Message from Phil Cooper
Secretary-Treasurer
July 2021
Secretary-Treasurer
July 2021
As the country reopens, I want to encourage all our members to please continue to practice everything we learned during the pandemic that kept you and your families safe. We know that washing your hands, staying away from others when you are ill, and even wearing masks, helped tremendously in preventing illnesses and spreading diseases. I personally want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine! The reports are coming in that 95% of those currently being hospitalized are those that have chosen not to get vaccinated! Do your part for your family, friends, and co-workers, get the shot!
Summer is here and we have seen record heat being recorded all over Southern California. If you live in a fire prone area, please have a plan on what you will do if you are ordered to evacuate. We had several 896 Northern California members lose their homes in the Paradise and the Camp fires recently, most of them had little or no time to gather belongings before being ordered to leave. Please have a plan that includes making sure important documents and family treasures are ready to go in moment’s notice. Being prepared might not save your home, but it could save the lives of you and your family.
The Local has been extremely busy with organizing and we already have some great news!
Reyes Holdings / High Desert warehouse workers in the city of Lancaster voted Union Yes! The local will soon begin contract negotiations for the 25-person unit in hopes of getting them their first contract. We have a tentative schedule to begin negotiation July 26, with more days to follow in August.
We have filed and have an election date for the Keurig Dr. Pepper unit in Victorville. This facility, with 230 plus workers has been on our radar since the 2013 campaign that we barley lost. We lost that close election, mainly due the International Association of Machinist, who got greedy and wanted the whole unit for themselves. They started bashing on the Teamsters, and basically became the Union Buster. After several years of continued organizing efforts with this group, we feel this campaign is on the right track. We have IBT organizers from the Las Vegas area helping, we have some rank-and-file members helping and other Locals are offering to asset anyway they can. The election will be held on July 14th and 15th, and if any of our other members are interested in helping us push this to victory, please give me a call.
On June 29th, the NLRB let Budweiser know that we had filed a petition for the warehouse builders of the new Central Los Angeles Distributor that replaced Ace Beverage. The company did not allow the Union to follow the work to the new facility, and after telling us they would hire all the former Ace Beverage workers, they did not live up to their promise. The former Ace employees that were fortunate to get hired were merged behind the non-union Triangle workers that were already working in the Santa Fe Springs facility. As you can imagine, this left a bad taste for former Ace workers, and rightly so. The Union was left with the task of trying to organize the shop as a new facility. The warehouse workers have really gotten a bad deal, less money, loss of seniority, and crazy working conditions. They have asked the Union for representation, and we have filed for a vote. The drivers are waiting to see the outcome of the warehouse election, but they too are slowly beginning to see the need for Union representation. The company caught wind of the warehouse campaign and immediately gave the drivers a raise, even though they were not due for one for a year. I hope everyone reading this understands, that even though the Union has a working relationship with the companies we represent, they would much rather not have Unions in their shops. Budweiser has shown their true colors here, but we will always be there when workers want representation. I honestly could not imagine working in a shop without a Union, and I hope all of you feel the same way.
We have finally secured an engineer to audit the new ELS standards Reyes Coca-Cola has rolled out in shops all over California and Las Vegas. That number has reach 13 facilities with more to come. The IBT engineers were not available due to Covid travel restrictions, so our Local is paying for a retired engineer that lives in Southern California. The next obstacle we encountered was getting TZA (the company engineers) back in the facilities so they can explain to our engineer how they came up with the numbers. The audit is truly needed, as even our best loaders are struggling to hit the new numbers. The week of July 19th will find our engineer in Coke Los Angeles and City of Industry. We are still trying to get dates for Downey and Sylmar and have asked the company to work with us on not issuing discipline until the Union audit is complete. The company stated that their biggest concern is that when the workers are off standards, the efficiencies fall way off, but we are continuing to have discussions to try and figure out a way that works for both the loaders and the company.
Our condolences go out to the family of Zack Dubon, Bottler from Pepsi Riverside who passed away a couple of weeks ago. Zack was one of the members from the Riverside facility that was very helpful in getting the Union into their facility, and Zack was on the first contract negotiating committee. Our hearts and prayers extend to Zack’s family and friends.
