Nandell Baines, the president of UE Local 977, passed away on August 16. Local 977 represents Hallcon rail crew drivers in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kansas.
“She just fought for the members until the very end,” said Local 1177 President Larry Hopkins, whose local represents Hallcon drivers in the upper Midwest, and who served with Baines on the UE bargaining committee which negotiates the union's national contract with Hallcon. Baines joined bargaining calls this summer, even as her health was deteriorating, up until just two days before she passed. After her death, her son told a UE representative that fighting for her co-workers at the bargaining table had kept her going in her last days.
"Nandell was a real fighter and she will be greatly missed by her union, family, friends and community," wrote Western Region President Ramona Malczynski in an email to her region’s executive board members and local officers. UE General President Scott Slawson called Baines "an amazing leader."
Baines was one of the key leaders among a large group of Hallcon drivers who left their company-dominated union and organized with UE in 2018. Despite pushback from her supervisor, she insisted on her right to bring the UE message to her fellow drivers in Houston, helping UE win the election. Speaking to the 2019 UE convention, she said that before workers organized with UE, “everything I saw was unjust,” and the company was rife with abuse and favoritism.
After the election, Baines was elected to serve on the bargaining committee which negotiated how that group of hundreds of drivers was incorporated into the UE national agreement. A serious and detail-oriented negotiator, she was elected president of Local 977 once it was established, and served until her passing.
Hopkins said Baines was “steadfast, always staying on the boss. She will be truly missed, especially by the drivers in her local.”