Category: News

The pandemic has changed how many union processes are conducted, including elections and vote counting. On March 29, Business Rep Mike Henneberry and Chief Steward Vanessa Wadley counted the ballots that members who work at Zenith Administrators in Alameda submitted on the issue of restructuring and strengthening their pension plan. But this time, they did the vote count over Zoom. The issue arose after the employer messed up the payments owed to the pension plan. “This gave the union an opportunity to re-look at the plan and restructure it,” said Henneberry as he finished the count. The vote will impact the pensions of 57 members who work at Zenith. Since almost 98% of the work at Zenith is being done remotely, the vote was conducted by mail ballot. Henneberry opened the outer envelope and separated out the ballots, which had been concealed in an inner envelope with no identifying information. He then counted the ballots by reading out the vote for the vote tallier (Communications Director Debra Chaplan). He then showed each ballot to Vanessa, who was on zoom. The final tally was overwhelmingly in support of the union’s recommendation of how to strengthen the pension plan. After informing the

Please see the link below for information about the Joint Council 7 Scholarship Program. Scholarships are available to the children and grandchildren of active Local 853 members who are in good standing and will be based on a combination of academic achievement, school and community service, and financial need. In addition to completing the application form, the student must also submit a two-page essay on the topic: “The Importance of Labor Unions.” Applications must be received by Local 853 by July 1 of each year for the next academic year. Be sure to print out, complete, and sign the application form, and submit with essay and a recent photo of the applicant. Application form:  Polland Morales Scholarship  

Local 853’s Oakland union hall was turned into a vaccine clinic on Saturday, March 27. The Alameda County Central Labor Council, a co-tenant in our building, brought together their affiliated unions to do outreach to their members. In all, 430 union members were excited to get the Johnson & Johnson “one and done” vaccine. “This event was about union solidarity at its best,” said Local 853 Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise. “Even though we could only serve a handful of Local 853 members, we were part of a much bigger event that helped union members in Alameda County and throughout the Bay Area.”

In a remarkable video statement supporting the right of workers to join unions, recorded on February 28, President Biden has completely upended not only his predecessor but almost every president over the last century. The statement was released as nearly 6,000 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama are voting in a union representation election. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpUD9KgYc4&feature=youtu.be “I have long said that America wasn’t built by Wall Street; it was built by the middle class…and unions built the middle class. Unions put power in the hands of workers. They level the playing field,” Biden said in the opening to his two-minute statement. “They give you a stronger voice for your health, your safety, higher wages, protection from racial discrimination and sexual harassment. Unions lift up workers, both union and non-union and especially black and brown workers.” The statement asserted that the National Labor Relations Act is about encouraging unions, not just tolerating them. “Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union. The law guarantees that choice. And it’s your right, not that of an employer, it’s your right. No employer can take that right away.” In response, Local 853 Principal Officer Rome Aloise stated in a

The concrete work at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is covered under a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). “Unions work hard to get PLAs on big projects because they create a level playing field for wage rates,” says Business Rep Stu Helfer. “It means that non-local companies can’t come to the expensive Bay Area and underbid the local wages and conditions.” Helfer adds that he’s been able to make language improvements in the PLAs, leveraging that language for improved coverage. As part of the union’s routine monitoring of construction work in the area, Helfer noticed that Elite, a Sacramento-based company, had set up a portable batch plant for the SFO project and had started doing work there. “We’ve dealt with them before,” he says, “each time, discovering that they were underpaying their workers based on California state’s prevailing wage rates.” Helfer says that the union started monitoring this job and collecting data on it. He adds that the union has had to utilize some creative methods for monitoring when the work is going on, because it’s all behind security fences that the union can’t get through. As a result of Local 853’s labor compliance monitoring and research, the 15 drivers

Deadline: Extended to March 8, 2021 The deadline for this year’s James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund (JRHMSF) Academic and Vocational/Training Program scholarship applications is now March 8. The fund looks forward to a record number of applications from high school seniors who are the sons, daughters, or financial dependents of Teamster members. The scholarship awards range from $1,000 to $10,000 for Academic scholarships and $500 to $2,000 for Vocational/Training Program scholarships. The application process is online and can be reached here. Additionally, the JRH Scholarship Fund, through its administration firm, ISTS, offers tuition discounts to various colleges and universities. The information on the tuition discount program can be found here. (The tuition discount program is independent of the JRHMSF and does not require that a student be a recipient of a JRHMSF award.)

