Local 890

UPS contract passes despite local concerns

By a 65% margin, members who work at UPS voted to accept the National Master Agreement in November. As of January, all supplements and riders have been approved as well.

The five-year contract will raise wages annually by $1/hour starting on August 1, 2008. In addition, UPS will contribute an additional $5 per hour into all pension and health and welfare plans for covered employees. Current part-time employees in union health and welfare plans will remain in those plans.

All current part-time employees inUPS health plans,and CSI employees in a company health plan, will go to one single plan for health insurance, which has a prescription drug card.

Part-timers will receive the same general wage increases as full time employees, and new part-time hires will receive a $1 per hour increase after 90 calendar days of employment (up from 50 cents).

While the contract was approved nationally by a healthy margin, members from most Locals in Northern California rejected both the National Agreement and the Supplement, for a variety of reasons.

At Local 890, members from the Salinas and Monterey centers attended a contract ratification meeting on October 27. Business Agent Oscar Rios and Local 70 Business Agent and Nor- Cal negotiations chair Marty Frates were on hand to answer questions.

"The members were most concerned about part-timers coming in and not having insurance (even though this doesn't apply to the Nor Cal supplement). They worried that even if this doesn't apply to us now -- the company could try to institute it at a later point," explained Rios. "Our members recognize that many of the pre-loaders come to work at UPS because of the insurance. A good preloader is worth a lot to a driver. It's hard to find good ones now; imagine how it will be if there's no insurance to attract them."

Rios said that the Nor Cal group has been militant and strong. "The union recommended the contract because it's good, offering more money in wages and pension. But we are a democratic organization. People had a right to express their concerns. Ultimately, the contract was approved nationwide."

Campaign highlights KFC's unsanitary practices

Local 890 members Karen Araujo, Juan Martinez and Fritz Conle (above) and Marcial Ramirez and Tony Camposano (not pictured), distributed flyers at two KFC locations in December as part of a national Teamsters action designed to let the community know about KFC's health and sanitation violations.

Local 856

Organizing victory in Mendocino County leads to similar drives in other counties

Last spring, Teamsters Union Local 856 took Mendocino County by storm. This year, it hopes to do the same.

In March of 2007, the Local conducted the first strike in Mendocino's history, possibly the first strike of district attorneys in California history, and won a contract which gave the biggest pay raise in Mendocino history to the benefit of 30 public attorneys.

Mendocino County Probation Officers and Juvenile Counselors were paying close attention to this unprecedented turn of events, and soon approached the Local for help in achieving justice for themselves, as well.

The Probation Officers were in luck. Local 856 has considerable experience in handling probation-related issues, representing more than 500 members in the Probation Departments of San Mateo, Marin and Alameda Counties.

Mendocino Probation Officers would like to see higher wages, a better medical plan, and enhanced safety retirement.

"We are very committed to seeing that this law enforcementgroup gets the respect they deserve as an equal partner in the criminal justice system," said Local 856 Business Representative Joe Martinelli.

Also on the group's agenda is Peace Officers Bill of Rights training, which entails educating the probation officers on rights entitled to them as officers of the law.

The Peace Officers Bill of Rights was enacted in the 1970s to ensure that peace officers were treated fairly when charges were brought against them.

"Because of the nature of the job, peace officers are subject to more personnel complaints than the average public worker," said Secretary-Treasurer Joe Lanthier. "The Peace Officers Bill of Rights is there to protect the system from abuse."

"Probation officers work a very difficult, stressful job that can be dangerous," Martinelli added. "It's time the County appreciated these unsung heroes."

Local 856 is currently in the process of negotiating on behalf of Marin County District Attorneys and has been contacted by public attorneys in Lake County who are seeking representation as a result of the Local's victory in Mendocino County.

-- By Nicole Casey, Local 856

Local 70

Contract bargaining on for East Bay taxi drivers

Since 2002, taxi drivers in Oakland have been trying to join Local 70. The National Labor Relations Board had ordered a union election but Friendly Cab Co. appealed the ruling.

Finally,in January, 2008, the NinthU.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruledthat the driversare not independentcontractors and must be classified asemployees. This means that the approximately100 drivers are coveredby collective bargaining rules and thecompanymust come to the table.

Friendly Cab drivers have formed the East Bay Drivers Association (EBDA) and, through the EBDA, have sought out the Teamsters to represent them. Teamsters Local 70 in Oakland has worked tirelessly to have the workers properly classified as employees.

