Jay Dennis and Abigayle Baker take on new Agent roles, Fernanda Navarro and Tim Morris join Local 89’s staff.
Jay Dennis Assigned as Lead Business Agent for DHL CVG Sort Workers
We are pleased to announce that Business Agent Jay Dennis will now be stationed at our Local 89 North office in Florence, Kentucky, where he will be serving as the representative for our new members at the DHL CVG Sort.
A second-generation union member, Jay joined Teamsters Local 89 in 1995 when he started work at UPS Worldport. During his time there he would serve as an alternate steward, steward, and a member of the Air Rider Negotiating committee. While working as a rank-and-file member at UPS, Jay also earned degrees at UofL and IUPUI. In 2012, Jay was hired to serve as Local 89’s first Communications Director, where he made great strides in keeping members connected and updated. He also founded the Local’s first “ground team” for political campaigns.
In 2014, Jay became a Business Agent and has since gone on to become one of the fiercest and most effective negotiators in Local 89’s arsenal, having bargained over thirty contracts. He has represented members at several of our shops, such as International Paper, Louisville Packaging, Android and more. At each of the shops he represented, Jay successfully rallied members and pushed the Company into historic contract improvements. In 2022, Jay led Fire King Teamsters in a twelve-week strike that brought the Company to its knees and won significant contract improvements all while maintaining high member morale, and without a single member crossing the picket line. After the victory at Fire King, Jay also took on Business Agent responsibilities for UPS Worldport and ABM shuttle employees.
At DHL CVG, Jay will be able to apply his years of experience and his skill at identifying leaders and energizing rank-and-file members to great effect. Teamsters Local 89 has every confidence that our new DHL CVG sort members will greatly benefit from having Jay as their Business Agent, and we look forward to seeing him and our DHL members grow stronger together.
Abigayle Baker Assigned as Business Agent for UPS Worldport
Teamsters Local 89 is proud to share that Abigayle Baker will now be serving as a Business Agent for our members at UPS Worldport. She will primarily be assuming the areas and responsibilities previously held by Jay Dennis prior to his move to DHL CVG.
Abigayle is a fourth-generation Teamster and has been a member of Local 89 since she started working at UPS Worldport in 2012. At Worldport she served first as an alternate steward and then steward in Building One (also known as 55k). In her role as a steward, she earned a reputation for being energetic and never backing down, qualities which endeared her to the members she represented.
In 2019, Abigayle was hired to serve as Local 89’s Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer where she has spent the last five years doing a phenomenal job keeping up with our union’s books. Still, at heart she remained a fighter who wanted to be back on the frontlines, and so she jumped at the opportunity to serve our UPS Worldport members again as a Business Agent.
We are confident that it won’t take long for members at Worldport to learn how lucky they are to have her as their new Local 89 representative, because we know she will bring fire and passion to her new role. All of us at Teamsters Local 89 know that Abigayle will do an outstanding job representing our members at UPS Worldport, and we are extremely proud and excited to see her join our Local’s team of Business Agents.
Fernanda Navarro Joins Staff as Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer
We are happy to welcome Fernanda Navarro to our Local 89 staff family, where she will be working as our new Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer, taking over the position vacated by Abigayle Baker.
Fernanda began her Teamsters career at UPS in 2021 when she started as a package handler in the Worldport small sort. Her sister, Diana, is also a Local 89 member at Worldport. In Fernanda’s time at UPS she served as a rank-and-file Quality Trainer, helping new Teamster members learn how to perform their jobs with the skill and dedication Teamsters are known for. She has also been involved in Local 89 activities beyond Worldport, such as our Women’s Committee.
A 2022 graduate of Spalding University, Fernanda has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with dual specialization in Financial Planning and Marketing. Due to her talent, hard work and dedication, Fernanda earned the Henry Clay Award in Business Administration in her graduate year. These impressive qualifications will serve her well in her new role as Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer, where Fernanda’s primary responsibility will be to operate as the bookkeeper for our Local Union.
Everyone at Local 89 is excited to have a new addition to our staff family, and we look forward to working with Fernanda for years to come.
Tim Morris Joins Staff as Business Agent for DHL CVG Sort Workers
Tim first began working with Teamsters Local 89 when he became the Executive Director of the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council (GLCLC), where he has advocated passionately and fought tirelessly for Local 89 and the Kentucky Labor Movement for the past nine years.
Union pride runs strongly through Tim’s family. He is a third-generation union member, following his great-uncle, who was also a member of Local 89, and his father, who was a union carpenter. Tim’s brothers also worked as union millwrights.
While serving as the GLCLC Executive Director, Tim put his heart and soul into fighting for workers' rights in the Greater Louisville area and beyond. He has been a consistent presence at every major job action and campaign Local 89 has taken over the past nine years, including contract campaigns at Caesars Southern Indiana, American Printing House for the Blind, and UPS in 2023. Tim was also frequently found marching and chanting alongside workers on Local 89 picket lines, such as Fire King in 2022, Sysco in 2023, and Amazon KCVG just a few weeks ago. Over the years, Tim has also worked closely with Local 89’s Political and Organizing Departments on several crucial campaigns, where his passion and expertise has often proven to be a vital component to victory.
In his new role as a Business Agent, Tim will be primarily stationed at the Local 89 North office in Florence, Kentucky, where he will be working alongside Jay Dennis to represent our new members at the DHL CVG Sort. We have absolutely no doubt that Tim’s unequaled work ethic and true passion for the labor movement will make him a phenomenal representative for our DHL CVG members, and we are thrilled to welcome him into our Local 89 staff family.
