In a visit to GILLIG this week, Labor Secretary Julie Su’s organization tweeted, “Our clean energy transition needs strong partnerships, including between workers and management. Happy to meet with GILLIG to see their facility creating zero-emission buses, talk about their labor-management partnership, and see the benefits of employing unionized workers.”
The Biden Administration is focused on furthering its commitment to Unions across America as a pathway to worker success. This visit, and many others like it, further solidifies their commitment.
It was a rare opportunity for members of Teamsters Local 853 to meet with a high-level government official from the Department of Labor. Stewards Robert Terry, Erik Vancil, Lyle Funderburk, and Lupe Pinedo put their best foot forward as they represented our Teamster family and the strong partnership between GILLIG management and their Union workforce.
Teamsters 853 members at GILLIG are coming off a stunningly good contract in their recent negotiations, which is a testament to forward-looking companies like GILLIG, who are leading the future in the zero emissions American Built busses. They recognize the true value of a Unionized workforce.
“We are so proud of these members who are being singled out as an example to the country and unions everywhere of what a union workforce can contribute on a national level. They earned this with their consistent commitment to their work,” said Steve Beck, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 853. “We are also aware that regardless of political affiliation, Teamsters Local 853 is willing to work with whoever is in office if they are expanding and strengthening unions across our State and the country.”
Also present for the meeting were Teamsters Local 853 Vice President Ray Torres and Recording Secretary Mike Henneberry.
People march in the middle of East Pine Street during the “Fight Starbucks’ Union Busting” rally and march in Seattle, Washington on April 23, 2022. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images
A new paper looks at the impact of being in a union throughout your entire career.
The authors found that being in a union means a $1.3 million bump to lifetime earnings.
Being a career-long union member can have the same value as a college degree.
If you want to make a million more dollars over your lifetime, there’s one solution: Join a union.
That’s according to a new paper in Cornell University’s ILR Review. Researchers Zachary Parolin of Bocconi University and Tom VanHeuvelen of University of Minnesota Twin Cities examined the advantages of being part of a union throughout your entire career.
“We find that a person who spent the entirety of their career in a labor union were predicted to earn about a million dollars more over the course of their career compared to somebody who was never in a labor union,” VanHeuvelen told Insider.
To quantify the impact of unionization on lifetime earnings, they used the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which tracks some Americans every several years. The researchers zoomed in on men who would’ve been in their late 20s in the 1960s and 1970s, and tracked their earnings through retirement as well as whether or not they were union members.
The result was the $1.3 million premium for workers who spent their whole careers in unions, even though those workers were more likely to retire earlier. Workers who are never in a union were projected to earn around $2.1 million their whole careers, while those who were in unions for their whole careers were estimated to make $3.4 million.
It’s long been clear that union members make more than their non-unionized peers. In 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-unionized workers made just 83% of unionized workers’ wages — but the study shows the long-term effects of a career spent as a union member. The data also comes after decades of American wealth becoming more and more concentrated at the top, as union membership tumbled and continues to drop.
“All this research that has been done shows that unions are really important for inequality, and that the demise of unions is a really important contributor to this growth of economic inequality and economic polarization,” VanHeuvelen said.
Workers without college degrees particularly benefit from career-long union membership. In fact, a worker without a college degree who has been in a union for 100% of his career is actually expected to make more than a non-union worker with a college degree.
That’s significant, especially with the “college premium” that higher education affords for lifetime earnings. Going to college is still one of the most reliable ways to boost how much money you’ll make, although many borrowers then come up against thousands — and sometimes hundreds of thousands — of dollars in student loan debt. But unionization rates have declined over time, and that spells bad news for workers without a college degree.
“If suddenly the United States lost the college premium, that would be a disaster,” VanHeuvelen said. “A lot of newspaper articles would be written about that. But it seems like we’ve lost something equivalent for America’s working class.”
There are some signs of life in the previously small labor movement. Union approval is at its highest since 1965, according to Gallup survey results. Workers have been pushing back for over a year, sparking a crop of unions in places like Starbucks, Amazon, and Chipotle. The number of union representation petitions filed in fiscal year 2022 increased by 53%, according to the National Labor Relations Board. But all of that is still coming up against low union membership rates and other organizing challenges.
“The process of de unionization that’s occurred over the last half century or so has really undermined an important second channel through which people could find a path of upward economic attainment,” VanHeuvelen said.
Today is your day. Your ballot should have arrived by now at your house.
There is a reason why so many truck drivers in our Country are in a union, because they know its life changing for the better.
So no matter how much attention, and begging. and insincere letters they send you now that you have them scared, the fact is that if you vote UNION YES, you have just secured a better life for you and your family.
Corporations are beholden to their shareholders and are required to maximize profits. That is what you are up against. They see you as a source of profit so they want to cut your pay and benefits. Without a Union contract, you are against the shareholder without any way to push back.
So VOTE YES and mail your ballot back today, right now.
Look at our website and see what we do day in and day out. On the home page are stories of what we do and the victories we win EVERY SINGLE DAY!
Let’s do this together, and knock it out of the park, and let those shareholders and management know you are worth more than they will ever give you willingly.
Ray Torres and the entire Teamster Local 853 staff and the 13,000 members we represent.
The reason why the company will never pay you what you are worth without the Union is because they can divide you one at a time, and you will never know how much you left on the table. And you have no leverage if you don’t act as one group.
But we do. The Teamsters know exactly how much is on the table, and we will get it for you just like all of the drivers from all these other Food Delivery Driver companies.
Listen to Marcus From PFG in Gilroy. They went Union and just got their first contract this March, which was very good for wages, benefits and job protections. In the end, 100% of the drivers voted for the contract- it was that good!!
