Message from Phil Cooper
Secretary-Treasurer
March 2021
Secretary-Treasurer
March 2021
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Corona Virus shutdown, the country is not as far along as we hoped! Who would have believed that we would still be trying to get vaccines in the arms of essential workers one year later! While there are many reasons the country is in this position, (mostly political) the main reasons are that there was no federal plan. While leaving the details of how the vaccines would be rolled out to the States, Counties and even Cities, with no concrete plans was a huge roadblock.
Cities like Long Beach have had a more progressive vaccine schedule, Healthcare Workers, Long term care facilities, 65+, Emergency Response Workers, Food or Agriculture Workers followed by Education and Childcare Workers. Cities like Los Angeles had limited plans that started with Healthcare Workers, Long term facilities and over 65. And while many of our members have Kaiser insurance, due to their limited supply of the vaccine, they are still only vaccinating Healthcare Workers and those over 75.
In a letter to each of the parent companies our members work for, I reminded them that many of you have lost Grandparents, Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Friends, and co-workers. The letter also reminded them that essential workers have put themselves and their families in harms way to make sure their products were on the shelves.
Now we are all thankful we were able to work during the past year, (many others lost their jobs), I wanted to remind them that their profits were due to your hard work! Many of you have had to work forced daily overtime, and six-to-seven-day work weeks are very common. While getting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, many of you were forced to work the Saturday and Sunday that followed, and the same thing happened over the New Year’s Day Holiday.
The content of the letter asked your employers to recognize your sacrifice and to consider Hero’s Pay. Recognition is deserved for each of you, and unfortunately most companies are forgetting their most important asset is their workers! There was also an ask that if they have any leverage in helping essential workers move up the list on getting vaccines, it would be much appreciated!
In 2020 we saw the closure of five of our shops. The MillerCoors Brewery, Coca-Cola in Carson and Lancaster, Pepsi Baldwin Park and Ace Beverage. This was hard on every employee that was involved in these closures. While some were able to follow work to other facilities, like the Carson, Lancaster, and Pepsi employees, but they lost their seniority and are now at the bottom of the list in their new Union facility.
The MillerCoors and Ace Beverage employees were not as lucky. The Irwindale Brewery closed its doors permanently in November, but most members had been laid off months earlier. There is some good news for many of these employees, Pabst has agreed to open the facility and do some contract packaging of some seltzer products in the future. Pabst has negotiated a new contract with the Teamsters and the other three Unions that were part of the facility. This is a new contract for a new company and a new venture. They have agreed to hire many of the former Teamsters, but they have stated they will not hire everyone. We have a chance of having maybe fifty members working by years end, but these are lofty goals. We are hoping that Pabst and the Irwindale Brewery Yard turns into a successful operation and in turn leads to many good Teamster Jobs in the future.
Our Ace Beverage members found themselves in a similar situation when Anheuser-Busch purchased the territory that Ace had serviced for years. Budweiser had recently closed several of their wholly owned distributors (WODs) in Colorado and Riverside, and many Teamsters lost good jobs. As for the Union Brothers in Riverside, they were only offered the ability to apply at the newly owned Heimark Distributor, they were not guaranteed jobs, this is exactly what happened to our Ace Beverage employees!
Budweiser bought the old Triangle Distributor from Peter Heimark, and then proceeded to purchase the territory Ace Beverage had delivered to for many years. They bought Ace equipment, but they did not buy the workers. They first told the Union everyone would be offered jobs at the new WOD in Santa Fe Springs, but that is not how it turned out. Ace Beverage employees were required to re-apply for the jobs and many were not hired! Some of lucky Ace workers are now actually still delivering their same routes, but many are sitting at home without a job, even though they are still hiring at the new facility. The Union was immediately in touch with Budweiser Headquarters in St. Louis stating that they should be recognizing the Ace Beverage contract. We were later told that we did not have majority status of workers at the new facility and it would not be fair to force the Triangle employees into the Union. The reason we did not have the majority at the new WOD is because Budweiser oversaw all the hiring and they had total control of the outcome. The Union is still pursuing this facility, and Budweiser knows if we’re successful, there will be great Union density in the Southern California. There is strength in numbers! Santa Fe Springs would join Teamster distributors in Carson, Sylmar and a Brewery in Van Nuys!
In closing I want to give my condolences to the families and friends of Louis Walker (Pepsi Riverside) and Eddie Fiero (Coca-Cola Downey). Both great Union Brothers that recently lost their battles to Covid-19.
Our deepest condolences to families and friends of: Juan Torres (Retiree Anheuser-Busch: Van Nuys), Fredrik Vartanian (Retiree Anheuser-Busch: Van Nuys), Tracy Zeuner (Allied Beverage), Eduardo Gomez (Coca-Cola USA), Rudolf Munoz (Reyes Coca-Cola: LA), Ashley Rubio (Anheuser-Busch: Fairfield), Michael Floro (Reyes Coca-Cola: San Leandro), Rosa Rodriguez (Safeway: Richmond), Steven Kincaid (Retiree Anheuser-Busch: Fairfield) and Jesus Ruvalcaba (Allied Beverages).
