Teamsters push to pass pro-worker bills at capitol
May 4, 2026
The new year means new opportunities to elect Teamster-friendly candidates to elected office. Our Locals throughout the Joint Council have been hard at work interviewing candidates, from local school boards to Congress to state offices in California and Nevada. If the office impacts Teamster jobs, then we want a candidate who will stand with us on issues that impact our livelihood—no matter their party affiliation. This year is our opportunity to find candidates who will support workers over AI and never be afraid to say they support saving jobs.
Our past work to elect worker-friendly politicians has paid off in recent months. A number of current elected officials have shown up for our members when we have needed them most.
Congressman Thompson joined Local 853’s picket line at Westlake Stone and wrote letters demanding that Westlake come to the table. The Congressman even requested to sit in on bargaining! Congressman Huffman called the CEO of MarinHealth to push back on their heavy-handed negotiations with Local 856, calling on the healthcare system to bargain in good faith. At CSU campuses, Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, and Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond joined striking Local 2010 members to demand CSU pay workers’ negotiated step increases. Assemblymember Juan Analis, hearing of the closure of one of our canneries, rallied his Senate and Assembly colleagues to help workers at that facility get support through workforce development and other government agencies.
The help doesn’t stop with state and federal officials: the Boards of Supervisors in Contra Costa County, Napa County, and San Francisco County have worked with our Locals to save public healthcare from federal cuts, put forth resolutions in support of our striking workers, and take on Amazon and Waymo.
Every candidate we have endorsed has stepped up to the plate. Katie Porter, endorsed for Governor by Teamsters California, uses her platforms to support worker issues, especially against AI and the automation of our jobs. Congressional candidate Dr. Jasmeet Baines has not only supported all of our core issues in the State Assembly, she has also been on the forefront of the fight to bring good blue-collar jobs back to the Central Valley.
It’s through our vetting process that we can find worker-friendly candidates like these who can win their seats and support our union. Visit our website at www.teamstersjc7.org to see our endorsed candidates for the June 2 primary election. We might not have as much money as Big Tech to spend in elections, but we have something they don’t—we can use our collective action as Teamsters to vote our endorsed candidates into office!
In addition to our electoral work, we have a big push this year to pass pro-worker bills in Sacramento. Those bills include AB 1776, which would strengthen anti-trust laws that allow us to hold companies like Amazon accountable. SB 1371 would prohibit solid waste franchise agreements from including force majeure provisions that excuse service providers from performing their duties during work stoppages related to labor disputes. AB 1818 would require the CSU to comply with their collective bargaining agreements regardless of how much funding they receive in the state budget.
We are also supporting a package of AV and AI bills with the California Federation of Labor Unions that include AB 33, our commercial safety operator bill; SB 947, which would require human oversight evidence if an algorithm is used for disciplinary or termination decisions at work; AB 1331, which would ban the use of surveillance tools in the bathroom or private spaces; AB 1883, which would prohibit employers from using potentially biased, invasive, and exploitative forms of AI surveillance at the workplace; and AB 1898, which would require employers to give workers advance notice before they implement AI technology tools that collect worker data.
