On July 18, the Northern California Ready Mix drivers working for Cemex and Central Concrete, who are members of Local 853 and 315, overwhelmingly ratified their contract extension by mail ballot. This contract impacts 600 members at facilities across the Greater Bay Area.

“Given the current circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting inability to do most things in person, full-blown negotiations would have taken months and would have put areas of our contract at potential risk,” said Local 853 Principal Officer Rome Aloise.

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On July 20, Teamsters joined trade unionists from across the East Bay for an event called Strike for Black Lives. The purpose was both to support Black Lives Matter and to draw attention to the plight of low-wage workers who are deemed “essential workers” during the pandemic. 

After a brief rally, the event marched from Mosswood Park to a McDonalds on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, where workers had, at that point, been on strike for 42 days over safety and other issues.

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When you think of “paratransit,” perhaps you envision a service that takes seniors and the disabled to day centers and medical appointments. That may be the mainstay, but paratransit does more than that. At least it did before the pandemic hit, and ended most of that business.

Some drivers at SF Paratransit, a TransDev company, were laid off in late February. That changed in early April when the city realized they could use paratransit services and put the drivers to work as “COVID” drivers.

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In a secret ballot mail vote held in February, the members of Local 287 voted overwhelmingly to merge into Local 853. The merger became effective on May 1.

After an explanation of the merger was mailed to each member, the Local held an open meeting for all Local 287 members. Nearly 300 members turned out to ask Local 853 Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise questions about the pros and cons of a merger.   

“Local 287,

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Teamster members who drive the construction vehicles for the City and County of San Francisco are now doing that work with a little more of a smile. Local 853 members haul the big equipment, the tractor trucks that clean out the sewers, the water trucks, and more. On May 9, those 200 Teamsters overwhelmingly ratified their new three-year agreement, and according to Business Rep Dan Harrington, “It’s the best contract we’ve been able to get in the last 20 years.”

Harrington explained that the negotiations had to go to mediation,

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The tech workers start lining up before 7 a.m. to get on buses in the Castro district of San Francisco to be driven down to companies like Apple, Google and Tesla in Silicon Valley. On August 16, their routine was scuttled as nearly 100 Teamsters came to the active bus stop to press the shuttle bus companies for a master agreement that includes a pension plan.

Blocking buses for 3-5 minutes each, the Teamsters let the tech passengers know that their drivers were seeking a better deal.

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