The thugs behind the desk hollered, “Your company closed. You’re no longer members of this union. You can’t vote in the election.”

Within an hour, the thugs came back to the front door. “Silver Capital workers can all come in.” Their efforts to block participation by these workers were countered by the reformers in the 743 New Leadership Slate (NLS). By the end of the day, the tough guys were sweating as they watched the vote count pile up a victory for the NLS.

Immigrant Workers Stand Up To Company and Union Sellouts

Two months earlier, 150 workers at the Silver Capital factory in the Chicago suburb of Bedford Park had listened to their so-called representative tell them their company was closing. “They had negotiated a deal in secret,” said Marcela Garcia. “Then they handed us the severance agreement and said, ‘Take it or leave it.’”

For the bureaucrats in Local 743, deal making like this is standard operating procedure.

What happened next was a shock to the sellouts. The Silver Capital workers, all immigrants, and many undocumented workers, declared a one-day strike against the company and the union officials. They demanded an end to collusion between the union and the company, who were carrying out a plan together against the workers.

Following this, the reformers in the New Leadership Slate came to offer their support. “The treatment of immigrant workers at Silver Capital shows the worst side of the old guard in Local 743,” said Tony Caldera. Caldera, a candidate with the NLS and an immigrant worker himself, also works at a factory represented by Local 743. He too has seen the union representatives sell out the interests of his co-workers on many occasions.

Caldera told the Silver Capital workers the NLS would stand by them and support them in their fight. He told them that their best chance for justice was to join the NLS. In response, Marcela Garcia was chosen vice-presidential candidate.

Silver Capital: A Symbol for Immigrant Labor

Since then, these rank-and-file workers have become very well known among the workers of Local 743, as well as immigrant workers in general in the Chicago area. Tens of thousands of immigrants from Mexico and other countries work in the low wage factories in and around Chicago. Besides low wages and bad working conditions, they share the experiences of being sold out by unions. These unions collect their dues and provide little or no representation. Workers continue to receive low wages, few raises and minimal benefits. Spanish and Polish speaking members in Local 743 have fought for years just to receive their contracts in their languages.

Jose Galvan, the representative who sold out the Silver Capital workers, went further than this. When undocumented workers protested the lousy offer he handed them, he threatened to call immigration.

One of the workers, Josefina, said this was just the latest act of intimidation. “For years they have treated us with disrespect because we are immigrants.”

The NLS is committed to helping the Silver Capital workers find jobs at other companies represented by the Local, and funding training for those workers who aren’t able to benefit from programs offered by the Labor Department. Richard Berg, presidential candidate of the New Leadership Slate said, “When we win, justice for the Silver Capital workers will be among our top priorities.”

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #News #Teamsters #TeamstersLocal743 #SilverCapital #electionFraud #undocumented

The current officers stopped the ballot count in the first election. “Everybody knows why. They were losing,” declared Donny Von Moore, a supporter of the opposition 743 New Leadership Slate (NLS).

When Local 743 President Walston ended the ballot count on Oct. 18, the NLS was ahead by a slim margin. There were disputed ballots, but many of those were ballots cast by the Silver Capital workers. These votes were certain to go for the NLS. The old-guard candidate for vice president, Jose Galvan, had sold out these workers earlier this year. [See related article.]

The gangsters stole the election three years ago to get into office. This fall, they were looking at the end of their cushy jobs with six figure salaries. They had to come up with an excuse to call off the election. Grasping at straws, they declared that the election was so flawed that the members wouldn’t see it as legitimate. They ordered a new one.

The Teamsters for a Democratic Union called it, “A Chicago twist on an old trick: Vote until you get it right.” The officers’ action was based on a protest filed by Richard Berg. Berg is the presidential candidate of the NLS. He described how the officials had dismissed many protests he filed, and then chose to grant one and order a new election when they faced defeat. “Think about it. They’re saying ‘stop the election because we’re so corrupt and incompetent, this election couldn’t possibly be fair.’”

Marcela Garcia, a leader of the Silver Capital workers who is running for office with the NLS, said, “We will win again. We know the immigrant workers, all the workers, are supporting us.”

Earlier, the NLS had caught the union’s secretary treasurer, Diane Strickland, stealing ballots to vote for the old-guard ‘Unity Slate.’ Hundreds of returned ballots had disappeared from a secure mailbox. When the NLS investigated, they found that Strickland had illegally checked out two keys from the post office. Later, almost 100 of these stolen ballots showed up, cast for the current officers.

Tony Caldera, NLS candidate for secretary treasurer, said, “We caught them red handed. We know they stole many other votes, but we beat them anyway. If they hadn’t stolen votes, we would have beat them two to one. They have no support among the workers.”

Berg has said to supporters at rallies ever since the first vote count, “Beating the Walston gang is a tremendous victory for workers in this local. The corruption of the old guard is clear to everyone. No matter what happens next, we’re on our way to taking this union back for the members.”

