After voting to unionize in 2021 by a vote of 17 to 1, the 25 drivers from Zephyr Express (Winebow) in Benicia unanimously ratified their first contract in March. These drivers deliver alcohol to grocery stores, BevMo stores, and other liquor retailers.

“We believe that the talks went smoothing precisely because of the resolve these drivers showed in demanding a union,” says Secretary-Treasurer Don E. Garcia. “And that resolve paid off. Their day one wage increases ranged from $2 per hour to $10.16 per hour. 

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In 2021 and 2022, the workers at the Kelloggs facilities in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Kansas had to go on strike for up to three months to get a decent contract. When the contract at Kelloggs’ Eggo Waffle facility in San Jose was due to expire in June, that recent history was all too real for the 150 members and Business Rep Ray Torres. Fortunately, with two strike authorizations in hand, no strike was necessary and members got the best contract they’ve ever had.

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American Automobile Association declares war on middle-class jobs

 Teamsters Local 665 is condemning the American Automobile Association (AAA) for closing branches in Yreka and Stockton, Calif. during negotiations, likely terminating the jobs of insurance sales agents who are currently bargaining for their first union contract.

“These workers chose to organize with us because AAA is outsourcing high-paying, middle-class careers into churn-and-burn, low-paying, high-turnover telemarketing jobs,” said Tony Deloria, Local 665 Secretary-Treasurer. “AAA needs to stop acting like a hedge fund and start acting like a membership association.

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In June 2021, more than 400 AAA insurance agents organized with Teamsters Local 665 in a hard-fought campaign that covered 77 separate locations from Merced up to the Oregon border.  Nine months later, these workers still don’t have a contract and AAA recently proposed a 40% wage reduction. 

For the past 30 years, AAA has held its annual membership meeting in Walnut Creek or San Francisco, but this year, the company took the unprecedented step of moving the meeting to Farmington,

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It may have taken over a year and a half, but the thousands of members across California who do sales for Southern Glazer Wine & Spirits & RNDC (formerly known as Young’s Market) ratified their richest contract to date. Local 853 alone has about 684 workers under this contract who received huge wage increases, full maintenance of benefits on their health and welfare, additional holidays, and more.

Business Rep Steve Beck was quick to acknowledge that the bargaining committee,

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After almost nine months of talks and hard-bargaining on economics, the members at Recology of the Coast ratified their new five-year successor collective bargaining agreement by a 94% margin on March 3, 2022. 

“There was a considerable gap between the offers we were getting from the company and where we needed to be. We were set to vote a strike authorization but at the 11th hour, we received a proposal which stayed our vote and allowed us to resume bargaining,” said lead negotiator and Business Representative Robert Sandoval. 

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