Message from Phil Cooper
Secretary-Treasurer
June 2022
Secretary-Treasurer
June 2022
I would like to remind everyone that owns firearms to please be responsible gun owners. Everyday in our country, five children die of gunshot wounds, and two out of the five deaths are self-inflicted by children either accidently shooting themselves or shooting a brother or sister with a gun that was accessible.
As mentioned in previous articles, your Union is very busy with negotiations, and pending arbitrations. We began negotiations for Allied Beverages in Sylmar on June 6th, we have a committee of drivers and warehouse employees. This was a four year agreement and it appears that maybe five year contracts are a little too long these days. The Drivers of Allied pay is below what other drivers in the industry are making and I am positive we will get them the money they deserve. Allied warehouse workers also deserve a good raise too but considering how different the country and world has become post pandemic, I believe a three or four year agreement is in order.
We continue to make progress with the first contract negotiations for Keurig Victorville. These negotiations have been progressing very slowly due to the availability of the Company’s chief negotiator. He has been in contract negotiations all over the country, and just finished with Local 683 in San Diego. The Business Agent in San Diego stated that his members received the best contract they have ever received, and the members ratified the agreement overwhelmingly.
The High Desert contract will have a huge impact on the So. Cal negotiations that are rapidly approaching. Local 896 will be chairing these important negotiations that also include Locals 186, 495, 848 and 952. These are negotiations are for Teamsters working as production bottlers, drivers, merchandisers, mechanics and warehouse workers. All these members deserve a great contract. Keurig Dr. Pepper wants to be a big player in the industry and needs to start paying wages comparable to those offered by Coca-Cola and Pepsi. I’m asking all members of Vernon and San Fernando to stay strong and united, and please put off buying any large purchases until after we ratify our contract. The Company watches your behaviors prior to contracts expirations and buying new vehicles or other expensive items, makes it harder to vote a substandard contract down if you are not prepared to hit the streets and fight for the contract you deserve.
We also have our Budweiser Distributor in Carson negotiations this year. We are hoping to be done with all the other negotiations before starting the last one for this very busy year. Brian Indelicato, the President of our Local will be assisting Lindy Gerbig, Business Agent with these negotiations later this fall.
For the workers of Safeway Beverage in Norwalk, the last day the facility will be opened will be June 12th. This is never good news for the workers when a facility closes its doors. We have seen this happen all to often the last two and a half years. We lost the MillerCoors facility in Irwindale, the closure of Coca-Cola in Carson and Lancaster, Ace Beverage and Pepsi Beverage in Baldwin Park. Some of these employees were able to follow work to other locations, and others lost their jobs all together. We know that Monster has purchased the Norwalk facility, but their intentions to honor the current contract is unknown at the time of this article. We have demanded that Safeway supply us with all the information Monster shared with them and all conversations they had with the new owners of the building. It was Safeway’s job to let the new owners know they had a contract with successors and assigned language that allows the workers to follow the work, if the new company intends to run the same product the facility is currently running. I am being told that Monster is going to finally meet with the current employees, but they also need to meet with the Union.
Local 896 along with 848, 952 and 63 are proceeding to arbitration over the Reye Coca-Cola’s implementation of the new attendance policy. Several attempts were made by the above locals to negotiate a fairer policy, but to no avail. Now we will put it in the hands of an arbitrator. We will keep the members affected by this new policy up to date on all progress.
We also finally had a chance to sit down with Reyes Coca-Cola and begin negotiations over their implemented new Engineered Labor Standards. The Union and the Company met to open the process, and one of the Unions demands was to negotiate a Memorandum of Agreement that we had with old Coke. This is only the beginning of the process, and we expect more dates in the future.
The June Union meeting, we will have a vote by the members present to go dark for the summer months. Per the by-laws, a vote by the membership at the June Union meeting to forgo the summer meetings for the months of July, August and September must be approved by those present. Of course, we will still have meetings in emergency situations or for those that are in or beginning contract negotiations.
As mentioned in previous articles, your Union is very busy with negotiations, and pending arbitrations. We began negotiations for Allied Beverages in Sylmar on June 6th, we have a committee of drivers and warehouse employees. This was a four year agreement and it appears that maybe five year contracts are a little too long these days. The Drivers of Allied pay is below what other drivers in the industry are making and I am positive we will get them the money they deserve. Allied warehouse workers also deserve a good raise too but considering how different the country and world has become post pandemic, I believe a three or four year agreement is in order.
We continue to make progress with the first contract negotiations for Keurig Victorville. These negotiations have been progressing very slowly due to the availability of the Company’s chief negotiator. He has been in contract negotiations all over the country, and just finished with Local 683 in San Diego. The Business Agent in San Diego stated that his members received the best contract they have ever received, and the members ratified the agreement overwhelmingly.
The High Desert contract will have a huge impact on the So. Cal negotiations that are rapidly approaching. Local 896 will be chairing these important negotiations that also include Locals 186, 495, 848 and 952. These are negotiations are for Teamsters working as production bottlers, drivers, merchandisers, mechanics and warehouse workers. All these members deserve a great contract. Keurig Dr. Pepper wants to be a big player in the industry and needs to start paying wages comparable to those offered by Coca-Cola and Pepsi. I’m asking all members of Vernon and San Fernando to stay strong and united, and please put off buying any large purchases until after we ratify our contract. The Company watches your behaviors prior to contracts expirations and buying new vehicles or other expensive items, makes it harder to vote a substandard contract down if you are not prepared to hit the streets and fight for the contract you deserve.
We also have our Budweiser Distributor in Carson negotiations this year. We are hoping to be done with all the other negotiations before starting the last one for this very busy year. Brian Indelicato, the President of our Local will be assisting Lindy Gerbig, Business Agent with these negotiations later this fall.
For the workers of Safeway Beverage in Norwalk, the last day the facility will be opened will be June 12th. This is never good news for the workers when a facility closes its doors. We have seen this happen all to often the last two and a half years. We lost the MillerCoors facility in Irwindale, the closure of Coca-Cola in Carson and Lancaster, Ace Beverage and Pepsi Beverage in Baldwin Park. Some of these employees were able to follow work to other locations, and others lost their jobs all together. We know that Monster has purchased the Norwalk facility, but their intentions to honor the current contract is unknown at the time of this article. We have demanded that Safeway supply us with all the information Monster shared with them and all conversations they had with the new owners of the building. It was Safeway’s job to let the new owners know they had a contract with successors and assigned language that allows the workers to follow the work, if the new company intends to run the same product the facility is currently running. I am being told that Monster is going to finally meet with the current employees, but they also need to meet with the Union.
Local 896 along with 848, 952 and 63 are proceeding to arbitration over the Reye Coca-Cola’s implementation of the new attendance policy. Several attempts were made by the above locals to negotiate a fairer policy, but to no avail. Now we will put it in the hands of an arbitrator. We will keep the members affected by this new policy up to date on all progress.
We also finally had a chance to sit down with Reyes Coca-Cola and begin negotiations over their implemented new Engineered Labor Standards. The Union and the Company met to open the process, and one of the Unions demands was to negotiate a Memorandum of Agreement that we had with old Coke. This is only the beginning of the process, and we expect more dates in the future.
The June Union meeting, we will have a vote by the members present to go dark for the summer months. Per the by-laws, a vote by the membership at the June Union meeting to forgo the summer meetings for the months of July, August and September must be approved by those present. Of course, we will still have meetings in emergency situations or for those that are in or beginning contract negotiations.