Congratulations to our recent retirees: Delores Mack (Coke LA), Richard Baker (Coke LA), Fernando Orozco (Coke Downey), Dave Frogget (Anheuser-Busch), Maria Nava (Keurig Dr. Pepper), Randy Ennen (Anheuser-Busch) and Jennifer Martinez (MillerCoors).
Summer is here and we have seen record heat being recorded all over Southern California. If you live in a fire prone area, please have a plan on what you will do if you are ordered to evacuate. We had several 896 Northern California members lose their homes in the Paradise and the Camp fires recently, most of them had little or no time to gather belongings before being ordered to leave. Please have a plan that includes making sure important documents and family treasures are ready to go in moment’s notice. Being prepared might not save your home, but it could save the lives of you and your family.
The Local has been extremely busy with organizing and we already have some great news!
Reyes Holdings / High Desert warehouse workers in the city of Lancaster voted Union Yes! The local will soon begin contract negotiations for the 25-person unit in hopes of getting them their first contract. We have a tentative schedule to begin negotiation July 26, with more days to follow in August.
We have filed and have an election date for the Keurig Dr. Pepper unit in Victorville. This facility, with 230 plus workers has been on our radar since the 2013 campaign that we barley lost. We lost that close election, mainly due the International Association of Machinist, who got greedy and wanted the whole unit for themselves. They started bashing on the Teamsters, and basically became the Union Buster. After several years of continued organizing efforts with this group, we feel this campaign is on the right track. We have IBT organizers from the Las Vegas area helping, we have some rank-and-file members helping and other Locals are offering to asset anyway they can. The election will be held on July 14th and 15th, and if any of our other members are interested in helping us push this to victory, please give me a call.
On June 29th, the NLRB let Budweiser know that we had filed a petition for the warehouse builders of the new Central Los Angeles Distributor that replaced Ace Beverage. The company did not allow the Union to follow the work to the new facility, and after telling us they would hire all the former Ace Beverage workers, they did not live up to their promise. The former Ace employees that were fortunate to get hired were merged behind the non-union Triangle workers that were already working in the Santa Fe Springs facility. As you can imagine, this left a bad taste for former Ace workers, and rightly so. The Union was left with the task of trying to organize the shop as a new facility. The warehouse workers have really gotten a bad deal, less money, loss of seniority, and crazy working conditions. They have asked the Union for representation, and we have filed for a vote. The drivers are waiting to see the outcome of the warehouse election, but they too are slowly beginning to see the need for Union representation. The company caught wind of the warehouse campaign and immediately gave the drivers a raise, even though they were not due for one for a year. I hope everyone reading this understands, that even though the Union has a working relationship with the companies we represent, they would much rather not have Unions in their shops. Budweiser has shown their true colors here, but we will always be there when workers want representation. I honestly could not imagine working in a shop without a Union, and I hope all of you feel the same way.
We have finally secured an engineer to audit the new ELS standards Reyes Coca-Cola has rolled out in shops all over California and Las Vegas. That number has reach 13 facilities with more to come. The IBT engineers were not available due to Covid travel restrictions, so our Local is paying for a retired engineer that lives in Southern California. The next obstacle we encountered was getting TZA (the company engineers) back in the facilities so they can explain to our engineer how they came up with the numbers. The audit is truly needed, as even our best loaders are struggling to hit the new numbers. The week of July 19th will find our engineer in Coke Los Angeles and City of Industry. We are still trying to get dates for Downey and Sylmar and have asked the company to work with us on not issuing discipline until the Union audit is complete. The company stated that their biggest concern is that when the workers are off standards, the efficiencies fall way off, but we are continuing to have discussions to try and figure out a way that works for both the loaders and the company.
Our condolences go out to the family of Zack Dubon, Bottler from Pepsi Riverside who passed away a couple of weeks ago. Zack was one of the members from the Riverside facility that was very helpful in getting the Union into their facility, and Zack was on the first contract negotiating committee. Our hearts and prayers extend to Zack’s family and friends.
Congratulations to our recent retirees: Delores Mack (Coke LA), Richard Baker (Coke LA), Fernando Orozco (Coke Downey), Dave Frogget (Anheuser-Busch), Maria Nava (Keurig Dr. Pepper), Randy Ennen (Anheuser-Busch) and Jennifer Martinez (MillerCoors).
