Doug Bloch, Political Director
Political Director's Report
The 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.
... Read more »The Sacramento Report
Hello 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.
... Read more »Legal Update
Governor Newsom signed several bills that will provide greater protections for California workers. Here are some of the most noteworthy:
Employers subject to imprisonment for intentional wage theft
AB 1003 makes intentional theft of wages, including gratuities, punishable as grand theft. An employer commits intentional wage theft by use of fraud or while knowingly paying less than minimum wage, not paying workers overtime, not allowing workers to take meal and rest breaks,
... Read more »