In a major arbitration victory announced in November, Local 2785 UPS package drivers are getting justice after a long battle against the company for skimping on drivers’ overtime pay.
The fight began when the local filed a grievance in response to the company delaying drivers’ start times. Union persistence led to the recent ruling and a remedy of $1.6 million for approximately 1,100 members at UPS centers in San Francisco, Menlo Park, and San Bruno.
Keep readingMembers don’t often think about their union until management screws up and they need some support. When Silvina Flores went to work on a bright November morning at the UPS South San Francisco Hub, something that she’d been doing for five years, she had no idea that a dumb mistake made by a manager would result in her getting fired. But that’s what happened, and even though it took a few months, her union reps made sure that she was brought back to work and made whole for the wages and benefits she should have earned.
Keep readingWhen the national agreement for Gate Gourmet and other airport service companies was first negotiated, the unions agreed to waive the health care provisions for San Francisco, because, at that time, the company offered excellent health care.
However, the tide for benefits began to change and the local Teamsters and Hotel and Restaurant Employees (HERE) unions wanted to eliminate the waiver to ensure that their members got excellent health coverage.
Local 2785 Business Rep Terry Mullady worked with HERE’s Mike Casey and the Service Employees International Union to lobby the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Keep readingWithin the first few weeks that the pandemic hit and travel was restricted, thousands of airport workers lost their jobs. With so few people flying, the need for airplane cleaning and food service suddenly became negligible.
Nearly a third of the Teamsters who work as drivers and helpers at Gate Gourmet at the San Francisco Airport immediately found themselves jobless. HERE—the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union—saw 70% layoffs.
Fortunately, Congress came to the rescue.
Keep readingBusiness Rep Terry Mullady had an opportunity to meet with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in August to talk about the difficulties he and the Teamster reps across the nation are having in getting a new contract for the 4,000 workers at Gate Gourmet.
“The contract expired in December, 2017 and the company is not negotiating in good faith. They offered a sub-par company health plan and sub-standard wages,” says Mullady. “However,
Keep readingThousands of people, including several Teamsters, lost their homes and jobs in the Camp Fire last November. Rising to the occasion, Teamsters Local 2785 Retirees Club President Bob Silva reports that their club held a raffle in December that raised a nice donation for the victims.
The need is still great. If you’re interested in giving, one good place would be to the Oroville Hope Center. You can find their Camp Fire assistance page at:
www.orovillehopecenter.org/services/camp-fire-donations
Keep readingWhen feeder drivers discovered that their pay for the New Year’s Day carry-over on January 2, 2018, was both late and incorrect, the Local filed a grievance.
After nearly a year’s worth of talks, the company agreed that the workers were, in fact, owed the money. In February, checks totaling more than $14,000 were distributed to the affected feeder drivers.
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