News

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.

When Tesla decided to contract only with WeDriveU to manage its tech bus service, the drivers who had previously worked for Compass did not lose their jobs. Rather, as the contract stipulated, they were brought on to the same contract, merging their service with the drivers who had been with WeDriveU from the beginning. Unfortunately, due to the merger of the two groups, some members were losing their previous place in the seniority line.

In order to smooth the merger, Local 853 hosted a BBQ on September 29, and served hot links, chicken, ribs, and sausage as a way to break the ice and get the two groups together before the merger was officially launched on October 1. For the 30 or so drivers who attended, the event was capped with a union-made cake decorated with the slogan \”We\’re not the best cuz we\’re the biggest …We\’re the biggest cuz we\’re the best!\”

By now, you should have received your ballot for the International Teamsters leadership election. (If not, call 844-428-8683 for a replacement.)

It\’s important to the union and to your Local that you vote. Participation rates are watched by our employers to ensure that the union has the strong backing of the membership. Our goal is for Local 853 to be Number One in terms of voter participation.

The candidates are all running on one of two slates. All you have to do is pick a slate and fill in one oval for that full slate. Do your research in the IBT Magazine or at IBTVote.com and then vote. It just takes a minute and it can make all the difference for your future as a Teamster.

When all is said and done, the 2021 Recall Election will be seen as a colossal waste of money. Governor Newsom handily survived the attempt to oust him from office — just one year before the regularly scheduled election. When he won the 2018 election with 61%, that was considered a landslide; he beat back the recall with a 63% margin, ultimately strengthening his hand across the state.

Labor went all out to oppose the recall, with union members up and down the state walking precincts, texting, and calling other union members to ensure that they understood the stakes, and completed and mailed in their ballots.

According to the California Labor Federation, which coordinated the labor opposition to the recall: \”While this election was wasteful (to the tune of nearly $300 million it cost taxpayers), it wasn’t an exercise in futility. The mobilization of working people around the core economic issues that led to the defeat of the recall will live on long after every last vote is counted. The labor movement once again proved that every campaign is an organizing opportunity. What we built in 2021 to defeat the recall will carry over into the next election year. It will carry over into the organizing campaigns that will grow our movement. It will carry over into legislative wins to build power for all workers.\”

Local 853 was pleased to be able to sponsor our second job fair of the summer at the parking lot of our Oakland office on August 28. In all, 18 Teamster employers showed up to fill more than 350 jobs—from drivers (truck, paratransit, school bus, tech bus, and more), to warehouse workers, merchandisers, and manufacturing workers. Hundreds of job seekers came to check out those positions—both to our Oakland job fair and to the San Jose job fair that had been held on July 10.

We thank the employers for making their positions available. These include Bimbo Bakeries,  CertainTeed, First Student, First Transit, Genesis Logistics, GSC Logistics, Hallcon, Kelloggs, Mondelez International, Mosaic Global Transportation, MV Transportation, Pepsi, Reddaway/Yellow, Reyes Coca Cola, RNDC, Second Harvest Food Bank, Storer Transit Systems, Sysco Foods, T. Marzetti, TransDev/SF Paratransit, and WeDriveU.

We also thank the community agencies that helped with outreach: Work2Future and Trades Information Project in San Jose, and West Oakland Job Resources Center, Oakland PIC—both in Oakland; and Alameda County Workforce Board in Hayward.

\”It\’s always a win-win to get more people hired into great Teamster jobs—for our current members, for potential new members, and for our employers,\” said Local 853 Director of Communications Debra Chaplan. \”We\’ll do more job fairs as the need arises.\”

Local 853 is pleased to welcome the 1,000 members of Watsonville-based Local 912 to the fold. The merger of the two locals was finalized in July, 2021.

“We reached out to [Local 853 Secretary-Treasurer] Rome [Aloise] to see what we could do to benefit our membership,\” said former Local 912 Principal Officer and now Local 853 Business Rep Steven Lua. \”We’ve dropped down to about 1,000 members. We’re still financially healthy, but not enough that we could hire another business agent. Our visibility in companies was reduced for lack of staff and we were starting to have to levy assessments on members.”

\”Local 853 has capabilities and resources to put out information and keep the membership updated and informed. By bringing these resources to Santa Cruz County, we’ll go from 1,000 to 17,000 members giving us strength in numbers” Lua added.

“We’re pleased to welcome the members of Local 912 into Local 853,” says Aloise. “The local has a long and proud history, but as times and unionization patterns have changed, it will help them to have the resources that our larger local can offer.”

Local 912 is a general local with members in packaging (UPS & DHL), construction (Granite Rock and Los Ademas); hospitality and health care (home care and Watsonville Community Hospital); agriculture (Del Mar & Driscoll), bottling (Gatorade, Martinellis and HE Ryder) and more.

Local 853 held our first job fair on July 10 in the parking lot of our San Jose office. Over 170 job-seekers attended the event and applied for the numerous driver, warehousing, merchandiser, and manufacturing positions offered by 14 different employers. We were told that this was the first in-person job fair in Silicon Valley since the pandemic started.

The impetus for planning the fair came from several South Bay employers who complained to Business Rep Ray Torres that they couldn’t hire enough people as the post-pandemic economy started opening up. Knowing that these union positions offer good wages and benefits and a voice on the job, Torres thought that a job fair could help turn the tide—both helping our employers and making good jobs available to members who may have been laid-off due to the pandemic and to the community.

Planning for the fair included a publicity campaign that netted stories on KPIX-TV and KQED-Radio. The local reached out to members via email and text both to let laid-off members know about the opportunity to get back into Teamster positions and also to tell friends and family. The Local also reached out to Work 2 Future—the local unemployment/social services office and several unions whose members suffered layoffs and community groups.

A line of job-seekers snaked down the block before the fair even opened at 8 a.m. Once they entered the fair, job-seekers could talk to each employer to learn what positions were available and whether they met the qualifications. Employers reported collecting dozens of resumés and they’ve been interviewing and hiring people they met that day. One Amazon driver came by to check out the union jobs.

The Local is planning a second fair at our Oakland office on August 28. Watch for notices and spread the word far and wide!