The Teamster Difference

The Teamster Difference

Teamsters stand ready to organize workers who want to negotiate collectively for better wages and workplace conditions. Teamster membership provides workers with a voice on the job, which is something money can’t buy! Contact us if you're ready to organize your worksite.

Solidarity

Since our founding, Teamsters have stood in solidarity with worker struggles throughout the country and across the world. We provide workers with a voice on the job and promote a higher level of economic equality in our communities.

Our ability to organize increasingly depends on our ability to build alliances with workers, and worker solidarity is central to our ethos.

Advocacy

For more than a century, the Teamsters have been a public voice for the rights and aspirations of working men and women and a key player in securing them.

Teamsters Joint Council 7 performs vital tasks in pension management, safety & health, community outreach, governmental affairs and communications.

What is a Union?

A union is a group of working people standing together to have a voice at work about what they care about. Once a contract is negotiated and signed, the union works to enforce it—holding management’s feet to the fire and invoking contract grievance procedures if management chooses not to. Teamster contracts guarantee decent wages, fair promotions, health coverage, job security, paid time-off, and retirement income.

Teamsters Joint Council 7 represents nearly 100,000 members in 23 Local Unions in 48 counties of Northern California, the Central Valley, and 14 Northern Nevada counties. (This territory would be the 10th largest state in the country.) With 40,000 members between Bakersfield and Sacramento, Teamsters Joint Council 7 is the largest union in the Central Valley

Launched as a union of workers who drove teams of horses, the Teamsters grew to be known as the champion of freight drivers and warehouse workers. Over the last 40 years, the Teamsters have expanded to organize workers in almost every occupation imaginable, both professional and non-professional, private sector and public sector. Joint Council 7 members work for freight and delivery companies; they also work in construction, dairy, beverage, food processing, rail and ports, parking, solid waste/recycling, hotels, bus driving, schools, public services, and many other industries.

Teamsters advocate for...

Safer Workplaces

Your Teamster representative will help you to ensure that your workplace is safe and healthy and that you are treated with respect by management and by your co-workers.

Higher Wages

Women and men represented by unions bring home bigger paychecks than non-union workers do. Wages and benefits under Teamster contracts are markedly better than those of non-union employees in similar jobs.

Better Benefits

Union members have greater access to medical and retirement benefits as well as paid sick leave and life insurance.

  • Union members earned 27 percent more than non-union members did in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This “union advantage” — more money in union members’ paychecks — exists in almost every occupation, from service and factory workers to clerical and professional employees.
  • In 2014, union women earned 33 percent more than non-union women did. Median weekly earnings of Black and African American union women were 34 percent more than their non-union counterparts. Median weekly earnings for Asian women who were union members in 2013 were 14 percent more than their non-union counterparts. Hispanic and Latina women who were union members had median weekly earnings that were 46 percent higher than their non-union counterparts.
  • Today’s unions mean even more for workers of color. In 2014, Black and African American union members earned 33 percent more, Asian union members earned three percent more, and the union advantage was a staggering 42 percent for Hispanic and Latino workers.
  • In 2014, 94 percent of union members working full-time had access to employer-provided medical benefits. Only 65 percent of non-union members working full-time had access to employer-provided medical benefits.
  • Union members are much more likely to enjoy secure retirement benefits. In 2015, 94 percent of union members had access to a retirement plan, while only 65 percent of non-union workers had access
  • In 2015, 85 percent of union members had paid sick leave, compared to only 62 percent of non-union workers.

Join Us

If you're ready to stand up with your co-workers for the things you care about —  like decent raises, affordable health care, job security, and a stable schedule — it's time to contact the Teamsters.

Call us at 415-467-7768 and we'll connect you with the organizers at a local union near you.