Local 152 Union Representative Jose Echevarria has big plans for retirement, and he wants to make sure he doesn’t postpone his adventures until it’s too late.

“I’m ready,” he said. “I want to retire while I’m still able to walk and visit places. I want to enjoy the rest of the time I have left.”

Before he puts those plans into motion, he looked back over his union career and a lifetime of improving the lives of union members.

Jose started at Goya Foods in West Deptford, New Jersey in 1986 as a truck helper, making deliveries throughout the Delaware Valley. He also spent time as a forklift operator and was the “right-hand man” for his facility’s shop steward before taking on that role himself after 10 years.

“I heard that the shop steward was moving to Puerto Rico, and I looked around and everyone was pointing at me to be the replacement, saying ‘we want you to represent us,’” he said. “That was a good feeling.

“I loved looking out for my fellow members as a steward, protecting them from the things the company tried to do,” he continued. “I was really tough. Standing up to the Company, I was terminated twice. The union helped me get back to work and I learned a lot as a steward.”

Protecting workers

When he became a Union Representative for Local 152 in 2005, he used his experience to form a new approach to tackling workplace issues.

“I managed my temper much better,” he said. “I did it with paperwork, I didn’t need to argue. At the end of the day, I’m there to protect workers, so I didn’t need to always agree with the company, but I needed to establish a good relationship.”

His desire to fight for workers even extends outside of business hours, as he remembers many times being out on the town with his wife and striking up a conversation with workers at a restaurant or retail store.

“If I see a driver delivering something, I’ll give them my business card, because that’s what I do,” he said. “If I can organize anyone, I’ll do it. My wife looks over and says ‘what are you doing? Are you working right now?’ I’m always talking to workers.

“I tell workers: ‘When you have a house, you need house insurance; when you have a car, you need car insurance; and at your job you need the same thing — a union to cover you.”

The road ahead

In retirement, Echevarria hopes to spend more time with his wife, Iris, as well as golfing and maybe return to league bowling. He also plans to spend time traveling, to his childhood home in Puerto Rico as well as to Aruba.

He’ll have more time to devote to playing music, specifically the percussion instruments he played when he was in bands who would play shows across the East Coast and in South America.

“When I was a kid I would be banging away at my mom’s pots and pans,” he said, before he transitioned to bongo and conga drums. “Music was my life. At home, I’ll still play once and awhile.”

Echevarria also enjoys camping as a way to relax and meet people. “I have a camper and I can park somewhere, take a swim in the pool, grill my own food, and then spend time around the fire pit and meet new neighbors,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of friends that way. I’m thinking of going to Myrtle Beach next — I can park and the beach is right there.”