When I was first elected to office - a few years back - it was an epiphany.   One day driving a truck and the next representing close to a thousand members.  I turned to some of the veteran Business Agents at the time and asked what kept them going.  How did they do the job and survive.  Ted Kaufman an eight-year Business Agent who came out of the ice cream industry suggested curtly; "See the members early and often."  He'd been around and was respected.  I was impressed, and thought it made sense.  If you represent the members and are elected by them, you ought to see them, talk with them and listen to them.

It was great advice and I've followed it for the last four decades.  Sometimes it's difficult, not that easy, on the other hand it's always challenging, educational and even at times fun.  Of all the things I do visiting with members in the morning at the worksite is the most enjoyable.  It validates daily why I wanted to be a Union representative in the first place.  And as most of you know, talking with Local 70 members keeps one grounded.  Only ten minutes and I'm back to earth on track and in touch with reality.  Because of travel associated with the National Master Freight and DHL contracts, keeping the terminal schedule has been challenging.  Listed are the worksites I've stopped by in the last month and a half:

UPS Freight
Waste Management - Oakland
Waste Management - Transfer
Prime Source (Pacific Steel)
Roadway Express Inc.
Yellow Freight
ABF Freight
DHL - Oakland, Dublin, Fremont
Horizon Lines
Rodgers Trucking
Mills College
United Parcel Service
Iron Mountain - Oakland, Hayward
Gallade Chemical
USF Reddaway
Saroni Total Food Ingredients
Oakland Public Schools
Jay N Company/Service West
Ghiglione Inc.
Southern Wine & Spirits
Youngs Market
E. M. Jorgensen
Spicers Paper
Reliance Metalcenter
Lawson Drayage

Contract after contract

Doing three national contracts one after the other has never before occurred.   UPS was first followed by Freight, then DHL.  The travel and time pressure was outrageous.  In the end we did well.  No question our employers got some flexibility but we made substantial gains and protected our health and welfare plans.  All three employers have agreed to maintain current health care benefits for the life of the contracts at no cost to our members.  It didn't come easy, the employers fought it every step of the way - we prevailed.  We're fortunate; no other area of the country has maintenance of benefits (MOB).  You can bet they will challenge this again.

Thank you to our members at UPS Freight and DHL for their support and patience.  As talks dragged on and on and on, your discipline was important in achieving settlement.  To the DHL Steward Committee a special thanks in helping the talks along and supporting the settlement.

One more thing

Since we're on it - thank you to all of our rank and file members who went to the demonstration opposing Cross Border Trucking at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the rank and filers who marched from City Hall to the Port of Oakland, those that attended the United Airlines mechanics rally with Jim Hoffa at San Francisco City Hall, and especially the members that traveled to Los Angeles to join the "Hollywood to the Docks" march supporting the Union movement in the fight for good jobs.  Without member participation none of it would have happened.

Short Notes

May is the month.  Members covered by the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension will receive the Personal Benefit Statements beginning the week of May 19.  It will show the number of hours a member worked and the benefits earned for the year.  It will also project retirement benefits at age 65.  If you have not received your statement by the beginning of June, contact your Business Agent or call the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust at 800-632-4630.

May is also the month that members who participate in the Western Conference of Teamsters Supplemental Benefit Trust receive their annual check.  Members working under the freight and DHL contracts are plan participants.  The Plan provides a 13th check and is the closest thing we have to a cost of living allowance.  Look for those checks mid-month.