When the pandemic struck in March, the entire economy came to a screeching halt. Travel, hospitality, sports and the arts were the first to shutter. But it was clear that not everything could stop. People needed food, health care, and a variety of services and somebody needed to do that work. Often, those somebodies were Teamsters. Our members working in package and non-restaurant food delivery were working overtime. Retail, like Costco, was booming. Construction was deemed essential as well. And of course, if our members are working, the Local’s Business Reps have to be working, too. On the downside, we predict that as many as 20% of our members have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Our members working in the concession and sporting industry for the Warriors, A’s, and Giants have been out of work for the entire year. School bus drivers aren’t driving, and only a few of the tech bus drivers have regular work. Those who service the travel and hospitality industry, like laundry workers and those in parking lots and car rental agencies are mostly not working either.    Hopefully, the vaccines that have been produced in record time will start getting distributed—first to health care

When Jorge Vasquez got cancer, he didn’t want it to stop his daily work routine, because he’s the sole supporter for his wife and son. Business Rep Eddie Venancio reports that Jorge continued to work at Westside Building Supply in San Jose while he was getting chemo treatments. But when Shop Steward Jonathan Pinney, who works at Cemex, saw how sick Jorge was at the worksite, he not only helped Jorge to complete the paperwork to get disability insurance which would enable him to take off work while he was getting treated, but he also started a fundraising drive for Jorge and his family. So far, Pinney and Westside Steward Adolfo Espinosa raised $1,915 from the drivers at Westside, Cemex, Central Concrete, and from and the office staff at Teamsters Local 853. “Jorge is so well-liked that even some of the non-union Bulk drivers donated,” says Venancio. “His only request was that we keep him and his family in our prayers.” Thanks to the support of his brothers and sisters at Local 853, Jorge will be able to go through chemo and recuperate at home for the next three months with his wife—where he should be.

For the past 25 years, Local 853 has held an annual Membership Appreciation event that included breakfast, door prizes, a huge raffle, convenient flu shots, and the opportunity to hear about the State of the Union. Back when it started, the event attracted a few hundred members. Over the years it has grown to bring together more than 800 members at increasingly larger venues. This year, despite so many pandemic-caused cancellations, Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise was determined to find a way to make the event happen safely. While we had to ditch the breakfast and flu shots, all the other aspects of the event took place over the course of two days. Day One, Saturday, October 31: Staff gathered at 6:30 a.m. to prepare for the onslaught of cars attending the Drive-Thru gift event at the DoubleTree Hilton parking lot in Newark. Scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., cars started lining up at 8:00, and the staff was ready. As each car approached the parking lot, staff and volunteers passed out a registration card for the member(s) to complete as they made their way into the parking lot. Once submitted, each member in the car collected the 2020 gift—a beautiful Local

Business Rep Dan Harrington reports that he won two separate grievances for some San Francisco street sweepers. In the first case, he was able to overturn a 5-day suspension through expedited arbitration, and the member, Annie Romero, got a back pay check covering all five days. In this case, Romero was suspended for participating in an altercation with another employee. However, Harrington contends, the city denied the union the right to represent her and wouldn’t allow her steward into the hearing. The arbitrator found that, because representation was not allowed, the discipline had to be overturned. “It was a good case,” says Harrington. “We stuck to our guns about the representation and we prevailed.” In the second case, a street sweeper, Frank Perez, was assaulted by a citizen. Instead of listening to the members’ side or letting the union represent him, the city immediately put Perez on 30-day suspension. “Just as the case was supposed to go to full arbitration, the City realized that the citizen was lying and that Perez was innocent,” says Harrington. “They backed down and agreed to pay him nearly $10,000 for the wages and benefits he had been wrongfully denied.” Harrington particularly wanted to thank