Policy and Politics

Pushing forth many important bills in the 2019 legislative session

July 1, 2019
Sacramento Report

We’ve made it halfway through this year’s Legislative session and we continue to move our agenda here in California despite significant pushback from the Trump Administration.

First, Trump and his Labor Department have moved to take away meal and rest breaks from truck drivers. Then, they tried to take away funding for High Speed Rail. They recently declared “gig” workers, such as Uber drivers, independent contractors and are now going after meal and rest breaks away for bus drivers.

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

April 3, 2019
Political Director's Report, Teamster News
Teamsters Local 853 members attend the Lobby Day activities. Here they’re joined by Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Anthony Rendon (center). Beside Rendon (right) is Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula and JC7 Political Director Doug Bloch.

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.

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Pushing forth many important bills in the 2019 legislative session

Sacramento Report

The Legislature and our Governor have settled into the 2019 legislative session poised to tackle some big issues. A good economy and the tight fiscal policies of the Brown administration have provided the state with a record surplus, resulting in lots of pressure to spend it on a variety of worthy policies. Expanded healthcare, child care, universal preschool, free community college, among many other things, are all on the agenda to put on the Governor’s desk.

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Joint Council 7 goes big — and wins big — in November election

December 20, 2018
News and Press, Political Director's Report

 

The merger of Joint Councils 7 and 38 in 2010 united more than 100,000 Teamsters in 23 local unions covering a vast territory—50 of California’s 58 counties and all of Northern Nevada. Despite this, our 2010 endorsement list was only two pages long. We made endorsements in most of the federal and statewide races, but at the local level – city councils, county boards of supervisors, school boards, and ballot measures – we mostly stayed out.

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2018: The legislative session in review

Sacramento Report, Uncategorized

By all measures, 2018 was an incredibly successful year for the California Teamsters. We were able to accomplish our biggest legislative priorities, and in a midterm election year, we saw Democratic super-majorities increase in both the Assembly and Senate. Teamster-backed candidates also largely prevailed in their state and congressional races. With super-majorities in both houses of the Legislature, we are well-positioned for 2019.

Below are some of our most important accomplishments this year.

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Technology and the future of trucking—more reasons Teamsters do politics

September 24, 2018
Political Director's Report

This month, Working Partnerships USA and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education released a groundbreaking report entitled “Driverless? Autonomous Trucks and the Future of the American Trucker.”  The author is Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who also spent time as a long-haul truck driver. He captured that experience in a book called The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream. Steve presented his report findings and signed copies of his book at our Joint Council seminar in June.

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Keeping health care prices down—another good example of why Teamsters do politics

July 24, 2018
Political Director's Report

For the fifth year in a row, the availability and affordability of health care topped the list of concerns in a nationwide Gallup poll conducted in May.  Health care ranked higher on the list than crime and violence, the economy, unemployment, the quality of the environment, and many other issues.

This should be no surprise to any Teamster.  The rising cost of healthcare is front-and-center in every contract we negotiate, eating away at money we could otherwise put into raises and our pensions.

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Automation will impact jobs; how much is up to us

April 30, 2018
Political Director's Report, Teamster News

In the past few months, the issues around automation and driverless trucks have become a major focus for Joint Council 7. You may ask why Teamsters should care about automation. The answer is the potential “robot apocalypse.” Some people estimate upwards of four million transportation workers will lose their jobs to automation in the next 5-20 years. Whether and how that happens  will depend on how our employers and our union act on the issue of automation.

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Raising Important Worker Issues in the 2018 Legislative Session

February 1, 2018
Sacramento Report

The Legislature is back in full swing in Sacramento, and we expect an eventful session with both the Senate and Assembly poised to take on some very weighty issues.

Sexual harassment is the issue of the day; the scandals that first came to light in Hollywood are coming to roost in California politics. A handful of legislators have already been forced to resign or take leave, and there certainly will be more to come.

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Looking Back and Looking Forward

Political Director's Report

With changes at the leadership level here at Joint Council 7, now is a good time to look back on all that was accomplished under the leadership of our former Joint Council President, Rome Aloise, and to look forward as well.

In 2009, when Rome Aloise took over as President, Teamsters in Northern California were divided. In the Bay Area and on the Coast, Teamsters were part of Joint Council 7. Local Unions in the Central Valley,

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