Chris Griswold
Teamsters Local 986
I want to thank all of the shop stewards who attended the seminar on March 23rd. Over 150 stewards from Local 986 in Southern and Central California participated in this event conducted by Arbitrator Lou Zigman. Stewards took the time from their weekend to learn new strategies and tactics to provide better representation for our members in the workplace. It is their dedication to their union and their co-workers that builds the foundation of a strong Teamsters Union.
Local 986 is sponsoring another blood drive for the City of Hope on Sunday, April 21st. The City of Hope is recognized worldwide for its compassionate patient care, innovative science and translational research, which rapidly turns laboratory breakthroughs into promising new therapies. For nearly 100 years, City of Hope’s pioneering research has brought the world closer to cures for many life-threatening diseases, from cancer to diabetes. Compassion drives their innovation. Every discovery they make and new treatment they develop gives patients the chance to live longer, better and more fully.
Teamsters Local 986 is proud to work with the City of Hope to provide life saving blood for their patients and to further their research to find a cure for cancer. There will be two bloodmobiles at the Local 986 Meeting Hall in South El Monte throughout the day. Any person who donates blood could win a $500 gift card from Costco and other great prizes that will be raffled at the end of the event. Please contact Connie at 626-350-9860 at extension 106 if you would like to participate in helping save a life.
The next quarterly meeting for our shop stewards and members in the Central Coast will be on Thursday April 25th at the Union Plaza at 6:30pm. We look forward to having another great turnout to hear from representatives of the California Highway Patrol. The meeting will cover a variety of subjects including new regulations for commercial drivers.
Special thanks to the IBT, JC42 and the stewards and members of local unions who have assisted in our recent hand-billing to initiate organizing campaigns from to help employees join the Teamsters Union. We have received calls from numerous employees and we will be meeting with them in the near future to help them become Teamsters!
Please remember to talk to your friends, relatives, neighbors and complete strangers about the importance of solidarity and joining a labor union. Local 986 is always looking to organize new members to assist them in obtaining better wages and benefits, protecting job security and safety. The rights of workers can only be protected and guaranteed with a union contract. Please contact Ron Seamans Jr., IBT Organizer at Local 986 with any organizing leads to help those workers without a contract.