Author: Joint Council 7

SF Scavenger mechanics join Teamsters

Mechanics at South San Francisco Scavenger Company in South San Francisco voted to join Teamsters Local 350. The nine-worker unit voted by mail and ballots were tabulated on August 17.

“I want to commend these workers for their courage and thank them for their genuine curiosity about what it means to be in a union and to be represented,” said Business Representative Robert Sandoval. “These workers who make the operations run want to know their rights and what can be afforded to them personally through collective bargaining.”

The mechanics at the South San Francisco Scavenger Company were one of the few remaining non-union worker groups within Local 350’s jurisdiction.

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Stewards seminar attracts big guns

It’s not often that the Teamsters General President shows up at a union training, but Local 150 members hosted President Sean O’Brien at their July 16 steward seminar in Sacramento.

After Secretary-Treasurer Dale Wentz welcomed the group and thanked the Stewards for attending on their day off, Chris Rosell, Director of IBT Organizing, spoke about the importance of organizing for our union. O’Brien served as the Keynote Speaker, talking to the stewards about the International’s commitment to winning and defending strong national contracts,

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UCSF dispatchers fight out-of-unit work assignments—and win!

When dispatchers at UC San Francisco Health received a “suggestion” from management that they shadow AFSCME-represented workers around UCSF hospitals, supposedly for professional development reasons, they knew something was wrong. They quickly called their union rep, who immediately got in touch with UCSF management.

While management tried to pretend that the new work being given to Teamsters dispatchers was purely voluntary and for workers’ benefit, our members knew better. We informed UCSF management that this back-door attempt to assign more work to Teamsters from another bargaining unit was completely out of line and AFSCME agreed.

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Worker power and collective action leads to strong win for Contra Costa County Teamsters

After months of tough negotiations, the 2,000-plus Contra Costa County members of Teamsters Local 856 won a strong contract in August. 

The victory comes after months of direct action from the workers of Contra Costa County, including two rallies at the Board of Supervisors, 14 worksite actions, and a successful strike school that brought together more than 400 attendees. Countless union members called into County Board of Supervisors meetings and lobbied the County’s elected officials for support.

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Local greets UPS CEO with a rally

On August 24, Carol Tomé, the CEO of UPS, decided to grace the Reno UPS hub with her presence. She was greeted with a rally by Local 533 drivers who were protesting the lack of air conditioning, both in the building and in the package cars. 

“We have had drivers go down to heat-related injuries in record numbers,” says Secretary-Treasurer Debbie Calkins. “One driver had to go to the ER three times in less than a month;

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Long talks with Republic finally completed

It might have taken ten months, with the union soliciting support from local city officials while simultaneously filing charges of unfair labor practices through the Labor Board, but Local 315 business reps and members who work at Republic Services in Richmond finally have a contract.

The agreement includes strengthening seniority provisions and adding a bi-monthly scheduled arbitrator within the grievance language who will hear and protect the members’ rights for years to come.

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IBT President Sean O’Brien comes to JC7

Joint Council 7 was proud to host IBT General President Sean O’Brien at its quarterly Delegates Meeting held in Monterey on September 17. A full house was in attendance to meet the recently-elected head of the International Union.

“We thank President O’Brien for his message of unity and for his leadership in building the strength of our union for the great battles ahead,” said JC7 President Jason Rabinowitz. “Our number one task is unity,

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Teamsters notch legal win for drivers

Teamsters won a great legal victory on June 30, when the Supreme Court refused to hear the trucking industry’s protest of AB5, the law passed in 2019 to end the misclassification of workers as “independent contractors” and rein in the “gig” economy.

As soon as the law was passed, the California Trucking Association sued, alleging that they should be able to continue to misclassify truck drivers as independent contractors even though those drivers work at the beck and call of the companies.

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Teamster political power wins fair pay for workers

Every year, local, state, and federal government agencies give out billions of dollars to corporations through procurement contracts, tax credits, subsidies, grants, and more. These are our tax dollars “at work.” This raises two questions: does it work for us? And if not, what can we do?

Sadly, the answer to the first question is “not enough.”  However, the answer to the second question is “we can do a lot.”

For decades,

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Joint Council prepares to take on Amazon

The fight against Amazon is huge, but Alejandro Negrete is not daunted. Negrete, as he is called, joined Joint Council 7 in July as Amazon Lead Organizer.

Founded in 1994, Amazon is now the third largest public company by revenue in the world. The company employs more than 1.6 million workers—double the number it employed before the pandemic. With more than 1,100 distribution centers, Amazon surpasses the total number of facilities run by its 

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