Local 853

Join Teamsters 853 at the Sharks game

\"\"All Teamsters Local 853 members are invited to join the union on April 23 for the Sharks vs. Blackhawks game at the SAP Center in San Jose.

In addition to seeing the game, the ticket price includes some cool game-related raffles for items such as:

  • 15 lower bowl premium seats;
  • 2 signed jerseys; and
  • 2-4 kids watching warm-ups from the Penalty Box.

The first 250 people who show up will get Sharks/Union water bottles.

Tickets are limited and will go fast. Each member can get a maximum of 4 tickets. Send a check for $65 per ticket to Local 853\’s Oakland office (7750 Pardee Lane, Oakland 94621) or call Jennifer at 510-746-3322 to pay by credit card. If you have questions, contact Jennifer at jpayne@teamsters853.org.

Join Teamsters 853 at the Sharks game Read More »

Introducing kids to the Teamsters

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On February 1, Business Rep Jesse Casqueiro brought the Teamster truck to the Assumption School in San Leandro for a \”Community Helpers Fair.\” The kids got a chance to look around the truck and learn about how they can become good community servants and the role that Teamsters play in supporting our communities.

Introducing kids to the Teamsters Read More »

Local 853 members turn out to fight UPS part-timer pay cuts

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On February 23, over 500 Teamsters from across Northern and Central California came together at UPS’ San Francisco building to protest the company\’s decision to slash wages by up to $6/hour for part-timers. The event was sponsored by the Nor Cal Teamster UPS Committee and Teamsters Joint Council 7. UPS workers and Teamster supporters came from across the Bay Area and as far as Fresno, Watsonville, and Sacramento. The Local had a huge turnout from the Sunnyvale and Watsonville hubs.

“This company recorded record profits in 2021, Peter Nuñez, Chair of the Nor Cal Teamsters UPS Committee told the demonstrators. “They raised prices on their customers in 2021. What did they do in 2022? They reduced the wages of their already lowest-paid workers.” He added that the $6/hour pay cut comes out to about $5500/year. “It probably doesn\’t sound like much to UPS CEO Carol Tomé, who makes millions, but it’s pulling the rug out from under thousands of families.”

“Our members have been working through this pandemic to keep UPS running, made them billions in profit, then they turn around and slash the lowest-paid workers – it’s disgraceful,” said Jason Rabinowitz, President of Teamsters Joint Council 7. “We are gearing up for a fight when we bargain our next contract with UPS. We are going to have to stand together as Teamsters and force UPS to be fair to workers, and that’s what we are doing today”

State Senator Scott Weiner was joined on stage by several San Francisco Supervisors, including President Shamann Walton, Rafael Mandelman, Dean Preston, and Aaron Peskin. They all pledged that they will stand with the workers and speak strongly against the pay cuts. “We are in the middle of a pandemic and your wages are being messed with. That\’s something we\’re not going to stand for,” said Walton. “We\’ll stand with you to tell UPS that you cannot play games with people\’s salaries or their livelihoods.”

Part-timers Melissa Castro and Yvette Osuno (both part-timers at Sunnyvale UPS and Local 853 members), told the crowd about their experiences. Both are struggling single mothers who have very long commutes. Neither they nor their co-workers had received advanced notice of the significant pay cut.

Rabinowitz explained that while Northern California took the lead with these protests, they’ve been picked up by Teamster locals around the country, including in Southern California and Philadelphia. “We’re Teamsters Rising!”

 

January Day of Action at eight UPS Hubs

On January 27, Local 853-represented UPS members filled the UPS San Jose parking lot to protest the company\’s sudden declaration that they would cut the pay for part-timers by $6 per hour. This comes despite the company having made record-breaking profits in 2021 and recently increasing prices for their customers.

\”UPS has grown during the pandemic with the explosion in online shopping,\” said UPS NorCal Committee Chair Peter Nuñez. \”Our members worked non-stop to earn the company billions in profits, yet UPS failed to give them hazard pay. Now UPS is choosing to cut part-timers\’ pay back to minimum wage levels. This is unconscionable.\”

This event was one of eight that were held the same morning across Northern California and Northern Nevada.