Cities like Long Beach have had a more progressive vaccine schedule, Healthcare Workers, Long term care facilities, 65+, Emergency Response Workers, Food or Agriculture Workers followed by Education and Childcare Workers. Cities like Los Angeles had limited plans that started with Healthcare Workers, Long term facilities and over 65. And while many of our members have Kaiser insurance, due to their limited supply of the vaccine, they are still only vaccinating Healthcare Workers and those over 75.
In a letter to each of the parent companies our members work for, I reminded them that many of you have lost Grandparents, Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Friends, and co-workers. The letter also reminded them that essential workers have put themselves and their families in harms way to make sure their products were on the shelves.
Now we are all thankful we were able to work during the past year, (many others lost their jobs), I wanted to remind them that their profits were due to your hard work! Many of you have had to work forced daily overtime, and six-to-seven-day work weeks are very common. While getting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, many of you were forced to work the Saturday and Sunday that followed, and the same thing happened over the New Year’s Day Holiday.
The content of the letter asked your employers to recognize your sacrifice and to consider Hero’s Pay. Recognition is deserved for each of you, and unfortunately most companies are forgetting their most important asset is their workers! There was also an ask that if they have any leverage in helping essential workers move up the list on getting vaccines, it would be much appreciated!
In 2020 we saw the closure of five of our shops. The MillerCoors Brewery, Coca-Cola in Carson and Lancaster, Pepsi Baldwin Park and Ace Beverage. This was hard on every employee that was involved in these closures. While some were able to follow work to other facilities, like the Carson, Lancaster, and Pepsi employees, but they lost their seniority and are now at the bottom of the list in their new Union facility.
The MillerCoors and Ace Beverage employees were not as lucky. The Irwindale Brewery closed its doors permanently in November, but most members had been laid off months earlier. There is some good news for many of these employees, Pabst has agreed to open the facility and do some contract packaging of some seltzer products in the future. Pabst has negotiated a new contract with the Teamsters and the other three Unions that were part of the facility. This is a new contract for a new company and a new venture. They have agreed to hire many of the former Teamsters, but they have stated they will not hire everyone. We have a chance of having maybe fifty members working by years end, but these are lofty goals. We are hoping that Pabst and the Irwindale Brewery Yard turns into a successful operation and in turn leads to many good Teamster Jobs in the future.
Our Ace Beverage members found themselves in a similar situation when Anheuser-Busch purchased the territory that Ace had serviced for years. Budweiser had recently closed several of their wholly owned distributors (WODs) in Colorado and Riverside, and many Teamsters lost good jobs. As for the Union Brothers in Riverside, they were only offered the ability to apply at the newly owned Heimark Distributor, they were not guaranteed jobs, this is exactly what happened to our Ace Beverage employees!
Budweiser bought the old Triangle Distributor from Peter Heimark, and then proceeded to purchase the territory Ace Beverage had delivered to for many years. They bought Ace equipment, but they did not buy the workers. They first told the Union everyone would be offered jobs at the new WOD in Santa Fe Springs, but that is not how it turned out. Ace Beverage employees were required to re-apply for the jobs and many were not hired! Some of lucky Ace workers are now actually still delivering their same routes, but many are sitting at home without a job, even though they are still hiring at the new facility. The Union was immediately in touch with Budweiser Headquarters in St. Louis stating that they should be recognizing the Ace Beverage contract. We were later told that we did not have majority status of workers at the new facility and it would not be fair to force the Triangle employees into the Union. The reason we did not have the majority at the new WOD is because Budweiser oversaw all the hiring and they had total control of the outcome. The Union is still pursuing this facility, and Budweiser knows if we’re successful, there will be great Union density in the Southern California. There is strength in numbers! Santa Fe Springs would join Teamster distributors in Carson, Sylmar and a Brewery in Van Nuys!
In closing I want to give my condolences to the families and friends of Louis Walker (Pepsi Riverside) and Eddie Fiero (Coca-Cola Downey). Both great Union Brothers that recently lost their battles to Covid-19.
Our deepest condolences to families and friends of: Juan Torres (Retiree Anheuser-Busch: Van Nuys), Fredrik Vartanian (Retiree Anheuser-Busch: Van Nuys), Tracy Zeuner (Allied Beverage), Eduardo Gomez (Coca-Cola USA), Rudolf Munoz (Reyes Coca-Cola: LA), Ashley Rubio (Anheuser-Busch: Fairfield), Michael Floro (Reyes Coca-Cola: San Leandro), Rosa Rodriguez (Safeway: Richmond), Steven Kincaid (Retiree Anheuser-Busch: Fairfield) and Jesus Ruvalcaba (Allied Beverages).
