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.
