Teamster News

Big win at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco

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.

… Read more »

Keep reading

87-year old Teamster retiree volunteers with the homeless

What 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.

… Read more »

Keep reading

California Teamsters take on Sacramento to call for end to worker misclassification

Teamsters 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.

… Read more »

Keep reading

Members fight to restore salary steps

Teamsters 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.

… Read more »

Keep reading

Garden City Clerical – 100% Yes!

As 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,

… Read more »

Keep reading

Big back pay settlement

When 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.

… Read more »

Keep reading

Members help Butte County deal with animals after devastating fire

Last fall, devastating fires left families centered in Paradise, CA, displaced from their homes and communities with the monumental task of rebuilding. The Camp Fire was dubbed the worst in California history because of the tragic number of lives lost and structures destroyed.

In the midst of it all, pets and other animals were caught up in the confusion and often separated from their owners. To help manage this problem, employees from the City and County of San Francisco’s Animal Care &

… Read more »

Keep reading

Welcome new members at Reddaway

Teamsters Local 439 is proud to announce that the six clerical workers at Reddaway’s Tracy trucking facility voted for union representation and have already ratified their first contract.

During the two-month organizing drive, the employer held captive audience meetings and brought in people from around the country to encourage a NO vote. But the women of the clerical unit had seen how the drivers worked with their union and didn’t buy the opposition hype.

… Read more »

Keep reading

Teamsters Local 287 wins Cemex driver’s job back

Teamsters Local 287  has won a fired CEMEX Ready-Mix driver’s job back with back pay, benefits and no loss of seniority.

The company fired the driver, Eddie Venancio, on January 25, 2018 alleging that he had “an altercation on a job site” nine days earlier after his truck was struck by a driver of a dump truck on a jobsite. Business Rep George Netto filed a grievance and the parties agreed to hold a hearing before an arbitrator.

… Read more »

Keep reading

Freight drivers deserve better than a race to the bottom

Every day, millions of packages arrive at online shoppers’ doorsteps, after having traveled hundreds, even thousands of miles from ports to warehouses to delivery hubs and finally to homes. And in keeping with California’s climate goals, companies in the business of moving goods are being asked to cut greenhouse gas emissions in this heavy polluting sector.

However, freight and delivery companies are finding ways to pass on the responsibility of cleaning up fleets to individual drivers,

… Read more »

Keep reading