Sean O’Brien becomes IBT General President, Local 856 Principal Officer Peter Finn sworn in as Western Region Vice President

Today marked an historic occasion for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Local 856 as Sean O’Brien took office as the Teamsters General President and the entire General Executive Board, which includes Local 856 Principal Officer Peter Finn, was sworn in to their 5-year term. 

In addition to assuming the role of Western Region Vice President, Peter has been appointed by General President O’Brien to serve as the Teamsters Food Processing Division Director.

Local 856 represents more than 5,000 food processing members throughout the Central Valley and the Teamsters represent 100,000 food processing workers nationwide who help prepare, process and move food across the country.

“It is an incredible honor to have been elected by my fellow Teamsters to the IBT General Executive Board and a true reflection of the work our members have done to transform our Local into one of the biggest and most robust in the union,” said Peter. “I remain truly grateful for the opportunity to serve the membership and look forward to hitting the ground running.”

(L-R) Western Region VP Peter Finn, At-Large VP Chris Griswold, Western Region VPs Lindsay Dougherty, Mark Davison, and Rick Hicks at IBT Headquarters on March 22, 2022.

As Food Processing Division Director, Peter is spearheading the Teamsters’ push to enforce Buy America mandates in the National School Lunch Act to preserve good-union jobs, and rescind rules that allow school districts to serve cheap, imported food to school children. Read more here.

General President O’Brien has also appointed Local 856 Vice President Ashley Alvarado as the director of the IBT annual Women’s Conference and Local 856 Organizing Director Chris Rosell to head the IBT’s national Organizing Department.

Peter and Ashley will continue in their current roles at Local 856 in conjunction with their new positions at the IBT, and Chris will be leaving the Local to focus on his new responsibilities. We thank Chris for his years of service to Local 856 and our members and wish him the very best.