#ChicagoIL #News #Teamsters #TeamstersLocal743 #NewLeadershipSlate #BobWalston #SilverCapital #electionFraud

On Saturday, October 16, the result of the ballot count found Richard Berg, presidential candidate for the New Leadership Slate, was ahead of incumbent president Robert Walston 788 to 781. 188 additional ballots had been challenged, including all of the votes cast by the Silver Capital workers, who had spearheaded the movement for reform. The elections monitor declared that he would resolve the fate of the challenged votes on Tuesday, October 19.

Instead, the executive board of the union met in emergency session Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. They decided to end the election without counting the challenged ballots, and called for a new election.

The New Leadership Slate is accusing the officers of taking this action to avoid certain defeat.

“It’s clear they did this because they knew when the ballots were counted for the Silver Capital workers, they would lose,” said Marcela Garcia, vice presidential candidate for the New Leadership Slate and a leader of the Silver Capital workers.

The New Leadership Slate is accusing the officials of stealing the election. “We won this election. They are trying to steal it,” said Richard Berg, presidential candidate of the New Leadership Slate.

The reformers want the criminals removed from office. They are demanding that the challenges be resolved as had been agreed at the ballot count on Saturday.

“We caught them stealing votes, and we stopped them,” said Berg. “We won’t let them profit from their own theft.”

#ChicagoIL #News #Teamsters #TeamstersLocal743 #NewLeadershipSlate #RichardBerg #SilverCapital

Chicago, IL – Rank-and-file workers will rally Oct. 7 to stop an attempt by the corrupt leaders of Teamsters Local 743 to steal the election for union officers. The rally will take place at Teamster City, 300 S Ashland at 4:30 p.m.

323 ballots for the officers' election in this corrupt union disappeared this week from a secure mailbox at the post office. The secretary treasurer of the union was the only person with a key. Reformers are charging theft and demanding a new election.

The union mailed out ballots to 11,700 addresses on Sept. 22. On Oct. 4, Richard Berg, presidential candidate for the New Leadership Slate, accompanied the election monitor to the post office to retrieve returned (undelivered) ballots. They learned that Diane Strickland, secretary treasurer of Local 743 had obtained a key to the post office box. The election monitor confirmed that this was not proper and that only the election monitor should have a key. Later, at the union’s hall, Berg learned that a second key had also been issued to Diane Strickland.

Over 300 ballots 'disappeared' from the post office box. This number is the difference between the returns of literature mailed for the New Leadership Slate and the ballots picked up by the monitor. The Slate’s literature and the ballots were mailed on the same day, with the same list, by the same mail house.

“It is clear that hundreds of ballots have been removed from the post office box,” said Berg. “The election has been seriously compromised. The incumbent slate has illegally obtained a key, and approximately 300 ballots have subsequently disappeared from the box.”

Three years ago, Berg lost the officers election by little more than 200 votes. The New Leadership Slate charged that election was stolen. Their evidence included the disappearance of hundreds of ballots and the fact that a key was improperly issued to Diane Strickland as well.

The New Leadership Slate and the Silver Capital Workers are calling for the election to be rerun under independent supervision and for Diane Strickland – and anyone acting in concert with her to subvert the election – to be banned from the election.

Marcela Garcia, a laid-off Silver Capital worker and vice presidential candidate with the New Leadership Slate, said that the officers of the union are again denying rights to the workers from her former employer. “We have the right to vote – to vote for union officers and to vote on our contract. They denied us the right to vote on the contract they negotiated with our company. Now they are stealing this election. They think we can be treated this way because we are immigrants. We want our votes to count.”

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #News #Teamsters #TeamstersLocal743 #RichardBerg #SilverCapital #electionFraud

The Silver Capital Corporation closed their plant on Friday, Sept. 10.

The severance package obtained by the leaders of Teamster Local 743 for the workers was minimal. Workers with seventeen years in the plant get $700; anyone with less than six years in the plant gets nothing.

The workers were denied the right to vote on the compensation package that the union representative, Jose Galvan, negotiated with the company’s owners. The workers are demanding that the union officials reopen negotiations for a better compensation package.

The workers, mostly Mexican immigrants, will continue to be supported by the reform group, the Teamsters Local 743 New Leadership Slate. Richard Berg, nominated this weekend as presidential candidate for the 743 New Leadership Slate, stated, “We will seek every legal remedy to aid these workers.”

Marcela Garcia is one of the longest-term employees in the plant. She is a leader in this fight, and has joined the 743 New Leadership Slate to run for union office against the current officers. On Sept. 12, she spoke to her co-workers, “It’s not fair, and we won’t stop fighting until we get justice for all.” About the current officers of the union, she said, “They sold us out.”

In a new development, it was announced that the factory is not closing. Rather, it has changed its name and is now hiring workers for minimum wage through a day labor agency.

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #News #Teamsters #TeamstersLocal743 #SilverCapital