Driver at Quickway Carriers in Landover, Maryland

This has been a rough process. We’re currently out of work, on strike because the company unjustly fired one of my coworkers, and intimidated and videotaped us. The guy who’s now the regional vice president was telling guys he would never sign a union contract here.

We started organizing in May 2006 because we wanted the company’s promises to be written in a contract. The company had promised things and then they took them back, or never gave them to us at all. The problem was everything was made verbally -- nothing was written.

I was one of four people who started building our union here. Within three days, 21 of 26 guys had signed cards saying that they wanted to join the Teamsters. Soon after, the company’s intimidation and threats began. They said many times that they would close our facility if we chose to unionize.

The safety director videotaped me and Angelo Jackson -- who was one of the others who started building the union -- during work hours. We found out it is illegal to videotape someone without their permission. They said they videotaped other workers, as well, but the tape showed only me and Angelo.

They fired Angelo. They said it was for stealing time -- we don’t get paid hourly, so how could he be stealing time? They made sure I was present when he was fired, to intimidate me. At the same meeting, they tried to implicate me as one of the guys starting the union, trying to get me to say things. But I knew I was doing no wrong.

The company brought guys in who had one-on-one meetings, showed anti-union videos, would talk about how a union wasn’t good, wasn’t a force, that it would have no effect for the workers. None of us ran scared. We saw that the company was intimidated by us wanting a union -- the company was scared. We all stood together.

We voted by a wide margin to become Teamsters on July 20. We started negotiating with the company for our first contract. The first discussions went well, but then we hit a wall. What we were looking for wasn’t unreasonable. We want decent health insurance, a pension and what was originally promised: to be paid by a salary, sick leave and holiday pay.

We originally were paid by stops and miles, then we changed to a salary, which is what we wanted. When the company realized that we were better paid by the salary they changed it back to the stops-and-miles system. We were promised sick leave but that has never come about. They also promised me a managerial position when I first started working here but later didn’t remember anything about that. The thing is, they try and pump you up and then shoot you down.

We’re currently on strike over unfair labor charges. We’ve been out for three weeks. The company has hired scabs. One of their scabs hit me with a truck. We picketed in a circle on an area of the road and this guy just drove through the picket line.

It’s tough being out here but we’re sticking together. We’re not giving in.