A group of Maverick employees gather outside the Union Hall in Tukwila after voting on a first-time union contract.

FIRST-TIME CONTRACT FOR MAVERICK TEAMSTERS RATIFIES ON A 98% YES VOTE!

A group of over 1,700 employees of Maverick Gaming LLC has voted overwhelmingly to ratify a first-time union contract with Teamsters Local 117.

The new three-year agreement is the first of its kind for workers in the gaming industry in Washington State. The contract provides workers with a defined-benefit pension through the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust, improved compensation, and greater access to health care, along with a number of other workplace improvements. Voting took place throughout the week at meetings in Pasco, Yakima, Tukwila, Everett, and Tacoma, WA.

“I want to congratulate and welcome Maverick employees to our Union,” said John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117. “These workers took a courageous step to stand together as Teamsters to secure their rights and benefits in the workplace. Together we have achieved a historic agreement that will improve the lives of over 1,700 working people and their families.”

"Together we have achieved a historic agreement..."

Ballots were tallied in Everett on Thursday evening, where workers reacted to the news of the contract ratification with excitement. “I love this contract. It gives my entire family – and when I say family, I mean every employee I work with at Maverick – it gives us all a stable future. It gives us job security, longevity, and a voice. It’s 100% the best thing for all of us,” said Wes Tompkins, a dealer at Coyote Bob’s Casino in Kennewick with over 20 years’ experience in the industry.

“I’m really excited about the contract,” added Jewalea Schnabel, a server and bartender at the Caribbean Casino in Kirkland. “The fact that we are part of the Union is a big step in itself. I’m also excited that we’re getting a pay raise for our cooks and excited about the pension. It will bring lifelong stability for all of us. That’s a really good thing.”

This March, we will begin contract negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement for all Teamsters at King County.

Teamsters 117 will be working as a part of a Coalition - the King County Coalition of Unions - to negotiate over our collective priorities related to the Master Labor Agreement, Total Compensation, and the JLMIC, the joint-labor management group that oversees County employees’ health care benefits. 

To help prepare for negotiations, please complete the contract survey by clicking the link below. You must complete the survey by no later than Sunday, March 8, 2020.

Take the Survey Here!

Filling out a contract survey is important! The survey helps prioritize issues and gives you an opportunity to voice your concerns. Our Union Negotiations Committee will use the survey results to develop proposals for contract negotiations based on your feedback.

In addition to the contract surveys, we will be holding in-person Contract Demands Meetings with King County Teamsters. The meetings are another way you can make sure your voice is heard. As soon as those meetings are scheduled, we will let you know.

Thank you for sharing your ideas about how we can build a stronger contract together! 

Shop Steward Adam Connolly and his co-workers at the Sumner facility have helped make Fleischmann's the world's largest producer of commercial vinegar.

Teamsters at Fleischmann’s Vinegar are fed up. The company has been dragging its feet in negotiations and has shown little respect for its employees. 

“We’re in our ninth negotiations session and they haven’t even given us complete proposals on health and welfare or wages,” reports Adam Connolly, a maintenance mechanic and shop steward on our Union Negotiations Committee.

Unlike the company, Connolly and the team have been straight up about their demands: Back in October, they presented Fleischmann’s with a comprehensive proposal, which included economics. Nine sessions later, the company still hasn't put all of their proposals on the table.

Connolly believes a recent corporate buyout may be to blame. In 2018, the Kerry Group, a massive food service conglomerate, gobbled up Fleischmann’s, a company that’s been in the vinegar business for nearly a century.  

“Kerry came in promising good things, but so far it seems like they want to take everything from us. We’re especially concerned about our pension and health care,” Connolly said.

With the company’s stall tactics souring negotiations, our members at Fleischmann’s are gearing up to take action. On Tuesday, the group voted unanimously to authorize a strike after an update meeting at Fleischmann’s production facility in Sumner.

"Our Union provides us with safer jobs, decent pay, and a pension."

“Nobody wants a strike,” Connolly insists. “But our Union provides us with safer jobs, decent pay, and a pension. And we’re prepared to defend it.”

