Every year, local, state, and federal government agencies give out billions of dollars to corporations through procurement contracts, tax credits, subsidies, grants, and more. These are our tax dollars “at work.” This raises two questions: does it work for us? And if not, what can we do?
Sadly, the answer to the first question is “not enough.” However, the answer to the second question is “we can do a lot.”
For decades,
Keep readingThere is an old adage under the state’s capitol dome that nothing big happens in the Legislature during an election year. It appears that bit of wisdom no longer holds true, as we saw groundbreaking deal after groundbreaking deal take shape this summer culminating in potentially huge policy shifts sent to the Governor’s desk. Some of these include healthcare malpractice reform, new recycling requirements on single-use packaging, ambitious climate change and clean energy rules, measures to address mental health and addiction for the homeless,
Keep readingThis is my 16th year as a Teamster. I was hired as political director in 2010 right after the merger of Joint Councils 7 and 38. That merger united more than 100,000 Teamsters from Bakersfield to the Oregon border and Reno under one tent. Overnight, we became one of the largest Joint Councils in the Teamsters. In fact, our Council is larger than 41 states.
I was hired to build political power so we can organize new workers into the Teamsters and negotiate the best wages and working conditions for our members.
Keep readingLast September, 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 readingThe 2022 legislative session has kicked off and our union is moving an aggressive agenda to improve the lives of our members and their families. We have eight sponsored or co-sponsored bills which are summarized below. However, before I get into those, it’s important to mention a big victory that happened earlier this year.
We have worked very hard since the beginning of the pandemic to push for policies that protect workers from unnecessary exposure and to reduce negative economic consequences when workers need to protect themselves.
Keep readingHello from Sacramento! We are about to embark on the 2022 Legislative session and there are many issues on the horizon that will potentially impact our union. Electoral redistricting, ballot initiatives, big policy proposals, and more will all be a part of the 2022 landscape. However, before I get into those things, I would like to highlight some of our victories in 2021.
We co-sponsored a number of bills last year and three were signed into law by Governor Newsom.
Keep readingThe COVID-19 pandemic led to an explosion in online shopping. Teamsters in many industries are working harder than ever. UPS, our largest employer, hired 50,000 Teamsters since the pandemic began. And with the holidays coming up, UPS just announced plans to hire 100,000 more seasonal workers.
Amazon is UPS’ largest customer. Amazon has also rapidly become the second largest employer in the U.S. The company hired 500,000 people last year and just announced plans to hire another 125,000 warehouse workers and 50,000 delivery drivers by the end of the year.
Keep readingIn 2018, Teamsters Joint Council 7 supported Gavin Newsom’s election to Governor. In fact, we’ve been with him since his first run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1996. Why? Because he’s been with us. That’s why we’re supporting him now and recommend that all members vote NO on the recall. The election has been set for September 14, 2021.
Newsom was in San Francisco government from 1996-2011, first as a county supervisor and then as mayor.
Keep readingBy Shane Gusman
Hello from your State Capital! The Legislative session is in full swing, with roughly 1,500 pieces of legislation moving through the process.
As a Union, we have a very diverse jurisdiction so we have to keep an eye on most of these bills and take active positions on hundreds. We also have our own legislative program where we “sponsor” specific bills to help our members and help to grow the union.
Keep readingAs this paper goes to press, the U.S. Congress just passed legislation unlike any we’ve seen in our lifetimes. As reported in this issue’s cover story, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) will protect Teamster pensions in struggling plans-—a victory the union has fought long and hard for through 20 years of Democrat and Republican administrations.
Thankfully, our Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Fund is in strong shape but, to keep it that way,
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