Joint Council 7 Local Unions: Driving force behind Teamster strength
April 30, 2024
With over 100,000 Joint Council 7 Teamster members from 18 Local Unions working in both the public and private sector across Northern California, the Central Valley, and Northern Nevada, having strong Teamsters stewards is crucial to delivering strong contracts, aggressively enforcing those agreements, and further improving upon our workplace protections. And I can say with absolute confidence that the stewards from the Local Unions that make up Joint Council 7 are second to none when it comes to being strong leaders in the workplace and standing up for their Teamster co-workers.
On behalf of the entire Joint Council, I want recognize and acknowledge our Teamster brothers and sisters who have answered the call and have stepped up as leaders to preserve, protect, and improve their Teamster co-workers’ rights on the job. Teamster stewards act as protectors, mediators, negotiators, organizers, and more.
I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to each and every steward and rank-and-file member for their work, sacrifice, and dedication to keeping our union strong.
Simply put, our stewards and rank-and-file members, working side-by-side with business agents and officers of Local Unions, are the key driving force behind our strength as Teamsters. Whether walking the line during our actions at UPS, extending pickets at Sysco, or most recently standing united at Anheuser-Busch, we have proven across the country that when we fight together, we can win strong contracts. This is true at the local level as well: with aggressive bargaining strategies and member participation, Joint Council 7 Local Unions have continued to negotiate the strongest contracts in the nation.
When I think about what a Teamster is, instead of thinking about the different jobs we all do, for me, being a Teamster is about standing together with your co-workers and not being afraid to challenge the boss.
It’s taking the fight to employers at the bargaining table for improved wages, quality affordable health care, retirement security, and protecting our work. And after we bargain that contract, making sure we aggressively enforce it.
To accomplish this, it takes standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our co-workers and leveraging the power we generate by taking on the fight as a team versus going it alone.
Active, engaged, and ready to hold the line for what is fair, this willingness to stand together and fight to improve wages, secure benefits, protect jobs, and demand respect at work, is what makes the Teamsters the strongest union in North America.
The officers, business agents, stewards, and members of the Local Unions that make up Joint Council 7 prove this every single day by fighting with commitment and solidarity to win and enforce strong Teamster contracts.