The Teamsters Union is entering into contract negotiations with UPS this year. The collective bargaining agreement covers roughly 325,000 workers across America, the largest agreement of its kind in the country.

Local 853 members turn out to fight UPS part-timer pay cuts Read More »

A new beginning

As I take over as Principal Officer of Local 853, having served as President of the Local for the last several years, I reflect on the brilliant leadership of Rome Aloise, who, as Secretary-Treasurer since 1992, worked to build this local into a powerhouse. He stands down now, but it will be difficult, if not impossible to replace him and his decades of experience and commitment to the Teamsters union.

My mission, as Secretary-Treasurer, is to continue where Rome left off, with the goals of organizing and building an ever-stronger union that diligently represents and fights for all of our members, and that strives to bring new workers and industries into the Teamster family.

Rome leaves one of the strongest, most financially stable local unions in the nation. Most important, Rome’s commitment was always to the membership first and foremost. We have a strong team of business agents, organizers, and office staff, and we will not skip a beat in terms of servicing our members.

As Bob Dylan said, “there is nothing so stable as change.” Together, we will weather the change and come out stronger. I look forward to the challenge.

 

A new beginning Read More »

My final column 

By Rome Aloise — 

By the end of January, I will no longer be Principal Officer of Local 853. These past 54 years as a Teamster, and 36 years serving as a Teamster official on the local, Joint Council, and International levels, have been an amazing ride. It has been the honor of my life to serve the growing roster of members of Local 853 and to do all in my power to improve your working conditions, wages, benefits, and lives.

When I started as Secretary-Treasurer in 1992, the Local had $100,000 in the bank, was renting a headquarters building, and had about 3,500 members, mostly in the East Bay.

Today, through organizing and through mergers, we’ve grown to about 15,000 members across the Bay Area down to Watsonville, with some members in the Valley and around Sacramento. We’ve got assets of over $12 million, including several buildings. 

But more than that, we have an amazing staff of 24 business representatives who oversee more than 300 contracts in a wide range of industries—from drivers of school, tech and paratransit buses to ready-mix and construction vehicles; from sales to driving and merchandising dairy, soft drinks, and liquor; from retail sales to package delivery to concessions at sports arenas; we manufacture food and commercial products, buses, and more. Our members are as diverse and interesting as our industries. I’m proud to say that in many industries, our contracts are the most lucrative in the nation.

On top of all that, our office staff is second to none. We’ve got a well-oiled machine that processes the contracts and membership rolls and keeps the myriad of administrative procedures humming.

One of my passions, over the years, has been to build, improve and strengthen our benefits programs, from health insurance to 401K plans to pensions. The Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust, which I chaired for many years, is now the largest and strongest union plan in the nation, with more than $58 billion in assets. 

This is not an easy time for the labor movement. The downward trend that started in the 1980s with deregulation has continued on steroids over the decades. Our ability to organize new members and keep the members we have has been hindered by labor laws that promote union-busting, replacement workers, and challenges that only the heartiest of union supporters could overcome.

And yet our members continue to step up, taking action when needed and fighting for their own rights and those of other working people. We’re now starting to take on perhaps our biggest challenge, which is the growth of Amazon—a giant that directly threatens our members at UPS, and will indirectly impact members who work in numerous other industries. I can’t predict the future, but I know that this will be a make-it or break-it fight for our union.

I thank our current staff and the dozens of people who have worked with us and worked for you over the last 30 years. You have made Local 853 the preeminent powerhouse that we’ve become—and will remain into the future.

I can’t say enough good things about current President Dennis Hart, who will be taking over as Secretary-Treasurer. He has been a fabulous partner and I have great confidence leaving the union in his able hands.

And I thank all of you—our members—for giving me your trust these many years and for enabling me to do what I’ve loved.

