Message from Phil Cooper
Secretary-Treasurer
March 2018
Secretary-Treasurer
March 2018
Here’s to hoping everyone had safe and happy holiday season. 2018 will find the local extremely busy. We continue with negotiations for members working at our 7up Vernon and San Fernando facilities. We have been negotiations for many months and have had one contract offer from the company overwhelmingly rejected by the members several weeks ago. And while the previous 7up contract was very fair, your committee is trying their hardest to build on the previous success as they attempt to secure an even better offer from the company this time around. Most of the committee members feel that we will be voting on a last best and final offer from the company very soon.
For our members working at the MillerCoors Brewery in Irwindale, negotiations for their contract should begin sometime in late March or early April. These negotiations should prove to be very difficult as we have already seen what the company has offered to the Teamster facility in Fort Worth Texas. A great advantage we have going into the MillerCoors negotiations is we have a very experienced committee. Chief Steward’s Rachel Gomez representing the clerical group, Anthony Marquez representing the Bottlers and Dan Smith representing the Brewers are all veterans of many negotiations. Add to the mix Bottlers Joe Perea, Dave Gonzales, and Brewer Dexter Wilson, veterans of several MillerCoors negotiations, I believe we will have one of the most experienced committees this Local has ever taken into any negotiations. The members of this facility should know that all their concerns surrounding their contract will indeed be addressed by this very capable group.
The second half of the year will bring negotiations for our members at our Bud Sylmar distributor and for our members at our two Bud Breweries located in Van Nuys and Fairfield. While the Sylmar negotiations will be held locally, the Brewery negotiations will be done locally and nationally. All of the Bud Brewery’s are represented by Teamster workers and most have wall to wall jurisdiction. Once the local issues for each Brewery are discussed, the negotiations will switch to a national level sometime around the late fall or early winter. All the beer negotiations mentioned involve almost 1000 of our 896 members, so I believe you can understand the importance these negotiations are to our local.
If that’s not enough to keep us busy this year, I need to let all our members know that we will be moving the hall sometime in the next few months. The lease on the building where the hall has been located for the past 20 plus years will expire at the end of April and the building managers have notified us they will not be renewing our lease. Two years ago, we had the wisdom to change our by-laws that stated the hall must be located in the city of Los Angeles to the County of Los Angeles. Many of our members have always wanted us to have our own hall. We will continue to hold monthly meetings at various locations to accommodate our membership until we find the right location. Our local represents shops from all over Southern California. We have facilities we represent in Riverside, Victorville, Lancaster, Sylmar, Downey, Los Angeles, Van Nuys, etc. What we plan on doing is having monthly meetings is various locations all around the southland. Having an occasional Union meeting closer to where you live just might motivate more members to attend these notable events. Local 630 has graciously allowed us to use their Union hall for our May Union meeting. It will be even more important to read your Union Boards for news and information on the location of upcoming Union meetings and events.
On July 15th, our Union will be holding a new member seminar for members with 3 years or less with the local. Again, one of our many fine sister locals has agreed to let us use their fine facility. The seminar will be held at Teamsters Local 63 in Rialto. While this meeting will have information that is so important to new members, we will also have a presentation by Karen Jones, the IBT Teamster historian. I know many of you have never had the privilege of hearing Karen talk about Teamster History, I have to say you are in for a treat. Karen amazing and she brings so much knowledge and passion to her lectures you will be undoubtable entertained. This seminar will include materials and lunch will be provided. We also want to invite the families of the new members to attend, Local 63 has a nice park for the kids to play.
Our Northern California members are very busy too, recently the members working at Shasta Beverage in Richmond, voted down the company’s latest offer. They will be going back to the table in the next few weeks. And like many of our negotiations, this one is all about economics.
Finally, I would like to announce the creation of the Local 896 advisory board. Chief Stewards Sherry Salazar Coke L.A.; Tony Marquez, MillerCoors Irwindale; and Sergio Garcia, Coke San Leandro. These members will attend most e-board meetings, participate in decisions involving the local, and their wisdom and guidance will help the Local continue to move forward.
For our members working at the MillerCoors Brewery in Irwindale, negotiations for their contract should begin sometime in late March or early April. These negotiations should prove to be very difficult as we have already seen what the company has offered to the Teamster facility in Fort Worth Texas. A great advantage we have going into the MillerCoors negotiations is we have a very experienced committee. Chief Steward’s Rachel Gomez representing the clerical group, Anthony Marquez representing the Bottlers and Dan Smith representing the Brewers are all veterans of many negotiations. Add to the mix Bottlers Joe Perea, Dave Gonzales, and Brewer Dexter Wilson, veterans of several MillerCoors negotiations, I believe we will have one of the most experienced committees this Local has ever taken into any negotiations. The members of this facility should know that all their concerns surrounding their contract will indeed be addressed by this very capable group.
The second half of the year will bring negotiations for our members at our Bud Sylmar distributor and for our members at our two Bud Breweries located in Van Nuys and Fairfield. While the Sylmar negotiations will be held locally, the Brewery negotiations will be done locally and nationally. All of the Bud Brewery’s are represented by Teamster workers and most have wall to wall jurisdiction. Once the local issues for each Brewery are discussed, the negotiations will switch to a national level sometime around the late fall or early winter. All the beer negotiations mentioned involve almost 1000 of our 896 members, so I believe you can understand the importance these negotiations are to our local.
If that’s not enough to keep us busy this year, I need to let all our members know that we will be moving the hall sometime in the next few months. The lease on the building where the hall has been located for the past 20 plus years will expire at the end of April and the building managers have notified us they will not be renewing our lease. Two years ago, we had the wisdom to change our by-laws that stated the hall must be located in the city of Los Angeles to the County of Los Angeles. Many of our members have always wanted us to have our own hall. We will continue to hold monthly meetings at various locations to accommodate our membership until we find the right location. Our local represents shops from all over Southern California. We have facilities we represent in Riverside, Victorville, Lancaster, Sylmar, Downey, Los Angeles, Van Nuys, etc. What we plan on doing is having monthly meetings is various locations all around the southland. Having an occasional Union meeting closer to where you live just might motivate more members to attend these notable events. Local 630 has graciously allowed us to use their Union hall for our May Union meeting. It will be even more important to read your Union Boards for news and information on the location of upcoming Union meetings and events.
On July 15th, our Union will be holding a new member seminar for members with 3 years or less with the local. Again, one of our many fine sister locals has agreed to let us use their fine facility. The seminar will be held at Teamsters Local 63 in Rialto. While this meeting will have information that is so important to new members, we will also have a presentation by Karen Jones, the IBT Teamster historian. I know many of you have never had the privilege of hearing Karen talk about Teamster History, I have to say you are in for a treat. Karen amazing and she brings so much knowledge and passion to her lectures you will be undoubtable entertained. This seminar will include materials and lunch will be provided. We also want to invite the families of the new members to attend, Local 63 has a nice park for the kids to play.
Our Northern California members are very busy too, recently the members working at Shasta Beverage in Richmond, voted down the company’s latest offer. They will be going back to the table in the next few weeks. And like many of our negotiations, this one is all about economics.
Finally, I would like to announce the creation of the Local 896 advisory board. Chief Stewards Sherry Salazar Coke L.A.; Tony Marquez, MillerCoors Irwindale; and Sergio Garcia, Coke San Leandro. These members will attend most e-board meetings, participate in decisions involving the local, and their wisdom and guidance will help the Local continue to move forward.