This Driver, Marcus, at PFG in Gilroy explains how they got a great wage increase which was a given because they acted as a group, but the contract was more important because it gives them rights and protections on the job they never had before to hold management accountable.
He also saw how the company tried to grab a few drivers and treated them really well to stop the Union, but in the end, even those drivers voted YES for their unbelievably good contract.
The company outright lied to their face, but it didn’t work.
Look at other operations that have gone Union in the Bay Area
Significant improvements in benefits, wages, and job protection were all there for these drivers, and they can be for you, too!!
The Union has a heart. It is not like the mindless corporations we battle, whose only goal is to maximize profit at your expense.
They want you to squabble about outdated penny fees and unlikely strikes so you don’t hear this: – Union employees get paid better, period! – Union employees get better health care, period! – Union employees get better pensions, period! …and straight-up Union employees don’t have to take crap from their employers anymore on the job or be subject to harassment or termination without cause because you will finally be protected on the job.
So, let’s set the record straight. -You will not pay any initiation fees because we don’t enforce that -You will not be forced to do any disciplinary activities because we don’t do that in our modern Union -You won’t pay any union dues until you have a contract -In the extremely unlikely event that a strike is considered, the members always get a vote on whether or not to strike, period.
And the company doesn’t want you to know this because if you VOTE UNION YES, then they can’t keep robbing you of your fair wages and benefits.
Take it from those who know and the drivers they support
We are crushing it right now and want to go out on a grand slam. If you know anyone left that you work with who has not signed a Union card, please forward this web page to them and ask them to sign it by clicking below and filling out the form.
Also, more US Foods Drivers have taken the time to record messages to you. Take a look, listen to what they have to say, they have all been there.
See these New US Foods drivers videos! not only from US Foods Drivers in California but also from US Foods drivers from Teamsters Local 104 in Arizona. Take it from those who have been through it! Stick together, and you will make a better life for yourself and your coworkers!
We have a lot of movement going on right now regarding your progress and wanted to give you some updates.
Your election has been recognized and certified by the NLRB(National Labor Relations Board.)
We have assembled a bargaining committee of some of your fellow workers and have been in discussion.
US Foods management has agreed to begin negotiating with your group this coming March.
We will be announcing a proposal meeting for all US Foods Drivers in the next few weeks to discuss and submit a proposal to the company. This is where we all discuss what you want from the company. Then, we will draw up a formal proposal.
Please stay tuned, and please attend the proposal meeting when we announce it to ensure you have your say and are informed of our progress.
US Foods Brothers, I am Steve Beck, the secretary-treasurer and principal officer at Teamsters Local 853. I am responsible for leading Teamsters Local 853.
Congratulations on the vote you took to become a Teamster. I welcome you into our family. Today is a great day for you and your coworker’s future at US Foods.
Teamsters Local 853 represents 13,000 members just like you in the Bay Area from over 300 companies. We have considerable expertise in negotiating good contracts in your industry. Drivers at Coremark, UNFI, Sysco Foods, and Performance Food Groups are all Teamsters, so we know what fair wages and benefits look like in this industry, and we will be fighting to get you the salary and benefits you deserve for the work you provide.
We need your help and your participation.
For as long as I am here, you will hear me talk about the most important thing about being in a union. That is to be a well-informed member and to participate in the Teamster activities that affect you and your fellow members.
Unions are only as effective as their members’ unity and motivation to take a stand and help each other. Unity in numbers is how we get good contracts against greedy employers and how we get labor-friendly legislation. We vote for politicians who understand and support the working women and men who live in our communities, and we show up and use our collective voices to protest injustice in the workplace.
This is a battle between corporations whose sole mission is to make as much money as possible by any legal means… and the workers who usually deserve more than they get from those employers.
What you can do to start things off.
Please start getting involved now by signing up to our email list, where you will get important information on events that affect you and your coworkers here:
On behalf of myself, Steven Lua, our President, and the entire staff at Teamsters Local 853, welcome again, and let’s do this smartly and together, the Union way.
In Union, Steve Beck Secretary-Treasurer and Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 853
There is a reason US Foods is giving you confusing and conflicting information. And, in some cases, outright lying about this vote.
WHY?:
US Foods will lose a lot of money once you become a union group. They can no longer dictate what they pay you and how they treat you. And that is a very big and expensive problem for the company. So, of course, they want you to vote no.
A YES VOTE means they can no longer take the profits they should rightly be paying you, the workers who make their company successful. Plain and simple math. You get that money now, not their shareholders.
These are some answers to the lies we have heard US Foods has been telling you.
LIE # 1 – the union can force you to strike —— TRUTH – A strike is always authorized by a vote of the members being asked to strike. The Union cannot force a group to strike in any circumstance.
LIE # 2 – US Foods would have addressed your concerns without involving the union if you had come to them before contacting the Union —— TRUTH – The company will do anything it can to keep you from Unionizing because they lose profits and control once the Union comes in and gets you the wages, benefits, and job protection you deserve.
LIE # 3 – US Foods cant give you a cost of living raise while you are in a Union Vote —— TRUTH – The company can give you a cost of living increase as long as they are not giving it to you in exchange for a NO VOTE
LIE # 4 – You will pay initiation fees —– TRUTH – You will NOT pay any initiation fees to join the union, ever.
LIE # 5 – You will pay union fees as soon as you vote yes —- TRUTH – You will NOT pay union dues until your group has a contract with US Foods.
VOTE YES – and change your life for the better. Let’s get to the process of moving some of those profits over to where they belong: the workers! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