My final column  Read More »

Local appreciates our members at 2-day event

Appreciating our members is something Local 853 has made every effort to do since 1993. This year was no exception, although like last year, the Membership Appreciation event was again a drive-thru affair due to the pandemic. But shaking things up this year, it was held on two mornings at two locations, Saturday, November 6 in Oakland and Sunday, November 7 in San Jose, for our members’ convenience.

Members were invited to drive through the Local’s parking lots at each location so they could pick up a stylish and useful logo-embossed windbreaker in their size. Then they completed a card to enter the raffle. In and out – the process was swift.

Nearly 500 members turned out on one of the two days. And for ten of them, the party continued at the regular membership meeting the following Thursday when their names were chosen to win a new television set. Here are the lucky winners:

3\"\"2” TV:            Steven Wheeler, SFO Rock & Park

43” TV:            Zhi Xin Li, We Drive U

43” TV:            Rosanna Lyles, LAZ

55” TV:            Jose D. Cueva, Anixter

55” TV:            Riccardo J. Reques, UPS

55” TV:            Scott McCole, Sukut

55” TV:            Maria Garcia, San Jose

The grand prize, a 65” TV was won by Rich Walrod, Granite Rock. shown here with Business Rep Scott Gonsalves when he picked up his prize.

 

\”Many thanks to all of our members,\” said Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise. \”Our goal is to support you, but we can\’t do it without your support.\”

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Local appreciates our members at 2-day event Read More »

UPS members learn about the threat from Amazon—and what they can do about it

“Ten years ago, there were zero Amazon warehouses in California,” said Shaun Martinez, IBT, Strategic Research & Campaigns Department “Today, they’re the state’s largest employer.”

Speaking at a training about Amazon for about 100 Local 853 UPS members at the San Jose Teamster office on November 13, Martinez reviewed Amazon’s growth, from bookseller to major customer of UPS to now being UPS’ biggest competitor—already surpassing FedEx’s market share.

With 300,000 people under the one contract, the contract with UPS is not only the Teamsters’ largest, but is the largest single union contract in the world. Today, UPS sets the bar for wages and benefits. “When we organize FedEx or Amazon, it will raise the standard for everyone. If we can lift the standards for everyone, that protects our benefits,” Martinez added.

Here are a few facts about Amazon today:

• Most workers don’t work for Amazon for more than a few months. They stay long enough to collect their welcome bonus and then they quit. Martinez says that’s by design. “Who wants workers who, with added seniority, get higher wages and more benefits?”

• Amazon went from 150 facilities to 740 in just two years. Their goal is 1,500.

• According to an Amazon worker who attended the event with her fiancé, “those of us who have been there for a while get screwed because the company keeps bringing in new people and moving us around. We constantly get write-ups. People don’t want to use the restrooms because they’re too far away. They gave us an additional five minutes for handwashing during COVID, but then then took it away again.”

“Everyone has to get activated to fight Amazon,” Martinez says. “We can do it, but it’ll be hard.”

The battle has already begun. Several Teamster locals, including Local 853, are working in coalition with environmental groups, other unions, land use attorneys, and local Labor Councils.

In just the last few months we’ve succeeded in stopping Amazon’s attempt to open local facilities:

In San Jose, the City Council unanimously voted down a proposed Amazon Distribution Center in the Coyote Valley the size of six football fields.

In Gilroy, the City Council pushed off a vote until December 6 for a proposed Delivery Station after Local 853 and Gilroy community members flooded the meeting with concerns.

In Hayward, Amazon withdrew their application for one of three sites they are considering.

There are still fights going on in San Francisco, Richmond, and Hayward. But we’ve already seen that winning is possible if we all get together to write letters, make phone calls, picket, and do whatever is necessary to stop the Amazon behemoth from taking over our cities and ruining our good union jobs.

