News

About 35 drivers who work for Premier Recycling in San Jose voted Union Yes in May. These drivers drop off and pick-up recycling bins at construction sites.

“This was a dog fight,” says Business Rep Pablo Barrera. “The company brought three union busters to the worksite—and they’re still there. But we still won the election handily.” Barrera says that management kept telling the drivers, ‘If you don’t like it here, get another job,’ but they really just wanted to work at this job, and make it better.”

Roman Tamez, who works for UPS, just down the block from Premier, helped organize the Premier group; he brought several UPSers to share their stories about being in the union with the Premier group. “This was a great campaign,” Roman says. “These guys were getting treated unfairly; they were harassed if they needed to take a sick day. As election day got closer, the employer kept throwing out deals, but nobody bit. They didn’t feel they could trust any promises the employer made at that point. They moved as one group and overwhelmingly voted for the union.”

Negotiations for a first contract will start the last week of August.

For too many years, the shuttle drivers and cashiers at area parking lots settled for too little, and new Business Rep Mike Fritz not only aims to change that — he already has.

“We need to ensure that these members start getting paid what they’re worth—especially given the health hazards that so many of them have endured,” he says. “We have one shuttle driver who has contracted COVID four times so far.”

Fritz had three parking contracts to negotiate in the first half of 2022. His first, completed and ratified overwhelmingly in March, was for the 60 members at LAZ Kaiser in Oakland and Richmond. “At the start of the pandemic, this company couldn’t hire anybody, so they raised the wages to $18/hour. After a while, they lowered the wage back to minimum wage, and, as you’d expect, that didn’t go well with the members,” he says wryly.

“Fortunately, this year’s contract negotiations brought big change, including the highest raises our members here have ever seen,” Fritz says.  Fritz adds that the members will also get a new floating holiday, and will be able to observe holidays that fall on Saturdays on the Friday before. Also, for the first time, the company will contribute to their 401K Plan. Fritz wanted to recognize the negotiating committee for their excellent work.

The next parking contract up was with Premiere Parking at Highland Hospital and to get that deal, Fritz upped his tactics. “These members were so underpaid that I had at least one who was living out of his car.” In a great team effort, Business Rep Mike Henneberry helped Fritz get in front of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to get support for the workers at this County facility. And Business Rep Jonathan Pinney joined Fritz and Henneberry in negotiations.

“The members voted unanimously on May 14 to ratify the best contract they’ve ever seen,” Fritz says. The 3-year contract includes an immediate raise to bring them up to area standards, and more in each of the next two years. “Most important, this company is on notice that the supervisors will take their contract away if they don’t continue to do the right thing by the workers.”

Fritz\’ third contract will be for the members who work at LAZ Oakland Airport. “We’re in bargaining now and I am looking to get these members almost the same deal as we got at Kaiser. I will involve the Board of the Port of Oakland if I have to.”

After a week-long strike, about 4,800 nurses with the independent union CRONA (Committee for Recognition Of Nursing Achievement) at Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children’s Health in Palo Alto, CA won a significant raise over three years. Not only did Senator Alex Padilla turn up on April 29 for a major rally to support the picketing strikers, but he was joined by Local 853 Trustee Reggie Knighten.

Addressing the group, Padilla said: “I am proud to stand in solidarity with nurses today in calling for fair contracts and for the sustainable working conditions nurses need in order to continue providing world-class care for their patients.”

Reginald Knighten told the nurses and their children: “The Teamsters are here to let you know that we recognize your worth and stand with you fully. We have seen thousands of nurses standing strong on the picket line because you believe a better contract and working environment is not just possible, but necessary. We support you in your efforts to bring transformative changes for yourselves and your nursing colleagues down the line.”

It\’s not new news to hear that union multi-employer pension plans had been hit hard due to a combination of factors including changing industries and the 2008 stock market crash. While unions fought for years to get congress to support our plans as they had already supported single-employer plays, this effort had gone nowhere.

Until last year. The Biden administration ensured that the Butch Lewis Act would be inserted into the American Rescue Plan, providing foundational support for hundreds of troubled union plans.

The result: for our 1000 members in the San Francisco Lithographers Pension plan, instead of seeing their hard-earned pensions become insolvent next month, they will start to again receive their full monthly payouts in June. And in July, they will get a retroactive check representing full payment for the 10 months of checks that had been reduced starting in 2021.

“At the last minute, our consultants from the Segal Company and our trustees were able to negotiate a $130 million investment from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC),” explained Business Rep Lennie Kuhls. “If this hadn’t happened, we’d have been insolvent starting next month. Now the pension is guaranteed through 2051, if not longer.”