“This group is ready,” said John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters 117. “They’re sick and tired of this company trying to push them around. They’re standing up for fair wages, decent health care, and retirement security – all of the elements of a strong Teamsters contract.”

All 19 members of our Union Negotiations Committee recommend that you vote YES to approve the proposal

Starting next week Union members at Maverick will have a historic opportunity to vote on a first-ever contract proposal that will improve their workplace rights and provide lasting benefits for themselves and their families. 

The proposal is fully-recommended by our Union Negotiations Committee. The Committee consisted of 19 Maverick union members who actively participated in negotiations. All 19 members of the Committee unanimously recommend that you vote YES to approve the agreement.

We have scheduled Contract Ratification Meetings at multiple times and locations. At the meetings, you will have an opportunity to review the proposal and ask questions before the vote.

Teamsters at Maverick should attend the meeting that is most convenient to them:

Teamster power on the steps of the State Capitol in Olympia!

Hundreds of Teamsters 117 members and their families flooded the State Capitol in Olympia yesterday for our 2020 Lobby Day. 

SEE PHOTOS FROM LOBBY DAY HERE!

Teamsters from all sectors, including our newly-organized members at Maverick Gaming, spoke with legislators about how safe staffing levels in our prisons helps build safer communities.

"We need safe staffing and security for corrections because what we do protects the public," said corrections officer Samuel Coleman of the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton.

Coleman, along with over two hundred of our members from the Department of Corrections, took that message to the halls of the Legislative Building where we engaged legislators in short but pointed conversations.

Our talks with legislators also focused on another priority for our Union: To ensure that Local 117 workers in the gaming industry have a voice over any proposed expansion of gambling in Washington State. 

"We are stronger together and our voices are louder."

"I have been working at the Great American Casino in Tukwila for 15 years and am a single mother of three," said card dealer, Davy Men. "Every decision concerning gaming is important to me. Our voice should be heard."

The day's activities culminated with a rally on the steps of the State Capitol where Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer John Scearcy and member leaders led the group in chants and spoke about how our collective power has brought about meaningful legislative change.

"The work we are doing here is incredibly important," Scearcy said. "Our legislative agenda and priorities are built off of what matters to the workers we represent. When we fight for these priorities, we are improving lives and impacting our membership as a whole. We are stronger together and our voices are louder."

Thank you to all of the members who traveled to Olympia for Lobby Day. You make our Teamster voice powerful and loud! See a complete list of our legislative priorities for 2020 here.

Our Union Negotiations Committee achieves a first-time contract for workers in the gaming industry in Washington State.

Teamsters Local 117 has achieved a fully-recommended settlement agreement over a first-time contract for over 1,700 gaming industry workers employed by Maverick Gaming. Negotiations between the Union’s 19-member Negotiations Committee and the Company took place on February 6 and 7 at the Teamsters Union Hall in Tukwila.

If approved by the membership, the new three-year agreement would provide workers with retirement security benefits through the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust, improve compensation, and provide greater access to health care for Teamsters at Maverick.

“This is a powerful first-time agreement that will provide lasting benefits to union members and their families,” said John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117. “Our Union Negotiations Committee worked incredibly hard to achieve a fully-recommended proposal that reflects the priorities of the membership. We are excited to present the proposal to our members for their consideration.”

"This is a powerful first-time agreement that will provide lasting benefits to union members and their families."

Maverick employees will be the first unionized gaming-industry workers in Washington State. They sought representation with the Teamsters because they wanted a voice over issues like their compensation, health care, retirement security, scheduling, and other working conditions.

“I am very proud of the job our Union Negotiations Committee did. We worked hard to make sure that dealer tips are protected. We also made sure that our cooks, wait staff, and security are well-represented,” said Jackie Franco, a dealer at the Caribbean Casino in Kirkland.