President Dennis Hart told the group of UPSers that he had been a UPS Business Agent when the 1997 UPS strike took place. “We won that strike by sticking together, and we also got great support from our customers. We can win against Amazon too, but we need to stick together, get focused, and  get the community involved.”

When the union contacts you to get involved, please follow through. It’ll be in your best interest.

UPS members learn about the threat from Amazon—and what they can do about it Read More »

New Leadership Elected at IBT

After a hard-fought campaign, the votes have been counted and the O’Brien-Zuckerman Teamsters United slate has been elected by a significant margin to lead the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for the next five years.

Congratulations to the new officers, particularly General President Elect Sean O\’Brien. They face numerous challenges ahead — for the Teamsters Union, the labor movement and all working people.

No matter who you supported, now is the time to unite our union and move forward together.

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Local 853 Executive Board

Rome Aloise, Secretary-Treasurer

Dennis Hart, President

Lou Valletta, Vice President

Stu Helfer, Recording Secretary

Stacy Murphy, Mike Fritz, Joel Bellison — Trustees

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Leadership Elected at IBT Read More »

News from Around the Local

Arbitration win at First Transit

The members who drive for First Transit on the Stanford Campus recently won a big arbitration. While they were set to receive the 10% split differential that tech bus drivers have, there was not clarity of when that split kicked in. The union maintained that the additional monies would start after one hour while the company said it was after two hours. 

“This issue came up when TransDev had the Stanford contract and continued when First Student took over,” explained Business Rep Stacy Murphy. “To everyone’s surprise, the arbitrator ruled for the union.” Retro checks are yet to be determined.

A deal at Macy’s

The 30 or so members who do warehousing at nine Macy’s locations across the Bay Area now have a new three-year agreement, reports Business Rep Dan Harrington. The contract includes wage and pension increases all three years.

Good contracts at MV

Business Rep Pablo Barrera reports that the 40 members at MV Transportation, who work in Mission Bay and in Half Moon Bay ratified a two-year agreement with substantial wage increases, finally breaking the $25/hour threshold. 

Barrera also negotiated a two-year deal at MV Transportation in the Presidio for about 20 members who are very pleased to have full Maintenance of Benefits with their health care in the TBT plan.

Contracts across the South Bay

Here are some of the newly-ratified contracts across the South Bay. 

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties 

SP Plus Services (San Jose Airport)

Mondelez/Nabisco

Spicer/Kelly Paper 

Good work to the members on the bargaining teams and to Business Rep Jerry Cordova who led the negotiations at the first two, and Vice-President Lou Valletta, who led them at the second two.

New construction members

The workers at two small but growing companies have voted to join Local 853.

Business Rep Eddie Venancio reports that the ready-mix and low-bed drivers who work at QLM Construction in San Jose are now Teamsters. 

Also, Organizer Mike Fritz got a unanimous vote from the drivers at Argent Materials, an Oakland-based concrete and asphalt recycling yard.

“The mergers of Locals 287 and 912 into Local 853 create a wonderful opportunity for organizing new members in the construction field, and we’ll explore all opportunities to expand our footprint into covered occupations,” said Recording Secretary/Business Rep Stu Helfer who also heads the Northern Cal Teamsters Construction Division.   

Coming parity

The members who work at the San Francisco Unified School District recently ratified their new contract. “It’s a good agreement given all that’s going on with school districts.” says Business Rep Dan Harrington. “And we have a commitment to meet early next year to talk about reaching parity with the City/County of SF.”

News from Around the Local Read More »

Local trains stewards on grievance handling skills

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More than 120 stewards came together at the Oakland Hilton on Saturday, October 2, to learn about how to handle grievances more effectively. Led by long-time IBT trainer Sally Payne, they got background info on their role as stewards — what\’s within their purview and what should be referred to their business rep. They also reviewed case studies about how to handle different kinds of situations with their co-workers.

Many members don\’t realize how important stewards are to the functioning of the union. The union relies on stewards to be our eyes and ears on the shop floor, alerting us to problems our members are facing and helping to solve them when possible.

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