This good news impacts members who worked in the printing industry and were members of GCC 583, which had merged into Local 853 in 2006.

The 50 Hayward Unified school bus drivers who work with special needs kids ratified a new contract with Storer in January and it’s the best these drivers have ever seen.

“This was essentially a new contract,” explains Business Rep Tracy Kelley. Previously, Durham School Services held the contract with the Hayward schools. “But when Storer won the bid in 2018, they just added wage increases to the previous contract with the goal of creating their own contract once that one expired.”

Kelley says that when the pandemic hit, schools closed immediately and these drivers were hit hard. “They stopped working in March 2020 and didn’t come back until August of 2021.” When the contract expired in the midst of the pandemic, the union opted to extend it indefinitely, “because we had no idea when or if these drivers would get back to work. We reopened the contract in October of 2021 and resumed negotiations as work started to return to normal.”

Ultimately, the five-year contract provides significant economic gains for the drivers. After a large initial wage bump, the drivers will get sizeable wage increases through the end of the contract. “This makes them the second-highest-paid school bus drivers in the Bay Area, next to San Francisco,” says Kelley. The non-commercial non-school bus drivers will also see a significant raise. In addition, the contract includes an increase in the health care allowance and additional days of paid time off (PTO).

“School bus drivers were probably the hardest hit among all transportation drivers,” Kelley says. “We fought hard to bring up their wages so they could deal with the high cost of living in this area. Hopefully, by achieving area standards, some of the burden of inflation will be tempered.”

Kelley particularly wanted to recognize and thank Yareny Gonzalez and Joline Knott for representing the members on the negotiating committee and communicating the progress of the talks back to the members. “They stepped up to be on the bargaining team after two long-time stewards had recently left, one retiring and one on a leave of absence. They did an outstanding job.”

Closing out, Kelley adds that “it’s good to see the company recognize the services that our members provide to their clients every day. This contract puts them in a great position to improve their wages even further next time.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have a child who\’s graduating from high school and can use some cash for college or vocational school, you\’ll want to apply for a Joint Council 7 Harry Polland/Bob Morales scholarship.

Applicants are eligible for scholarships when their parent or legal guardian is a member in good standing of Teamsters Local 853. Criteria that will be considered are 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.\”

Like they say with the lottery—\”you can\’t win if you don\’t play!\” It can\’t hurt to apply.

The deadline to apply is July 1, 2022. To get all the details and the application form, contact jpayne@teamsters853.org

April 23 saw a huge turnout of Teamsters Local 853 members, friends, and family at the San Jose Shark Tank — there to watch the Sharks beat the Chicago Blackhawks by 4-1. The day started with a pre-game BBQ at the Local\’s San Jose office. Two lucky members won signed Sharks jerseys. If you\’re a hockey fan, getting a chance to enjoy it with your union brothers and sisters is the best way to watch!

Watch for news about the 2023 game starting in February or March and join the fun!

 

The Teamsters\’ annual barbecue at Gillig had to be a 2-day event (held on April 18 and 19), due to the large number of members who work at the Livermore-based bus manufacturer (over 550!)

Business Reps Steve Beck and Scott Gonsalves trucked out the Local\’s barbecue and prepared hamburgers and hot dogs for as many members who wanted to eat. Along with lunch, they brought out the 401(k) rep on Monday, April 18, to answer any last-minute tax time questions.

In addition to Gonsalves, Beck wanted to give special thanks to Business Reps Jonathan Pinney, Johnny Gallegos, and Steven Lua, and shop stewards Robert Terry, Lupe Pinedo, Joe Bulhoes, Lyle Funderburk and Joel Bellison, who together made it possible to serve more than 250 people within 45 minutes on both days.

Monday —April 18

Tuesday, April 19 (in the rain!)

Business Rep and Chair of the Northern California Construction Committee Stu Helfer reports that the Northern California Teamsters Heavy, Highway, Building and Construction Committee settled their third-year allocation that increased wages and benefits by a total of $2.25 per hour.

\”Over the 3-year life of this agreement, we saw wages increase by 11.67%; pension increase by 15.7%; we maintained health and welfare benefits for both active members and retirees, we strengthened our Training School Fund, and established a Labor Compliance Fund,\” Helfer explained.

About 500 Teamsters in Locals 853, 137, 150, 315, 386, 431, 439, 533, 665, 890 and 948 are covered by this agreement. \”But even more important, this agreement sets the bar for prevailing wage rates for Northern California and puts us in a strong position for a new agreement or extension in 2023,\” Helfer adds.

Helfer says that the Committee looks forward to members having lots of work under this agreement given the recent passage of the infrastructure bill on the federal level.