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About 30 Local 853 members who make Eggo Waffles at Kellogg’s in San Jose walked out at lunchtime on July 14 to let management know that safety matters. Local 853 had sent a cease and desist letter to the company demanding that they stop having workers and management run equipment that they are not certified to run, and that they stop forcing workers to work unreasonable shifts. “The company says they need more time, but there is more time,” Business Rep Ray Torres told the lunchtime gathering.

“The company claims ‘business needs’ require them to keep lines open even without trained workers, but we say that safety has to be the priority,” Torres said. “It is not our fault they can’t hire and train enough people.”

Shop Steward Eric Calderon addressed the group. “They need to stop this. Today’s lunchtime walkout is a good showing of unity.”

“The unit is you guys,” added Torres. “They’re not scared of me; they’re scared of you—especially when you’re united. This will be critical when our contract opens up in the next several months.”

As the walkout was winding down, a management rep came out to speak with Torres to find out what the workers’ demands were. Torres reminded him that the workers’ demands were in the letter he had recently sent the company but hadn’t yet received a response. “It’s all there, bro. Now, it’s time for you guys to act.”

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In the days since the walkout, Torres reports that the company heard the message loud and clear. \”They put together a training program to ensure that everybody is fully trained on all of the equipment and that their training has been documented. They also set up a Safety Committee, run by the members, that will meet monthly. There\’s more to be done, but these are important steps forward. It shows that they\’re listening to our members\’ concerns,\” Torres said.

Workers at the Macy\’s warehouses in Hayward and Union City have been working without a contract and under a wage freeze since March 2020, just as the pandemic started. In that difficult year, Macy’s has cut their hours; made family medical coverage unaffordable, and has refused to cover the rising cost of medical coverage.

On June 12, the workers took their plight directly to the shopping public at Macy’s flagship San Francisco store. In additional to picketing, they distributed leaflets asking people to talk to Macy’s managers to let them know that shoppers support the workers’ struggle for fairness. “Contract talks are continuing—but slowly,” says Business Rep Jesse Casqueiro.

Recall ballots have been mailed to every California voter and are due back on September 14. Your union strongly recommends that you just vote NO and mail your ballot back ASAP.

Governor Newsom deserves our support. He has led California through an unprecedented series of crises, including devastating wildfires, a national economic downturn and the worst pandemic in 100 years. Still, millionaires who want to dismantle our progress on worker protections are trying to shove their agenda down our throats with the anti-union recall.

Important Facts

Under Governor Newsom’s leadership, California is winning the war against the pandemic:

• California moved quicker than any other large state to vaccinate its residents.
• California distributed more vaccines – including to seniors, those with underlying conditions and essential workers — than all but five nations around the globe.
• We have the lowest COVID case rate in the country.
• Our economy is re-opening and people are getting back to work.

Who\’s behind the recall?

The backers of this recall are a who’s who of anti-union special interests. Combined, these corporate funders have spent tens of millions of dollars attacking unions and our agenda to protect workers. The anti-union recall backers want to lower wages, eliminate health and safety laws and kill union jobs.

This special election will cost Californians $300-$400 million even though Newsom was already up for re-election next year.

Here’s how the process works. You’ll get one ballot with two questions on it. Question one is: Should we recall the governor? Newsom needs 50% (plus one) voting NO on that question to stay in office. If he doesn’t get that, one of the 44 Republicans running will win by what could by a tiny proportion of the vote. It’s a dumb and expensive process that makes no sense for California.

Join us by voting NO on the anti-union recall!

 The 122 drivers, warehouse workers, draft technicians, order pickers, merchandisers and sales workers at AB (formerly Horizon Beverage) in Oakland ratified their four-year contract by a 72% margin in June.

“The biggest issue to overcome was that the structure of pay for drivers was changed from hourly to base-plus-commission,” explained Business Rep Efren Alarcon. “They’ll no longer get overtime, which is a big change. But our experience is that good drivers will make a lot more money this way.”

While the drivers were unhappy with that part of the proposal, Alarcon says he knew that the company was never going to lift it. “The Southern California local went on strike for six weeks over the same issue and the company didn’t budge.” Alarcon adds that the negotiating committee included four rank and file members who “pushed strong and hard to make as many improvements as possible to the driver compensation package, including safety nets.”

