Gerald Payton O’Hara
1936 – 2018
Gerry O’Hara, long-time advocate for the Teamsters Public Affairs Council in Sacramento, died in April, 2018 following many years of struggle with heart and lung issues. He was 82 years old.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Gerry received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of San Francisco in 1958. He served in the U.S. Army from 1958-1960 at Fort Ord,
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2019 JAS Teamster COLOR for Web
Keep readingSolidarity is a word that you’ll usually see in any article pertaining to labor. Solidarity is a powerful word that resonates throughout the labor movement. But the ultimate form of solidarity occurs when members rally around their fellow brothers and sisters to flex the power of brotherhood. On May 16, 145 members of Teamsters Local 350, who work for Recology San Mateo, did just that by voting unanimously to approve strike sanction.
The negotiating committee,
Keep readingOn November 1, 2018, Local 137 won the election to represent 32 employees of AccentCare Home Health of California. The bargaining unit consists of in-home health care providers and clerical staff.
“Shortly after we won the election, we learned that the company had stopped paying employees for ‘Windshield Time’,” which Business Agent Kim Carelli described as an additional stipend paid based on the number of miles driven per day to care for patients.
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Teamsters 856 member, Chelsey Yu is a front desk agent at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. Last year, she gave birth to her daughter and began her maternity leave. A few months later, she received a letter from the Clift stating she had exhausted her protected leave and her health and welfare benefits would no longer be covered.
Based on a clear and established past practice and contract language, Chelsey knew she should have been able to use her sick leave and vacation hours to meet the minimum 80 hours she needed each month to qualify for her collectively bargained health benefits.
Keep readingWhat will you be doing when you retire? Fishing? Playing with the grandkids?
If you’re Earl Randall, a member of Local 70 for 42 years, you’ll be volunteering to help the homeless people in your community, even as you approach age 88.
Earl has a long history with the Teamsters. He was an officer for 13 years, served as a Trustee, was the Warden for Joint Council 7, and worked for the Western Conference of Teamsters for a spell.
Keep readingTeamsters from more than 15 local unions within California Joint Councils 7 and 42 took part in a hearing and lobby day in Sacramento in support of legislation to help end misclassification. The Lobby Day was sponsored by the California Labor Federation.
In April, the California Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. vs Superior Court of Los Angeles, referred to as “Dynamex,” simplified the test for determining whether a worker is classified as an employee for minimum wage and overtime protections.
Keep readingTeamsters Local 2010, in coalition with its sister union at the CSU system, CSUEU, has co-sponsored legislation (AB 369 sponsored by Assm. Weber) to restore salary steps for CSU employees across the state.
“This is a fight to restore basic fairness for CSU workers,” says Jason Rabinowitz, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 2010. “Our hard-working CSU members deserve to receive step increases like every other worker in state service, and we will continue to bring Teamster power to bear until AB 369 is signed into law by Gov.
Keep readingAs the heart of Garden City and Milpitas Sanitation, the clerical unit is responsible for the accounts and is at the forefront of customer service as they answer customer questions and concerns. After months of negotiations, the nine members in this hard-working clerical unit voted unanimously to ratify a new 5-year contract that will raise wages, protect the employees, and reward them for the hard work they do every day.
Virginia Jimenez, an 18-year Teamsters Local 350 member,
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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