Election season starts earlier every year

Welcome CUE members

I would like to welcome the almost 15,000 new Teamster members who have joined our union through the affiliation with CUE (Coalition of University Employees). These new members work throughout the University of California system on all campuses and, in reality, are the people who make the various campuses work and operate. Without them, I believe the systems would shut down.

CUE leadership has been involved in a contract fight with UC and they are looking to us to lend them support and guidance. Our goal is to show them that being Teamsters will start to pay benefits right away. As we pro- ceed, we will be asking all of our sisters and brothers to join in this fight for justice on the UC campuses. The November election Throughout the years that I’ve been involved in politi- cal work, the campaign season for the November elections has always begun on Labor Day, giving us the summer to prepare and a solid two months for active campaigning.

The November election

Throughout the years that I’ve been involved in politi- cal work, the campaign season for the November elections has always begun on Labor Day, giving us the summer to prepare and a solid two months for active campaigning.

This year, it’s different. The campaigning has already begun. And there’s one reason for the early start. Money. We have two mega-millionaire candidates who have money to burn, and they’re using it to try to define their opponents before their opponents even get out of the gate. These two corporate rejects have already spent in excess of $100 million dollars!

I want all of our members in Joint Council 7 to understand the difference between the candidates who want to buy their way into office and those who have worked in public service their whole lives.

The Governor’s Race: Meg Whitman wants to “run California like a business.” What does that mean for California's working families? Whitman has a history of layoffs, outsourcing and exorbitant executive perks as CEO and Board Member of eBay. While on the campaign trail, Whitman has pledged to cut 40,000 state workers’ jobs, while giving lavish tax breaks to her corporate mil- lionaire friends. She has chosen to speak directly against unions, their leadership and their membership. She is Schwarzenegger on steroids!

On the other hand, Jerry Brown has remained steadfast- ly committed to improving the lives of California’s work- ing families. When he was governor, he established the right to collectively bargain for teachers, school employees, firefighters, police, other state and local government work- ers and farm workers. He fought for good wages, worker safety and strengthening the safety net, including unem- ployment benefits and workers’ compensation. When he completed his term as Governor, he left the state in better financial health than it had been before or since. He will be a governor who understands and appreciates what it is like to struggle from paycheck to paycheck and to worry about healthcare and pension. We need him!

The U.S. Senate Race: Over in the race for U.S. Senate, Carly Fiorina calls herself a successful businessperson, but even as HP’s stock and value plummeted under her leadership, she was paid $108 million. She was responsi- ble for laying off 28,000 workers and shipping jobs over- seas to China, India and Europe. She opposed last year’s economic recovery package that saved or created 150,000 California jobs, extended unemployment assistance and expanded job training programs.

Barbara Boxer, on the other hand, has long been a friend of the Teamsters. She has worked to make California the hub of the clean energy economy, she sup- ports American manufacturing and infrastructure, and she voted to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Boxer has sponsored or co-sponsored dozens of bills that have been signed into law, including water and environmental bills, school programs, securing money for California highway and rail projects and much more.

For most of their adult lives, neither Meg Whitman not Carly Fiorina even bothered to vote. Now, they want to buy their way into office. Don’t let yourself be persuad- ed by the early roll-out of their big money campaigns.

Building Teamster political power

In order to make sure we do everything we can to sus- tain and build further our political power, I have appointed Doug Bloch as the Joint Council Political Director. Doug comes out of the Port organizing campaign and brings years of organizing and political work with him to this job. We are scheduling political coordinators’ meetings beginning in August all around the Joint Council. If you are interested in helping yourself and your brothers protect our wages, benefits and pensions, please check with your Local about these meetings.

DRIVE (Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education) is the cornerstone of our ability to compete with the millions and millions of dollars that the opposi- tion spends. The Teamsters do not spend member dues money on elections; we must raise funds separately from those members who want to give. Please join DRIVE at your workplace if you haven’t already.