Mohammad Anwar Zadran, an 18- year Friendly Cab driver, said he and his colleagues cheered the ruling and look forward to a better working environment. "We now have the voice and the power with the company to receive better benefits and working conditions," Zadran said. "This has been a long time coming."

"Taxi drivers have wanted union representation for a long time," said Local 70 Business Agent Bob Aiello. "The companies are now on notice that they cannot skirt the law by misclassifying their employees as independent contractors. We look forward to getting a good contract for the drivers at Friendly Cab now that the company's been ordered to bargain, and we'll begin organizing other taxi companies as well."

Local 896

History made as first woman is elected Coca Cola Chief Shop Steward

Local 896 members who work at the Coca Cola plant in San Leandro have elected their first female Chief Shop Steward since the company was unionized 43 years ago.

"That's history right there. I said 2008 will be the woman year: Hillary Clinton will be the president and I'm chief shop steward!" says Deborah Lobao with pride.

Lobao works second shift as a bottler. "I drive a forklift." A union member for about 20 years, she's worked at Coca Cola for the last five. She first became a shop steward in 2005 and was elected in January to serve as Chief Shop Steward for calendar year 2008.

The 138-member plant has three shop stewards, one for each shift. "The shop stewards only take care of their own shifts," Lobao explains. "The Chief Shop Steward takes care of the whole plant. They go to more meetings and have a lot more responsibilities. The Chief appoints the shop stewards: I can hire them and I can fire them, if I don't feel their doing their duties."

Lobao says that she really enjoyed being a shop steward. "I love doing what I'm doing and the employees have a lot of respect for me." She said that many members encouraged her to run for the Chief position. "My members come first, so I ran for my people and I'm proud to say that I won by a longshot." Four members were running for the position.

The election takes place over a 24- hour period, and results were announced on January 10. Five days later, Lobao was at her first Labor -- Management meeting that lasted for more than three hours.

"My job is to make sure the company does not violate the contract. They worry that I beat them up with grievances, but I tell them if the supervisors would just do right, I wouldn't have to file grievances."

The five-year contract doesn't expire until 2009, but Coca Cola and the members can be sure that Lobao will make sure that the contract is fully enforced in her year as Chief Shop Steward.

Local 278

Blanchet testifies before Congress about on-going port safety and security problems

On October 30, Local 287 President and Teamster Port Representative Bob Blanchet testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Terrorism. The issue was whether our ports are more secure one year after passage of the SAFE Port Act.

According to Blanchet, while some improvements have been made, security is severely lacking in several areas. He was particularly concerned that port drivers are issued one-day passes, circumventing the need for permanent credentialing and that they have easy access to forged Commercial Drivers' Licenses. Homeland Security set up the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, but it hasn't yet been implemented in all ports. Drivers have already devised work-arounds, finding ways to transfer containers to non-certified drivers.

"The ports look the other way because moving containers trumps security," Blanchet testified.

Blanchet closed by reiterating that "security at the ports has improved somewhat as a result of enactment of the SAFE Port Act. But much more needs to be done to address the huge gaps that still exist."

Local 853

Locals 78 and 853 merge to create largest Local in Northern California

Members of Teamsters Local 78 voted by an overwhelming 95.5% margin to approve the merger of their Local into Local 853 on January 5. The merger has since been approved by the Executive Boards of both Locals and by the Joint Council and International Union. It will take effect on February 1, 2008.

The merger came about because the Local is being forced to deal with increasing numbers of national and multi-national corporations. Local 78's leadership determined that as corporations consolidate, so must unions, to more effectively deal with them. Merging would increase the Local's size and assets, putting the union on a more equal footing with these corporations.

Before the vote was taken, Local 78 Secretary-Treasurer Steve Mack and Local 853 Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise reviewed the benefits of the merger for the members of both Locals and answered questions.

As a result of the merger, Local 853 will have about 12,000 members. Aloise remains Secretary-Treasurer and Principal Officer of Local 853; Mack became the Local's President.

Local 490

Members at VSS play Santa to families in Dixon

Members of Local 490 who work at Vacaville Sanitary Service wanted to have a holiday celebration that captured the spirit of the season. They contacted Dixon Family Services and were put in touch with two families who were in need of extra help. Employees took donations amongst themselves and then paid surprise visits to the families. In a procession of trucks, the drivers visited one Dixon family with Santa and his many helpers. Office employees paid a surprise visit to another family.

"This was entirely our employees' idea, and they put the event together," said VSS General Manager Ed Farewell. "Our employees are always finding ways to give back, but this effort was truly touching for us all."