Joint Council 7 launches new organizing program
August 5, 2024
At the opening of the Joint Council 7 delegates’ meeting and annual seminar in June, President Peter Finn told the nearly 300 Teamsters in attendance that when it comes to organizing, actions speak louder than words — and the Joint Council is taking decisive action with the implementation of a partnership with the I.B.T. to create the new Joint Council 7 Organizing Program.
The program will intensify organizing efforts across the 18 Local Unions in Joint Council 7, with the ultimate goal of growing Teamster membership, bringing strong Teamster contracts to workers in each Local Union’s jurisdiction, and uplifting standards for current members.
Central to the program is staffing: the partnership dictates that a team of organizers funded equally by the I.B.T. and Joint Council will be dedicated solely to working on campaigns for Joint Council 7 Local Unions, with the I.B.T. providing a lead organizer. Further, the I.B.T. will support campaigns with strategic mapping, industry research, member organizer training and mobilization, and campaign communications.
“Winning organizing campaigns takes a commitment of time, effort, and dedicating the resources necessary to be successful, and that’s why the creation of the Joint Council 7 Organizing Program is so important,” said Finn.
The focus on organizing continued on day two of the seminar, as the presidents from every joint council in the Western Region — Joint Council 42 President Chris Griswold, Joint Council 37 President Mark Davison, Joint Council 28 President Rick Hicks, Joint Council 3 President Spencer Hogue, and Finn — held an organizing panel with I.B.T. Director of Organizing Chris Rosell to lay out their vision of coordinated organizing efforts across the Western Region — from California to Colorado — from Alaska to Hawaii — to bring new members into the Teamsters union.
“With our partnerships with the I.B.T. and working together with the four other Teamster Joint Councils in the Western Region, we will be able to target strategically, coordinate our efforts, and combine the resources necessary to win campaigns,” Finn said.
Joint Council 7 and national Teamster leaders with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who served as the annual seminar’s keynote speaker.
“I look forward to embarking on this organizing program with Joint Council 7 to win for workers in Northern California and Northern Nevada,” said Rosell.
“When we grow our Union through organizing, we build density in key industries, we build power for current members at the bargaining table, we bring a strong Teamster contracts to non-union workers, and ultimately we grow the middle class,” said Finn.
