Nearly Half A Century "Walking the Walk"
 
 

The date was April 12, 1993. Carl Haynes had just been sworn in as Local 237’s fourth president when he learned that the local had been put into trusteeship, and that officials from the international were on their way to the local’s headquarters to take over the position he had sworn to uphold and protect. It has been almost 14 years, but the memory of how his presidency was almost snatched from him is still fresh even as he prepares to retire March 31.

“It was baptism by fire,” Haynes said, laughing as he recalled how he and his staff barricaded the doors to keep the trustee out. “I was being sworn in one minute and the next thing I know, International Brotherhood of Teamsters trustees were banging on the doors to take us over. Everything happened in less than an hour. We were all in shock. I couldn’t believe it, but I was not about to let them in. We wanted time to discuss the matter with the general president first to find out why.”

Haynes met with then IBT General President Ron Carey a week later, and within 90 days, Local 237 was out of trusteeship.

“It was the shortest time ever for a union to be placed in trusteeship,” said Local 237 Vice President Richard Hendershot, “but what was even more extraordinary is the fact that during the entire time Local 237’s leadership team and executive board remained in place. Usually the entire leadership and board members are removed when local unions are put into trusteeship. That did not happen with Local 237 because the general president had confidence in Carl Haynes’ ability to lead the largest local in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.”


Local 237 President Carl Haynes is flanked by the union’s negotiators, as he
emphasizes a point during contract talks.


That confidence was further demonstrated soon after with Haynes’ nomination and election as one of two IBT vice presidents on the Executive Council of the national AFL-CIO. The general president held the other vice presidential title.

Undeterred by the rocky start of his tenure, Haynes began implementing an agenda that set a tone for the union that was decidedly different from that of his predecessor, thus establishing a new “Haynes era” for Local 237.


Reflecting Diversity

He began by reshaping Local 237’s executive board to reflect the growing diversity of the city employees who made up the general membership, appointing Norris Jackson, an African American, and the first Hispanic woman, Rose Parrilla, to the executive board. He then reorganized the union’s various departments, bringing in new energy and talent to lead the Housing and Retiree divisions, the Education, and the Legislative and Political Action departments, with George Torres, Nancy B. True, Dr. Frederick Dunn and Patricia Stryker respectively.


Haynes, right, shouts from the front lines with school safety agents at a rally near
City Hall; Below, Haynes, at the podium, is backed by members of the Municipal
Labor Bargaining Coalition as he delivers a speech on the steps of City Hall.


“We can’t forget that during this time the labor movement was in decline,” said Dr. Dunn. “So Carl Haynes’ style of quiet diplomacy was perfect for the political climate and mood of the city at the time.”

Indeed, there was a great deal of hostility toward unions. The tough, anti-labor stance of the Reagan-Bush presidency had significantly eroded labor’s influence. Unemployment was high and the country was still firmly in the grip of a recession. Two years later Rudy Giuliani became the mayor. The former prosecutor did not hide his disdain for unions as he shrank the workforce through forced early retirement, withheld pension contributions and forced municipal workers to accept a contract with two years without pay increases.


Haynes, at the podium, is backed by members of the Municipal Labor Bargaining
Coalition as he delivers a speech on the steps of City Hall.


CWU Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes described the Giuliani era in an April 2003 New York Times article, saying: “I think Rudy has an almost pathological mean streak in which he relished being mean to people and some labor unions, but he had some people who understood that in collective bargaining you have to sit down and work things out.”

Sitting down and working things out was what Haynes did best, according to Hendershot: “Carl made headway even in the face of a tough-talking, heavy-handed mayor. He knows the ins and outs and intricacies of negotiations and is incredibly patient, calm and thoughtful under intense pressure. He knows when and how to hold out for the right contract. Yet, even though he is a tough negoiator, he is never pro-management.”


Left: Haynes gestures as he testifies at a City Council hearing on school safety.
Right: Haynes and Gov. Eliot Spitzer -- then State Attorney General -- shake hands
at a Retiree Division event.


Basil Paterson, former state senator and New York State secretary under Gov. Hugh Carey, who has sat with Haynes in many negotiating sessions as the local’s labor lawyer, described Haynes as “the most effective quiet negotiator I have ever encountered.” Paterson added: “He has a knack for picking just the right time to exert the ‘heavy’ pressure. His ability to use salty humor to drive home a salient point has become legendary. It is an old adage that the CEOs of major corporations are their best salespersons. So it is with Local 237. Its finest negotiator has been its president, Carl Haynes.”


