News

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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