Teamsters Local 117

117 Members Speak Out

		Updated On: Jan 25, 2012

CYNTHIA ADAMS, Local 117 member at King County
		"Teamsters Local 117 provides solidarity and strength in numbers. With that strength comes a stronger voice in the workplace.”

JASON RIDGE, Local 117 Member at SuperValu
		"Teamsters Local 117 has fought for our benefits for so long. We're not going to turn around and give those things up.”

SCOTT FUESTON, Local 117 Member at SuperValu
		"Teamsters Local 117 has done a great job estimating our health care expenditures; that is a big bargaining chip for us with our employer.”

CLARISSA CURTIS, Local 117 Member at Coke
		"Being member of Teamsters Local 117 means job security and having someone to support you when you are treated unfairly. Having good benefits and retirement means that I will be able to take care of my son and have a good quality of life.”

SUE LARSON, Local 117 Member at Coke
		"If there are issues at work, Teamsters Local 117 is there to protect you. The Teamsters have been there to support me and to support my family.”

JOE TAYLOR, Local 117 Member at Darigold
		“The beautiful thing about a BBQ is that it brings us together. When you break bread together there is closeness, togetherness. It shows that we are united. It shows what Teamsters 117 is all about.

JOE KIEFFER, Local 117 Shop Steward at UNFI
		"We are the Teamsters for Tomorrow. We are going to be taking over the show, so the stronger we are, the stronger the Union will be in the future."

WILLE COLLINS, 39-year Local 117 member
		“Teamsters Local 117 has been good to me and good to the workers at Graybar."

JESSICA COLT, Receiving Clerk
		“We joined Teamsters Local 117 for job security, better benefits, and better pay. A couple of people tried to convince us not to join. But then there were also hundreds of our co-workers in the warehouse telling us why it was important to become a Teamster."

MIKE HOLDEN, Forklift Driver and 117 Shop Steward
	“Forklift work is now back where it should be - back with the Teamsters. Thanks to Teamsters Local 117 for putting forth such a strong effort to win it."* * Local 117 members at Safeway won an important victory when an arbitrator ruled that the company had violated the workers' collective bargaining agreement by permitting subcontractors to operate forklifts to unload third-party carriers.

DEBRA GIBSON, Employment and Training Specialist and 117 Shop Steward
	“A lot of my co-workers now realize the power the Teamsters have in terms of giving people a voice."* * Local 117 members at the Tacoma-Pierce County Employment and Training Consortium were successful in a case in which the Public Employment Relations Commission ruled that the organization must reinstate laid off employees with back pay, restore the employees’ original working conditions, and commence with a new round of good faith bargaining.

DEBRA DAHLIN, Retail and 117 Shop Steward
	“I'm proud to be a member of Teamsters Local 117. I've registered over 1000 Teamsters to vote."

GERRY PINERO, Correctional Officer
	“I'm a Teamster from way back -- the 1970s in New York City. I was an elevator operator and a doorman. We were a tight-knit group. When there was an issue, we walked out together. Everybody walked. We're one Union."

CHARLES BAILEY, Admission Attendant
	“Anyone that will listen, I’ll tell them: go get a union job. I’ve worked in both the public and private sectors, both union and non-union, and with a union job, there’s more job security, which is important, especially at my age.”

AYMAN MOHAMED, Parking
	“My company wanted to fire me because of my religion. If I hadn’t gone to the Union, I would have been fired a long time ago. Teamsters Local 117 protected me.”

RUSS CARVER, Steel Worker and 117 Shop Steward
	“The Union campaign brought a lot of the workers in our industry together. We all came to the Union meetings and had time to sit down and talk about the conditions in our shops. When my fellow steelworkers saw what we had, it brought them to realize that they could have the same things -- if we all stick together. It also made the companies say, hey, maybe we aren't doing all of the things that we should be doing."