About John

John Pajak is the President of Local 877 and served as President of the New Jersey Work Environment Council for eight years. John was the Vice President of Local 877 for three years and became president of the 700 member union local in 2015. In 2015, John successfully unionized the 12 workers at the Watco Train Terminal in Linden. It was the first time these workers had union representation and John negotiated a 20% raise for the unloaders and the incorporation of strong safety language into their contract. John started working at Bayway Refinery in 1990 as a Waterfront Assistant Operator and became a shop steward in 1993. He remained a union shop steward until he successfully ran for IBT 877’s Executive Board in 1999. From 1993 to the present John has also been Grievance Chair, Union Chair of Bayway’s Safety Committee, and Training Committee Chair. In 2001, he was asked by IBT 877 to represent IBT 877 on WEC’;s Board of Directors. John stepped down as President of WEC in 2014, but remains an active member of the WEC Board. John has helped lead many campaigns including successfully requiring employee participation in NJ Department of Environmental Protection inspections of New Jersey’s most hazardous chemical facilities. WEC asked EPA’s Administrator Lisa Jackson to extend employees participation to EPA’s Clean Air inspections at high hazard facilities and she agreed with that request and enacted the protocol. As a result, EPA must engage workers and their unions during inspections at more than 11,000 industrial facilities using high hazard chemicals across the country.