Posts Categorized: Secretary-Treasurer’s Update

When 1,700 Contra Costa County employees became Local 856 members in February, it added to the significant growth we have seen over the last several years, and for the first time in our 67-year history as a Local Union, Teamsters 856 now has over 10,000 members. This growth in numbers is important because it growsRead More >

The numbers tell the story: there is strength in numbers. Union workers make 27% more than their non-union counterparts. Without question, as the data shows, collective bargaining works. Not only are wages higher, but union workers are much more likely to have health benefits and a pension. This is a consequence of the right toRead More >

In late September my wife Devon and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. In looking back on the last 10 years, she said something that struck me as very relevant to the work we all do together at Teamsters 856. She talked about how it’s not the high-profile events that have mattered most over theRead More >

Don’t the let the term “sharing economy” fool you. There is no sharing. It’s really just the 1% making money by stripping workers of the rights for which the labor movement has fought so hard to secure. Just because the business transactions of these so-called “sharing economy” companies, such as Uber and AirBnB, are accomplished usingRead More >

One of the things that we are most passionate about is preserving access to quality, affordable healthcare. To do that, we must hold health insurance companies accountable by pushing for transparency to stop unjustifiable rate hikes. Historically, health insurance companies have not been required to provide underlying data to justify their rate increases and evenRead More >