Posts Categorized: Secretary-Treasurer’s Update

With more than 17,000 members across Northern California in both the public and private sector in nearly all industries, having effective worksite leaders is crucial to delivering strong contracts, enforcing those contracts, and further improving upon our workplace protections. And I can say with absolute confidence that our Local 856 shop stewards are second toRead More >

Fighting for strong contracts takes determination and implementing a comprehensive plan that involves aggressive bargaining, leveraging the law to build power, deploying a political plan to gain support from elected officials, creating a communications strategy to ensure our message is reaching the right people, and most importantly, strong member involvement from participating in negotiations surveys,Read More >

After a year-long legislative battle, all of us at Local 856 have won a significant victory in our ongoing fight against outsourcing. The legislative win protects Teamster jobs by strengthening Buy America laws here in California. Buy America requirements protect good middle-class union jobs by preventing outsourcing and ensuring American tax-payer dollars are re-invested inRead More >

Local 856 members made their voices heard loud and clear across the country in the national Teamster election. In results that were certified in early December, Sean O’Brien was elected overwhelmingly as Teamster General President, and I am honored to have been elected on his team as a Western Region Vice President.  Local 856 membersRead More >

Taking on the fight against outsourcing has long been a focus for us at Local 856. That fight continues and recently I met with Celeste Drake, the new Director of the Made in America Office at the White House. Among other things, in the meeting I stressed the importance to Teamsters members that American taxRead More >