IBT President Sean O’Brien comes to JC7
October 19, 2022
Joint Council 7 was proud to host IBT General President Sean O’Brien at its quarterly Delegates Meeting held in Monterey on September 17. A full house was in attendance to meet the recently-elected head of the International Union.
“We thank President O’Brien for his message of unity and for his leadership in building the strength of our union for the great battles ahead,” said JC7 President Jason Rabinowitz. “Our number one task is unity, because everything in our strategic plan flows from that, from organizing, to communications, to getting strong contracts.”
“The election is over. We need to work on vision—not division. And we need to be bigger, faster and stronger,” O’Brien told the delegates. “We want to set the highest standards. It’s all about quality.”
O’Brien recognized Joint Council 7’s history as a strong, progressive Council and a leader in pension funds. “We need to work to get all of our members into a pension fund,” he added.
“More workers than ever support unions,” he told the group. “We need to organize not only in our core industries but also in new industries, like cannabis.”
When talking about the upcoming UPS contract, O’Brien was clear. “Even though, as Teamsters, we do much more than UPS, everybody is looking to see how it goes with UPS. We must fight for the integrity of that contract so we can do everything else.”
“Our members need to understand where we came from, so that the next generation will fight for the future, not only at UPS and also at companies like Amazon.”
Closing out, O’Brien spoke candidly to the audience of local union leaders. “Being a union leader is not a right; it’s a privilege to work on behalf of the members. We can’t lose sight of who we work for and who we need to win for.”
