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 tax dollars should be reinvested in our communities to support good jobs here.

All forms of outsourcing are threats to good Teamster middle class jobs across the broad range of industries our Local Union represents. For example, many of our Local 856 represented food processing employers are forced to compete with overseas plants to supply to schools and other publicly funded programs and services, which puts good Teamster jobs at risk. 

It is unacceptable that tax-payer funded services such as the school lunch program are used to purchase products such as peaches from China, when peaches grown right here in California are processed by Teamsters in the Central Valley.  That’s why we are pursuing legislation at the state and national level that would encourage publicly funded programs and services, such as school districts, to only purchase agricultural products grown and processed in America.

Our work to protect Teamster food processing jobs is only one example of our efforts to fight outsourcing that threatens Local 856 members. As a Local Union, we are committed to standing strong against outsourcing in all industries we represent in both the private and public sector. Whether it’s off-shoring or domestic sub-contracting, outsourcing undermines good middle class jobs and we need to stay vigilant in our fight to stop it.