In July, San Benito Foods suddenly received a bill from the city for $4.5 million for their use of water because the city claimed that they needed to upgrade their storm drains.
Because this would have crippled and possibly forced the company to shut down, the union sprung into action. In addition to sponsoring a demonstration at City Hall on July 14, they initiated calls to the Mayor and the City Council and sued to get the fine reduced.
Keep readingBusiness Agent Efren Alarcon reports that the 120 members at Anheuser Busch, formerly Horizon Beverage, in Oakland overwhelmingly ratified a one-year agreement in August by mail ballot.
“They got a 3% wage increase (about 85 cents/hour) and full retro pay back to April 1. Hopefully, we’ll be back to meeting and voting in person by the time this contract comes due again.”
Keep readingThroughout the COVID-19 crisis, Local 2010 has been fighting hard to protect members from suffering layoffs or other loss of income. The Local won paid administrative leave and prevented any layoffs of California State University members through the last fiscal year. For the current fiscal year, the Local presented CSU with a comprehensive proposal on alternatives to layoffs and pushed for additional federal and state funding for California higher education in light of economic losses due to stay-at-home orders and distance learning.
Keep readingOn 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.
Keep readingUPS Package car stewards Ross Kinson, Christina Phoenix, and Jason Sarmiento knew that they and the members needed a variety of PPE in order to work safely through the pandemic, but the company was dragging its feet to supply it.
Instead of waiting, the three dug deep into their pockets to purchase sanitizer, masks, and other key items and then spent their weekend putting together PPE kits for their fellow drivers.
The company would not reimburse the three generous stewards,
Keep readingWhen 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.
Keep readingOn May 14, the members of Recology San Bruno voted overwhelmingly to ratify their contract and close the deal on a long, hard-fought negotiation.
The five-year deal ensures that the 28-member unit receives significant increases in wages and pension that will bring them to the area standard. This unit is comprised of semi-drivers, garbage and recycling drivers, mechanics, and loader operators who operate the San Bruno Transfer Station in addition to providing essential services to the residential and commercial community in the City of San Bruno.
Keep readingOn May 27, the six clerical workers who work at the BFI Newby Island Landfill in Milpitas voted unanimously to join their brothers and sisters at Local 350.
Due to the pandemic, the process to unionize this group was unlike typical organizing efforts.
“This was an interesting campaign to say the least,” said Local 350 President Sergio Arrañga. “Union representatives did not have the ability to meet with workers face to face,
Keep readingWhenever a new company wins the bid to provide services from a unionized company, it’s never a guarantee that the workers will be rehired and the union contract will be respected. Fortunately, all of that happened when Local 853 signatory employer MV Paratransit lost its contract with the City of Berkeley, and A Para Transit won it.
On June 1, the new company started their operation and offered work to all 22 of the existing MV drivers.
Keep readingThe challenges of the economic downturn have made it difficult to push forward new proposals for improvements in working conditions in various industries. Nonetheless, Local 665 successfully negotiated deals at some high-profile locations that the membership approved.
Teamsters at San Jose International Airport (SJC) recently approved two separate contracts that include annual increases of 3.5% for hourly wages. Additionally, members will maintain their health benefit packages through the life of the four-year agreement.
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