SF Mayor stands with Recology members
June 29, 2022
News and Press
Liquor drivers ratify first contract
June 23, 2022
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.
Keep readingNew contract at Kelloggs
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.
Keep readingLabor roars back to the Capitol
May 25, 2022
In its first legislative conference since 2019, the California Labor Federation and State Building Trades Council brought back hundreds of union members to Sacramento on May 16 and 17 to promote labor’s legislative agenda. Joint Council 7 was there in force.
Every attendee had to take an on-site COVID test to gain admittance. Due to lines and the mandatory 15-minute wait time, many attendees (including this writer) missed several of the morning speeches.
Keep readingLocal calls out AAA for closing branches during collective bargaining
May 12, 2022
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.
Keep readingIt’s time to apply for a JC7 scholarship
April 28, 2022
If you have a child who is graduating from high school this year and can use some extra cash for college or vocational school, now is the time to have them apply for a Harry Polland/Bob Morales Joint Council 7 Scholarship.
Joint Council 7 is pleased to announce the Annual Teamsters Joint Council 7 Harry Polland/Bob Morales Scholarship Fund. This program will provide $1,000 to the child of one member in each of the following affiliated Local Unions: 70,
Keep readingSacramento Rally — Taking UPS to the streets (and the Capitol)
March 30, 2022
How would you feel if, one day in January, you opened your pay stub and saw that your wages were cut by up to $6/hour? You’d probably be angry, wondering how a company that’s been going gangbusters since the start of the pandemic and has recently raised its prices to customers could do this to you. That’s just what happened to about 4,000 part-time workers at UPS—most at big-city hubs where the cost of living is highest,
Keep readingNine for nine in beating back Amazon
In September, 2021, Joint Council 7 launched our campaign challenging Amazon’s rapid expansion plans in the Bay Area. In particular, we set our sights on the company’s plans to build a giant distribution center in San Francisco on property purchased from one of Teamster Local 350’s largest employers, Recology. This project directly threatened 1,400 Teamster Local 2785 members at UPS.
Our campaign won on March 22 when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed legislation imposing interim zoning controls on that project and on all parcel delivery stations in San Francisco for the next 18 months.
Keep readingLooking for a contract, Local chases down AAA in Utah
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,
Keep readingAfter pandemic delay, great contract for liquor salespeople
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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