May 20, 2015: Hoffa’s newest International Trustee hires a boss to help run the Teamsters’ biggest local.
Local 237 represents over 10,000 Teamsters at the New York City Housing Authority. So why would the local hire a NYCHA boss to a union post?
Local 237 President Greg Floyd hired Kevin Norman, as the Special Assistant to the President, a top leadership position in the largest local in the Teamsters.
Norman was previously in upper management at the New York City Housing Authority where he terminated Local 237 members. Now he’s advising Floyd on providing union representation?
Norman used his NYCHA post to act as Floyd’s enforcer. During last year’s Local 237 election, he issued an email directive to NYCHA management personnel instructing them to throw rank-and-file candidates who were running against Floyd off of the grounds, in violation of New York labor law.
“If any such individual refuses to leave the property, the supervisors should request assistance from the NYPD in having them removed,” Norman ordered.
With the ballots counted, Floyd hired Norman as his top assistant.
The move is part of a larger Local 237 shakeup. Floyd fired several Union Representatives who came out of the ranks and replaced them with non-Teamsters.
Floyd has a good trick to make sure those fired union reps don’t campaign against him: he paid them a healthy severance check, but on the condition that they sign a “gag order.” The members’ own dues money goes to prevent members from hearing what the former reps may have to say.
Norman isn’t the only one with a new Teamster post. Hoffa appointed Greg Floyd in April to be an International Union Trustee. That means another $75,000 salary and an additional lucrative pension.
Local 237 members who want their local to be run by union members, not NYCHA bosses, continue to organize for change.
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