New York, NY – F. Christophe Silvera is the Secretary-Treasurer and Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, New York. Local 808 represents a diverse group of workers including railroad, building maintenance, factory and public sector workers.
Silvera has had a long and very distinguished career, exhibiting his smarts and bravery in the service of Labor.
LaborPress had the honor of speaking to him, learning about his experience with his Union, its victories, and what members need to do to maintain and increase what it brings to their lives.
Silvera came to the beginnings of his career by way of his cousin, who had gotten a job on the railroad. Silvera was fresh out of the Air Force and, when his relative recommended the job, Silvera says he thought, “Why not?”
Silvera was first employed by Conrail, and then in 1983, “We became Metro-North.” He was initially a trackman in the Maintenance of Way department in 1978, not an easy job by anybody’s standards, and worked his way up to being a foreman.
In 1982, he and Osvaldo LoVerme spearheaded an organizing drive that led their co-workers on Conrail to break away from the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees and join the Teamsters. Silvera was then appointed Shop Steward on Metro North Commuter Railroad in 1983. Afterwards, “for a brief spell, for about six months, I was a Business Agent for the union.”
Silvera became Secretary-Treasurer of the Local in 1990, and when asked what has been meaningful for him over the long course of his service, he answers without hesitation: “Changing the trajectory of peoples’ lives. To really bring improvements to peoples’ pensions, wages… that is what brings satisfaction…when somebody bought a house because you got a contract that changed the wage structure.”
Silvera then shared a touching story with LaborPress to illustrate further to what he had referred. “I had a member, who was retired before I ever got there, and his pension was, I think, $75 or $90 a month. And so I said, you know, ‘you’re a member of 808, your pension shouldn’t be less than $100.” It sounds like a ridiculous number, but at the time, the top pension was $250. And we increased everybody’s pension to a minimum of $100. And the guy who was getting $75 or $90 a month, wrote a letter, and thanked me. It touched me that fifteen or twenty dollars was sufficient for somebody to write a letter to say thanks. When you’re in the union, that’s what you’re trying to do every day. To make peoples’ lives better.”
One victory Silvera took a leadership role in was the Million Worker March, “winning May Day for a group of my members. We did a contract in Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town. And one of our series of demands was an additional holiday, being International Workers Day, May 1st. We were able to secure that holiday. In May of 2019 we were able to celebrate International Workers Day with the rest of the world.”
Silvera has deep thoughts about what the worker needs now. “We have to bring the workers in America and re-center them. Class has a deeper meaning when you’re talking about society. You have a ruling class and the middle class. The middle class is really the technocrats, those that build robots, write codes, do all those things, that technology group. Doctors, chemists, that kind of thing. Then you have the working class. And the working class is those of us who actually put all those things together and make it work.”
LaborPress suggested that Silvera could be referring to being part of building the nation’s infrastructure. “Exactly. I’m laying the concrete. I’m laying the concrete in that high-rise building that I’ll never be able to live in. I’m paving the highways that I’m going to be paying the tolls on the following year. Those people make it happen. We build the cars that other people design. Capital doesn’t exist without labor. And Labor needs to assert itself.”
When asked what challenges Silvera believes face Labor today, he delivers a message workers would do well to heed. “The challenge that confronts Labor today is trying to educate the worker to understand what their interests are. To get them away from the incidents of sexism and racism and homophobia that weaken the working class. I’m not here to tell people about political parties, but it’s a situation where if you’re gonna get whipped, and you’re gonna get whipped by The Rock, 100 lashes, or, you’re gonna get whipped by Taylor Swift, and you’re gonna choose who was gonna lash you, you would choose Taylor Swift over The Rock, right? So, the lesser of two evils is better than the greater of two evils.”
For his wisdom, experience and dedication over his many years in the service of Labor, LaborPress is proud to celebrate F. Christophe Silvera as the recipient of its 2024 Labor Leadership Award.
