Message from Phil Cooper
Secretary-Treasurer
October 2019
Secretary-Treasurer
October 2019
Can you believe it’s been a full year we have been working out of our new Union Hall? Last month (September) we celebrated our one-year anniversary at our new Pasadena location. For the Union meeting held on the last Sunday of last month, we had a party where members and their families came and enjoyed fish tacos, hot dogs, prizes and more. Several of our vendors, attorneys and professionals we use donated some great door prizes and gift cards. Thanks to Joe Kaplon, Scott Ford, Cheryl Wallach, Steve Scardino, Liberty Dental, Kaiser and others that help make the event such a success.
Negotiations for Pepsi Cola continue. These negotiations started at the beginning of the year, and due to some personal circumstances for the Pepsi negotiator, there were several sessions that were postponed. Also, due to the extremely important topics of affordable Health and Welfare and attempting to get our Southern California Pepsi members back into the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension, we have slowed things down because these topics are too important to rush. At the time of the publication of this article, Pepsi 896 Business Agent Javier Herrera and myself, along with other locals involved in these negotiations, would have already met with top Pepsi officials to present the Western Conference Pension proposal that is so important to our members and their families future. I do want to thank our Pepsi employees for their patience, I know this has been a very long process.
Pepsi Riverside negotiations should begin soon after the current Southern California negotiations is done. It will be the second contract for the Riverside members and we are definitely looking at both non-economic and economic improvements.
Business Agent Lindy Gerbig, and his committee consisting of Cap Nicholas, Cuauthemoc Ceballosa and Andres Salvatierra have had the initial meeting with the company for the Bud Sylmar Merchandisers negotiations. This is the units second contract and we are looking for significant improvements moving forward. These Merchandisers are in need of some big economic improvements.
Payroll issues have been an issue in the Coca-Cola Ontario facility for way to long. Things have gotten a little better recently, but isolated issues continue to pop up week to week. The members’ patience in this facility have worn very thin, and they have even talked to a wage and hour attorney to see if that can help this issue.
Payroll issues have been and continues to be a huge issue in our Reyes Coca-Cola facilities in both Southern and Northern California. It is true Reyes suffered a cyber event that crippled their payroll system on September 7th, it is also true that they managed to pay most people in the smaller Distribution Centers close to what they owe them. But in the Downey and Los Angeles Coke facilities, two of their larger production shops, there were way to many members who were not being paid correctly for several weeks creating hardships for them and their families. Even with the writing of this article, payroll issues continue. The company is processing the workers’ pay manually, but even with this, several members received no pay at all last week. I have had many calls with management asking for updates and when they were going to have a town hall type meeting in these two shops to get the word out on what is being done. To my dismay, no such meeting has occurred, and all the employees have seen is an occasional posting trying to explain what’s happening. The lack of leadership in facilities has me scratching my head. A lot of the worries and concerns being felt by the workers could have been alleviated with better communication! With leadership, comes the responsibility to present both good and bad news. When members ask managers on a daily basis, what’s going on, or am I going to get paid correctly, or when will I get my back pay, and the answer almost every time is I don’t know, that is ridiculous.
Your Union is committed to make sure that all Pension contributions will be made whole (I can only surmise that they have goofed this up too) and that there is no lapse in medical coverage. In case this too isn’t paid correctly, I have already given both the Soft Drink and Pension Trusts a heads up that there could be a problem.
Negotiations for Pepsi Cola continue. These negotiations started at the beginning of the year, and due to some personal circumstances for the Pepsi negotiator, there were several sessions that were postponed. Also, due to the extremely important topics of affordable Health and Welfare and attempting to get our Southern California Pepsi members back into the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension, we have slowed things down because these topics are too important to rush. At the time of the publication of this article, Pepsi 896 Business Agent Javier Herrera and myself, along with other locals involved in these negotiations, would have already met with top Pepsi officials to present the Western Conference Pension proposal that is so important to our members and their families future. I do want to thank our Pepsi employees for their patience, I know this has been a very long process.
Pepsi Riverside negotiations should begin soon after the current Southern California negotiations is done. It will be the second contract for the Riverside members and we are definitely looking at both non-economic and economic improvements.
Business Agent Lindy Gerbig, and his committee consisting of Cap Nicholas, Cuauthemoc Ceballosa and Andres Salvatierra have had the initial meeting with the company for the Bud Sylmar Merchandisers negotiations. This is the units second contract and we are looking for significant improvements moving forward. These Merchandisers are in need of some big economic improvements.
Payroll issues have been an issue in the Coca-Cola Ontario facility for way to long. Things have gotten a little better recently, but isolated issues continue to pop up week to week. The members’ patience in this facility have worn very thin, and they have even talked to a wage and hour attorney to see if that can help this issue.
Payroll issues have been and continues to be a huge issue in our Reyes Coca-Cola facilities in both Southern and Northern California. It is true Reyes suffered a cyber event that crippled their payroll system on September 7th, it is also true that they managed to pay most people in the smaller Distribution Centers close to what they owe them. But in the Downey and Los Angeles Coke facilities, two of their larger production shops, there were way to many members who were not being paid correctly for several weeks creating hardships for them and their families. Even with the writing of this article, payroll issues continue. The company is processing the workers’ pay manually, but even with this, several members received no pay at all last week. I have had many calls with management asking for updates and when they were going to have a town hall type meeting in these two shops to get the word out on what is being done. To my dismay, no such meeting has occurred, and all the employees have seen is an occasional posting trying to explain what’s happening. The lack of leadership in facilities has me scratching my head. A lot of the worries and concerns being felt by the workers could have been alleviated with better communication! With leadership, comes the responsibility to present both good and bad news. When members ask managers on a daily basis, what’s going on, or am I going to get paid correctly, or when will I get my back pay, and the answer almost every time is I don’t know, that is ridiculous.
Your Union is committed to make sure that all Pension contributions will be made whole (I can only surmise that they have goofed this up too) and that there is no lapse in medical coverage. In case this too isn’t paid correctly, I have already given both the Soft Drink and Pension Trusts a heads up that there could be a problem.
