News
Organizing Roundup
Compton Unified School District
Local 911
School workers at four different school locations in the city of Compton, Calif., have voted to join the Teamsters. More than 87 percent of voting workers chose the Teamsters Union.
More than 600 classified school workers will become members of Local 911 in Bellflower, Calif. The workers serve the Compton Unified School District and the more than 20,000 students that attend Compton public schools.
“We’re proud to represent this group,” said Ray Whitmer, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 911. “Our public sector workers in the schools do admirable work. These workers have faced many obstacles on the job. They chose us because we will fight to get them a strong Teamster contract to secure their working conditions and standard of living.”
“We are so happy that the Teamsters will be representing us,” said Anita Jones, a 13-year lead warehouse worker at the Central Warehouse in the Compton School District. “We deserve fair treatment, better wages and benefits and a strong voice on the job. Based on the Teamsters’ track record representing public sector employees in California, we know they will fight tooth and nail to represent us.”
Cheshire County Corrections Officers
Local 633
Corrections officers for Cheshire County, N.H., have overwhelmingly decided to join Local 633 in a vote conducted by the New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome this professional group of law enforcement officers to the Teamster family,” said David W. Laughton, Secretary-Treasurer of Joint Council 10 and Local 633 in Manchester, N.H. “These men and women chose a difficult vocation and deserve the respect and support of the county, which we will ensure through collective bargaining.”
Prior to the vote, the officers were subjected to a “Mandatory Collective Bargaining Informational Meeting” where the county’s legal counsel discussed the pitfalls of joining a union. The Teamsters held a voluntary informational meeting at a local hotel conference room to discuss any concerns the proposed members may have had after having listened to a one-sided presentation.
STA
Local 102
More than 150 school bus workers who transport students for Student Transportation of America (STA) in Pine Brook, N.J., have voted decisively to join Local 102 in Springfield Township.
The drivers and monitors stood united for fair wages, decent and affordable health insurance, respect and fairness on the job.
“I’m glad we did this. We are all very excited to be Teamsters,” said Luz Cadavid, a nine-year driver for STA and one of the leading members of the organizing committee. “We all stood together and I’m glad that we did. We will continue to work together to win a strong contract that will bring us fairness.”
The victory in Pine Brook marks just the latest group of workers who have been successful in their organizing efforts at STA, the third-largest school bus operator in the country.
“Workers in the school bus industry recognize that in these difficult economic times, they need a strong union to represent them,” said Kevin O’Connor, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 102. “This group was really motivated to win representation. The company put a lot of pressure on them to vote against the union, but they held their ground. We are proud to welcome them to the Teamsters Union.”
Jacmar Foodservice Distribution
Local 630
About 30 foodservice drivers voted to join Local 630 in Los Angeles recently. The drivers work for Jacmar Foodservice Distribution, a major regional food distributor, at its Southern California terminal.
The vote was more than 2-to-1 in favor of joining the union.
“We decided it was time to come together to fight for a better life for our families,” said Esteban Ochoa, a Jacmar driver who was active in the organizing effort. “We knew that the company was going to do everything it could to resist our organizing campaign, but with solidarity we held together and won.”
The company waged a strong anti-union campaign, holding individual and captive audience meetings and hiring anti-union consultants to ride along in the drivers’ trucks to discourage them from organizing. Local 630 members from other foodservice companies like FreshPoint, Unified Grocers, Alta Dena, Roma Foods, US Foods, Sysco and Vons stood with Jacmar drivers on election day, helping to educate them about the union.
“We are proud to welcome Jacmar drivers into the Teamsters Union and we’re eager to negotiate a strong contract that brings them up to industry standards,” said Lou Villalvazo, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 630.
Pontiac Interlake-Mecalux
GCC/Teamsters
In a 67-55 vote, workers at the Pontiac Interlake-Mecalux plant voted to join the GCC/IBT Local 458-M in Illinois.
Rick Putman, a Teamster organizer, said that five days before the election, the company started giving out raises. “It was too little, too late,” Putman said. “Some of these guys have been in there a long time making $9.85 an hour; they could work at Walmart for more than that.”
Workers were not only concerned about wages, but safety and health issues were also a factor for the new Teamsters.