Lots of drivers got fired for unfair reasons during our organizing drive. I got suspended for taking my lunch break early one day and talking to coworkers about voting for a union. The company said that my productivity was down and suspended me. But the Teamsters got my job back. We had a lot of politicians on our side; they wrote letters to the company, saying they needed to get me back to work. The company knew it was wrong.

My main reason for wanting a union was health insurance. I have a handicapped daughter. The insurance we had wasn't covering her therapy. (The insurance we have today as Teamsters does cover the therapy.) Others wanted better-running trucks, a voice on the job — so supervisors couldn't just yell whatever they wanted at us — and raises.

I've been a driver since July 2000 here in Lawrenceville. When I started working, BFI owned the facility and you could get out there and work and make money. But ever since Allied took over, it has been different. At first, they listened to what we had to say but they never really made any positive changes.

They said they had to save money to make up what they'd paid for BFI — that meant cutting costs. They cut our insurance and we had longer hours and less pay — we hadn't had a raise for three years before we became Teamsters.

We started organizing at the beginning of '04. The company got its anti-union campaign going, telling people that a union just wanted our dues money and that we'd just end up with a big lawsuit. They held meetings where they showed us videos of other Allied locations, saying that they lost a lot after they voted in the Teamsters, and that this was the possible outcome of having the Teamsters here in Lawrenceville. They said a lot of waste companies went bankrupt because of having a union.

Some people got scared and changed their minds. I just thought, "Bah, humbug — I know what a union is like."

My mom was a union member, she really kept me in touch with what a union meant. As we were organizing, she'd tell me, "Don't you believe what the company is saying." She was a big encouragement.

We had our election in April '04 and we voted to become Teamsters. But it took more than a year to be recognized because the company appealed the victory. We finally got our first contract in December '05, which has made a huge improvement here.

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