Teamster power, and he soon wanted tobecome our friend. What a great night that was.”Rashid MbaliSteward, UPSRashid Mbali is the assistantsteward at the UPS center inWatertown. Mbali was bornin the Republic of Uganda, acountry in East Africa. He grewup in Salem and attendedBeverly High School.Mbali is an eight-year Teamster who has served as bothsteward and assistant steward.“As the assistant steward in Watertown, I find myselfenforcing the contract, making sure managers are notworking, and informing the members about their rights asTeamsters,” Mbali said.Mbali drives the Fenway Park route, where duringbaseball season he is constantly dodging the fans of Red SoxNation. He said it is a fun route, but a very busy one. He saidhe occasionally runs into the ball players who are makingtheir way to the clubhouse.Mbali once served as steward in the ChelmsfordUPS hub.“I am excited to be part of Teamsters Local 25. SeanO’Brien has been my business agent and now he is myPresident. Good things are happening in our Local,” Mbalisaid. Mbali was very helpful in a recent organizing drive atKiessling Transit, which yielded 106 new members.24 | The SPOKESMAN | SUMMER 2007 | www.teamsterslocal25.com
1842_Local25_Sum07.qxp 8/14/07 5:00 PM Page 27Rich SherlockSteward, PTSRich Sherlock is the steward atPerformance TransportationServices (PTS) in East Brookfield.Sherlock became a Teamster in1986 in the Carhaul Division.“Back in the day all of thework was union. Now the tide hasturned the other way,” Sherlock said. “This is a great industryto be part of. Until the auto manufacturers decide to delivercars with more than a few miles on them, we will be in businessfor a long time. Our jobs are not going to be shipped toChina or Mexico.”Sherlock has watched the carhaul industry change overthe years. He said that carhaul trailers have become 25 feetlonger, and are now wider and heavier.“It is not easy to be a carhauler in New England. Theweather and the roads always pose a challenge for us as wemove the cars and trucks on and off of the trailers,” Sherlocksaid. He said that if you have a CDL A license, and are ableto climb and bend without a problem, carhaul work is funand very lucrative.“There is a shortage of good drivers in the carhaulindustry,” he said. “Most union carhaulers are paid bothhourly and by the mile. A full trailer of automobiles fromEast Brookfield to Augusta, Maine could yield the driveraround $300 in wages for the trip.”José PerezSteward, Angelica TextilesThanks in large part to JosePerez, a steward at AngelicaTextile Services in Somerville,working conditions haveimproved greatly in the workplace.Perez, a native of El Salvador,has been a driver at Angelica for about five years. Abouttwo years ago, workers voted to join Local 25, and Perezbecame a steward.At first, many of his coworkers, most of whom arefrom El Salvador, were afraid to join the union. “Theywere afraid they would be fired if they joined the union,”Perez said.Perez said he spent lots of time talking to his coworkersabout the benefits of joining the Teamsters. The communicationseffort paid off—many of those who firstopposed the organizing effort voted for the union.Perez said he focuses on strong communications withhis coworkers in his role as a steward.“I try to listen to my coworkers’ concerns and conveythose concerns to management,” he said. “In one recentcase, a supervisor was jealous of the drivers and treatedthem bad. We solved that problem and other problems.Now, it’s a good place to work.”“I want to thank Business Agent George Slicis andPresident O’Brien for all they do for us,” Perez said.Mark LessardSteward, UPSMark Lessard is a 19-yearTeamster, who has spent thatentire time working as a UPSpackage-car driver at the company’sNorthern New Englandhub in Chelmsford. He becamean alternate steward in early2006 and was appointed a steward in August 2006.Because Chelmsford is such a large center (it hasmore than 1,300 employees), keeping membersinformed is a constant challenge for Lessard and theother stewards.“We need to keep the members informed so that weare all in sync, but we also need to keep each otherinformed,” Lessard said of the need for stewards to keepan open line of communication. “We need to make surethat we are doing the same thing at both ends of thebuilding so that our members are receiving consistentguidance.”Lessard said the company recently changed its lunchsystem, which is causing lots of concern among members.Excessive overtime is another major, ongoing issue,he said.Another challenge: “You can do 100 things right, butwhen you mess up that’s when members notice. If youmake a mistake, you need to move on because we can’tslow down. Stewards are constantly busy.”www.teamsterslocal25.com | SUMMER 2007 | The SPOKESMAN | 25
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'Teamsters TV' - Teamsters Local 25

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