Stewards Council

The featured speaker at the December 8 Stewards Council meeting was Sharon Cornu, Executive Secretary of the Alameda County Central Labor Council. We have worked closely with Sharon on issues affecting Local 70's members, as well as on campaigns affecting union members from other local unions throughout Alameda County.

Cornu opened with the announcement that the Labor Council will be honoring our brothers and sisters of Waste Management at its COPE dinner in April. She congratulated our leadership, but especially our Waste Management members, for their dedication and endurance during the lockout. She also recognized the efforts of the ILWU, the IAM and the Operating Engineers who supported our cause.

Getting down to the heart of her presentation, Cornu identified the difficulties and opportunities that confront unions and our members. The litany of problems include stagnant wages, loss of jobs, health care costs that exceed twice the minimum wage, elimination of defined benefit pensions and the proliferation of 401k programs. On top of that, the money spent on the war causes a loss of revenues that would have been earmarked for building roads, hospitals and schools.

However, there are opportunities as well: the Employee Free Choice Act has gained support and health care proposals may finally provide benefits to the underinsured and uninsured.

In order to make those opportunities a reality, stewards need to be prepared to "mobilize, mobilize, mobilize," Cornu suggested. "We need to be on the ground with 'street heat' to achieve our goals."

Reviewing the Freight Agreement

Members from Yellow Freight, Roadway, ABF and a small number of companies who are also signatory to the Master Freight Agreement met on January 12 to learn about the revised national agreement and the Joint Council Supplement.

Secretary-Treasurer Chuck Mack discussed the difficulties in the industry, ranging from capital problems to consolidation and intense competition from the non-union sector.

After answering questions from our members, Mack recommended a "Yes" vote on the National Master Freight Agreement, despite the new utility positions. However, he recommended a "No" vote on the Joint Council 7 Supplemental due to many unanswered questions and the lack of full maintenance of benefits for Locals 85 and 287. Mack cautioned our members that a rejection of the Joint Council 7 Supplement may cause a strike in Joint Council 7. Ballots will be counted in mid-February.

Stay tuned.

UPS Freight organizing blitz

For six days in January, a collaboration of Teamster organizers and volunteers -- from the International, Joint Council and Local 70 -- were able to get a large majority of the drivers at UPS Freight in San Leandro to sign cards saying that they wanted to be represented by Local 70. The brief round-the-clock drive was a great success, but like all overnight successes, it came after months of organizing.

In 2006, Motor Cargo (Newark) and Overnite Transportation (Hayward) were targeted for an organizing campaign. Prior organizing drives had not been successful, but a new effort brought new energy. Business Agent/Organizer Bob Aiello, Joint Council 7 Organizer Pilar Barton, retiree Joe Villareal, and rank and file members Jim Davis and Mike Fitzgerald volunteered their time and energy to this new campaign. They met with Motor Cargo and Overnite workers in both locations and engaged the workers about critical labor issues -- wages, hours and conditions. They built solid relationships, developing a strong support base. Over many months, Aiello maintained these relationships by updating the workers regularly. The process moved forward slowly but steadily.

Over the course of the year, other developments brought new members and accelerated the process. First, UPS purchased Overnite. Then, Teamsters Local 135 organized Overnite's 125 workers in Indianapolis and negotiated a contract in September, 2007.

In Local 70's jurisdiction, UPS Freight closed Motor Cargo (Newark and Benicia) and Overnite, Hayward, consolidated these facilities into UPS Freight, San Leandro, and immediately accelerated hiring in an effort to both discourage and derail our organizing efforts. Instead, this tactic focused our efforts and redoubled our commitment to the UPS Freight workers. We broadened committees, committed additional staff and developed a comprehensive strategic organizing plan.

However, we put the process on hold when the Teamsters and UPS agreed to commence early negotiations for the National Master UPS Agreement and the subsequent ratification process. Despite the delay, in January 2008, IBT General Secretary Treasurer C. Thomas Keegel and IBT Vice President Ken Hall authorized the restart of organizing UPS Freight under the direction of the IBT.

On January 14, Local 70 was authorized to accelerate the UPS Freight campaign in San Leandro. The IBT sent Organizer Eddie Mustaffa Muhammad to work with Barton and Aiello. The next day, this team started to solicit cards from the San Leandro UPS Freight employees. The days andnights were long, sometimes 16 to 18 hours per day.

They completed the process on January 20 when 68% of the employees signed their union cards. The campaign has now shifted to the IBT, who will oversee the card verification process and begin negotiations for the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

While the process is not yet finished, I again want to thank Joe Villareal, Jim Davis, Mike Fitzgerald, Milton Lewis, Eddie Muhammad, Pilar Barton and Bob Aiello for their hard work on this campaign.