That change aside, the committee was successful in racking up big gains to the pension and medical plans. “We went from a company medical plan to Teamsters National Trust, which is huge. We also got significant raises for the sales group, bringing them up to where they should be. By ratifying the contract, all members received a $1,500 signing bonus.”

The AB contract was set to expire on April 1. Alarcon says that he and the committee began bargaining in February and that they met with the company 14 times via Zoom. “That was a challenge as we had to learn to exercise patience,” Alarcon adds. “The process was lengthy but cordial and professional throughout.”

Alarcon had a lot of thanks to spread around. First was to the bargaining committee:  Patrick Christy and Sujit Singh, both drivers; Rich Weinberger, Sales; and Tim Griego, Warehouse. He also wanted to acknowledge the help and advice he got from Local 853 President Dennis Hart, Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise, and IBT Beverage Conference Chair Greg Nowak, who used his relationship with AB nationally and lent the support of the Conference to help finalize the contract.

Sometimes good news takes time! On June 14, 2021, the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled in favor of Local 853 regarding a unilateral change made by the San Francisco Department of Public Works.

The union had filed an unfair labor practice charge against DPW in August of 2018 alleging that the new Human Resources Director at DPW had made a unilateral change by allowing employees only one union representative at investigations, Weingarten meetings and Skelly hearings and that the change was implemented without notice to the union.  The PERB judge stated that it was the Employer’s duty to make sure policy is implemented properly, which includes giving notice to the union and making sure that HR directives do not result in a unilateral change in working conditions.

As a result, PERB ordered the City to stop imposing a one-representative limit on employees at investigations, Weingarten meetings and Skelly hearings and they ordered a notice posting.  Most importantly, PERB ordered the City to make whole the affected employees by taking back any disciplinary action that resulted from the failure to permit more than one representative at Skelly hearings and Weingarten and investigative meetings.

The Teamsters San Jose parking lot was the site of the Youth Ride and Stunt Show on Saturday, June 19. The event was held with other community activists to help at-risk youth stay off the streets and either get a union job or further their education More than 150 young people attended the event.

The Department of Industrial Relations ruled in favor of a Teamster petition to require the prevailing wage for ready-mix drivers who do on- and off-hauling to and from construction sites in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties. This means that the minimum rates for this work go from $33.85 to $69.07 per hour.

“This doesn’t change the rate for our members,” says Stu Helfer “because they were already getting the higher rate. However, it protects our standards and brings up the wages of lots of non-union ready-mix drivers when they work on a prevailing wage job.”

This determination had previously been made in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

“Our contractors told us that we have to level the playing field. So we did,” Helfer says with great pride.

A majority of the 15 drivers, janitors, and maintenance workers at Crothall Healthcare in Gilroy filed cards to show their interest in joining Local 853. These workers had a laundry list of grievances, including safety issues, favoritism, mistreatment, and lack of respect. Surprising everyone—including organizer Pablo Barrera—the company recognized the unit without having to have an NLRB election.

“We were sure that we’d have a fight on our hands,” says Barrera. “But because the Manteca facility is already under contract with Local 386, the company didn’t have a problem recognizing the union through card check. We are working to develop a contract using the 386 agreement as a template.”

The Gilroy facility services major Bay Area hospitals with linens, towels, blankets, pillowcases, laboratory coats, and hospital scrubs.

The nearly 100 members at the Safeway Milk Plant in San Leandro unanimously ratified their new four-year contract on July 8.

“These members worked through the pandemic, supplying milk and other products for Safeway and other brands. The company has been investing a lot of money into expanding the plant for new lines, like almond milks and creamers, and it was time that they also invested in their employees,” said Business Rep Jesse Casqueiro.

The agreement was all about economics: The members will get good wage increases each year of the contract and the company will increase their pension contributions each year as well. The contract also included additional trainer pay and a night shift differential.

After our highly successful San Jose job fair in July, Teamsters Local 853 is sponsoring an Oakland job fair on August 28. It will be held from 8 a.m. to Noon on Saturday, August 28 at our Oakland office parking lot: 7750 Pardee Lane.

Job seekers are encouraged to bring copies of their resumé. They\’ll have an opportunity to meet job recruiters from about 15 different Teamster employers, ranging from drivers (tech bus, school bus, paratransit, truck); warehouse; and manufacturing. All jobs pay good wage, offer a variety of benefits and a union contract with a voice on the job

This is an ideal opportunity for people who were laid off during the pandemic or who want to make a job/career change.

Check out the brochure here: Job Fair Oakland