Teamsters Local 986

What's New at I.B.T. 986

America's Veterans Speak Out For Good Jobs

Updated On: Jun 24, 2009 (15:08:00)

Please spend 5 minutes watching veterans testify at the L.A. Labor Federation's "Veterans and Jobs" Town Hall with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. It will break your heart - and make your blood boil - to watch these brave men and women, who defended America, tell their stories about not being able to find jobs that pay a living wage.

Then talk about the video to your friends, co-workers, neighbors, and relatives. Have them visit the Local986.org webpage. Senator Feinstein needs to make a choice and we hope that by spreading this video around she will choose veterans and the working class over corporate greed.

Please, help us turn Senator Feinstein around on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Call 202-224-3121 and tell Senator Feinstein to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

A Message From Chris Griswold

Updated On: Jun 21, 2009 (23:26:00)

President Obama's plan to borrow more than a trillion dollars to "jump-start" the economy may provide a temporary illusion of renewed economic prosperity. However, it fails to address the reality and causes of our political, moral and economic bankruptcy. It is an attempt to appear to provide safety by rearranging the deck chairs on the sinking Titanic. History has taught us that no society can survive if it does not have the skills and resources to produce sufficient wealth to satisfy its own needs and surpluses to profitably trade for resources that it does not have in its own borders. Yet since the end of the Second World War, the U.S. government and its citizens have failed to recognize this reality. We have borrowed trillions of dollars to maintain our vast military establishment and waged futile wars to overthrow unfriendly regimes. The interest on these huge debts and the hundreds of billions of dollars we annually spend on imports that are not matched by dollars we earn from our own exports continue to further weaken our inherent economic strength.

The outsourcing of American jobs to other countries that pay minimal wages, no healthcare benefits and unsafe working conditions provides an unlevel playing field with many corporations in the United States unable to compete. This imbalance and ignorance of previous administrations has resulted in our present economic collapse.

We must convince the American public office need to reduce its consumption of goods and services from other countries and support the need to Buy American products. Without that change in behavior from American consumers, it is unlikely we will soon be able to compete with the very low cost and aggressive foreign competitors, which have led to a loss of millions of productive industrial jobs.

Our new leaders in Washington must accept this reality and convince the public of the need to adopt and enforce changes in our culture, which might allow us to achieve the economic growth and prosperity which made the United States an economic power in the past and hopefully again in the future.

Another major step in rebuilding the working class and the American economy would be passing laws that protect good union jobs and allow employees to exercise their rights to join a union. On June 3rd, the staff and members from Local 986 joined hundreds of people from other Teamster Locals and labor unions at a demonstration in front of the offices of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein to protest her decision to relinquish her support for the Employee Free Choice Act. The Teamsters Union is determined to get this law passed by the Congress so workers would be able to freely organize and join a union without the threats and intimidation from unscrupulous employers. Please help by contacting your Congressional Representatives and U.S. Senators today and urge them to support EFCA and the working class.

If you know of any other workers that wish to become members and need the protection of a union contract. Please contact your business representative or call our organizing department at 626-350-9860.

Chris Griswold

Veteran Jobs Program July 10th

Updated On: May 06, 2009 (10:20:00)

Attention Members and Friends of Local 986

Teamsters Joint Council 42 and Helmets to Hardhats is hosting a “Resource Fair” for our military veterans on July 10^th. The Resource Fair will be held at the Los Alamitos Joint Training Base (JFTB).

The purpose of the Resource Fair is to assist the young men and women who have honorably served our country with pride and distinction by boosting their chances for a good career opportunity.

If you or a veteran you know can benefit from this program we hope that you can attend. Click the link below for more information on the Helmets to Hardhats program.

D.R.I.V.E. is More Important Than Ever

Updated On: Apr 09, 2009 (11:38:00)

Winning at the negotiating table is only part of the battle for working families. We also need victories in the political arena. That means electing worker-friendly candidates and providing them with the support they need to advance a progressive agenda on critical issues. These include issues such as workers' rights, health care, social security, transportation, education, pensions and trade.

DRIVE (Democrat-Republican-Independent-Voter-Education) is our political action committee to fight for working families. Local 986 active and retired members support the DRIVE program through their contributions. DRIVE representatives screen and recommend candidates for state and federal office based on their record and willingness to commit to a pro-worker agenda. Since the Teamsters are famously independent, our endorsements span the political spectrum and we have supported both Democrat and Republican candidates and even a few Independent candidates.

DRIVE organizes Teamsters and their families to volunteer on behalf of endorsed candidates, and contribute urgently needed funds to their campaigns.

And once they are elected, we work with them to pass legislation to improve the lives of working families everywhere.

Please send an email to gbashem@teamsters986.org or telephone our office at 626-350-9860 if you are interested in contributing to DRIVE.

Check out the IBT website for more information

Employee Free Choice Act

Updated On: Feb 16, 2009 (13:01:00)

What is the Employee Free Choice Act?

The Employee Free Choice Act, supported in 2007 by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would enable working people to bargain for better benefits, wages and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union. It would:

Establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes (PDF).
Allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

The System for Forming Unions is Broken

Today, CEOs get contracts that protect their wages and benefits. But some deny their employees the same opportunity. Although U.S. and international laws are supposed to protect workers' freedom to belong to unions, employers routinely harass, intimidate, coerce and even fire workers struggling to gain a union so they can bargain for better lives. And U.S. labor law is powerless to stop them. Employees are on an uneven playing field from the first moment they begin exploring whether they want to form a union, and the will of the majority often is crushed by brutal management tactics.

Cornell University scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner studied hundreds of organizing campaigns and found that:

Ninety-two percent of private-sector employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force employees to attend closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda; 80 percent require supervisors to attend training sessions on attacking unions; and 78 percent require that supervisors deliver anti-union messages to workers they oversee.
Seventy-five percent hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns, often based on mass psychology and distorting the law.
Half of employers threaten to shut down partially or totally if employees join together in a union.
In 25 percent of organizing campaigns, private-sector employers illegally fire workers because they want to form a union.
Even after workers successfully form a union, in one-third of the instances, employers do not negotiate a contract.

Why Workers Need the Freedom to Form Unions and Bargain

Joining together in a union to bargain for health care, pensions, fair wages and better working conditions is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead.

Today, good jobs are vanishing and health care coverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach. Only 38 percent of the public says their families are getting ahead financially and less than a quarter believes the next generation will be better off.

But workers who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers. They are 59 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and 72 percent more likely to have pensions.

All workers should have the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life.

Click on this link to sign the online petition to help workers.

Call your Senator and Congressman today and urge them to support the Employee Free Choice Act!