Principles Not Negotiable

Under Haynes, Local 237 weathered challenges without sacrificing principles or losing members. At the same time, he continued to retool the union, instituting training for staff members and business agents. In 1994 he also established the union’s first four-day intensive Shop Steward Training Conference. “In many ways he was an education president; he saw the value of education and training,” said Dr. Dunn.


Left: Haynes is joined by Local 237 officials and hospital police as he meets the
press outside Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Haynes and retired Right: Local 237
members share a laugh at a retiree conference.


Secretary-Treasurer Gregory Floyd noted, “The members were first and foremost” for Haynes. “He wanted the people who were the union’s frontline soldiers in the field to be able to provide the best services to the rank-and-file. And when he saw potential in a person he reached out and provided the support structure to help nurture and develop that individual’s leadership skills, so that they can give back to the members.” Floyd called Haynes a “wonderful mentor who gave me the opportunity to advance by taking a chance on a young man.”

To focus attention on women’s issues and develop female leadership within the union, Haynes launched the local’s first Women’s Conference in 1995, and appointed women to several leadership positions within the union. Today, the Women’s Conference draws several hundred members and guests to its annual events. Patricia Stryker, legislative and political action director, led the first one. She said, “Local 237 is viewed as the most progressive local in the Teamsters union because Carl was ahead of the game when it came to putting women in leadership positions. His dream for this union embraced many people.”


Haynes sits front row center with Health and Hospitals Corp. officials and
Secretary-Treasurer Gregory Floyd at the far right as hospital police officer
graduates stand tall behind them.


Retiree Director Nancy B. True, who leads the annual meeting of retirees in Florida and the biannual meeting in Puerto Rico, said Haynes “has been a champion for all members — both working and retired. He has had a special and lifelong relationship with many Local 237 retirees. In large part, this is due to his vision of lifelong membership. Local 237 not only talks the talk, but walks the walk of ‘Retired from Work – Not from the Union.’”

“I’ve greatly admired Carl Haynes’ leadership style,” said John Felder, director of the union’s Membership department. “He certainly knew how to entrust you with a project and provide you with all the resources you might need to nail the assignment.”


Humble Beginnings

The son of a railroad worker and a native of West Virginia, Haynes rose through the ranks to become one of the highest-ranking labor leaders in the country today, holding leadership positions at the national, state and local levels. He moved to New York City shortly after graduating from West Virginia State College, working for a short period in the juvenile justice system before taking a job in 1960 as housing assistant with the New York City Housing Authority. He soon established himself as a skilled negotiator and leader.

He made a name for himself when, as chairman of the 600-member housing assistants’ chapter, he led the 1967 strike against the Housing Authority for better pay and working conditions. The strike knocked out heat, hot water and elevator service in the city’s public housing developments. Within three days Housing officials agreed to the strikers’ demands. “We were able to establish the step-pay program and significantly boost starting salaries,” Haynes said.

A year later, the union recruited him as a business agent. After that came promotions to assistant director and then director of the union’s Housing Division. He became a trustee in 1978 and, in 1983, was elected vice president.


Haynes, third from right, joins Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, center, with
school safety agents during a tour of Brooklyn North Command. Secretary-Treasurer
Gregory Floyd stands rear left and Business Agent Steve Gordon is at far right.


When an Independent Review Board (IRB), established under a Consent Decree between the IBT and the government to investigate “allegations of corruption" in the union, removed then-president Barry Feinstein from office in 1993, Feinstein selected Haynes to replace him. Haynes was elected to a five-year term in 1994, and re-elected in 1999 and 2004.

During the Teamster union upheaval that pitted supporters of former IBT General President Carey against his opponent, the current General President, James P. Hoffa, Local 237 weathered the storm and Haynes was selected to run with Hoffa as a vice president. Hoffa celebrated their victory with Haynes at Local 237’s headquarters in Manhattan on November 30, 2001.

Reflecting on his accomplishments, Haynes said, “Never, in my wildest dreams did I expect to achieve so much and reach so far. I owe it all to my family, friends, and supporters who have been behind me and in front of me throughout the years.”

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