Teamsters Local 117 was authorized as the workers’ exclusive bargaining representative through a card check process conducted by an independent arbitrator last December. Throughout the organizing process, Maverick remained neutral and allowed workers to determine for themselves whether they wanted union representation. “Maverick came to the negotiating table with an open mind and was willing to negotiate contract provisions that will improve the lives of our members,” Scearcy said.

The Union is in the process of scheduling contract ratification meetings so that members have an opportunity to review and vote on the proposal. “This is a historic agreement that, if ratified by the membership, will bring thousands of good, Teamster jobs with family wages and secure benefits to workers in the gaming industry in the Pacific Northwest,” Scearcy said. “It was possible because Maverick employees had the courage to stand together in a strong union to secure their rights and benefits in the workplace.”

This May, we will begin negotiations over the 2021-2023 collective bargaining agreement for all Teamsters employed at the Washington State Department of Corrections. 

To prepare for negotiations, please complete the DOC Contract Survey by clicking the link below. You must complete the survey by no later than Wednesday, March 4, 2020.

The survey asks questions about your wages, appropriate staffing levels, and other provisions of your collective bargaining agreement.

Filling out a contract survey is important! The survey helps prioritize issues and gives you an opportunity to voice your concerns. Our Union Negotiations Committee will use the survey results to develop proposals for contract negotiations based on your feedback.

In addition to the Contract Surveys, we will be holding Contract Proposal Meetings for all DOC Teamsters starting in March. The meetings are another way you can make sure your voice is heard. Come to one of the meetings and share your ideas about how we can build a stronger contract together! You can find a complete list of the meeting dates, times, and locations for your facility here.

Thank you for your service. Please stay safe.

At the 20-year anniversary celebration: Brenda Wiest (Vice President), John Scearcy (Secretary-Treasurer), Marie LaRiviere, James Hoffa (General President), Cammy LaRiviere, Michelle Woodrow (President)

Marie LaRiviere always shot for the moon. A Tacoma girl and the daughter of working-class parents, Marie had her sights set on Georgetown University in Washington D.C. She had the grades to get there. The trouble was affording an Ivy League school.

Marie’s mom, Cammy, supported the family through her work as a 911 Communications Officer at Tacoma’s Law Enforcement Support Agency. She spent her days fielding calls from people in distress, a job she loved for the help she could provide the community.

It was a good Teamster job with excellent benefits, but tuition for Georgetown was off the charts. Cammy told her daughter that she could attend any college the family could afford but sending her to Georgetown would be a stretch.

Undeterred, Marie started to cobble together money for tuition. She applied for scholarships wherever she could find them. “She went after them all,” Cammy recalled. Inspired by her daughter’s determination, Cammy encouraged her to apply for a scholarship she found while flipping through Teamster magazine.

Brothers and Sisters -

I hope your 2020 is off to a great start! For our Union, there's a lot going on, and I wanted to make sure you're up to speed.

As you may know, this is a contract negotiations year for DOC Teamsters. In May, we'll begin negotiations over your 2021-2023 collective bargaining agreement. 

To prepare for negotiations, we'll be sending out Contract Surveys to all DOC employees who are members of Teamsters 117 soon. 

We will also be holding Contract Proposal Meetings starting in March. You can find a complete list of the meeting dates, times, and locations for your facility here.

The surveys and the meetings are opportunities for you to provide feedback so that your Union Negotiations Committee can head to the bargaining table armed with meaningful proposals based on member priorities.

In preparation for contract negotiations with the Department of Corrections, we will be holding Contract Proposal Meetings at facilities across the state. Your feedback will help our Union Negotiations Committee develop meaningful proposals for negotiations. Please attend one of the meetings listed below! For information about location and to RSVP, click on the link for your facility.

Teamsters Local 117 stands in solidarity with nearly 8,000 Swedish Medical Center workers who began a three-day unfair labor practices strike Tuesday morning. The workers are members of SEIU Local 1199NW.

Healthcare workers at seven Swedish Medical Center campuses in King and Snohomish Counties are fighting for quality patient care and good, family-sustaining jobs. These nurses and caregivers report that they face understaffing which impacts patient safety, along with disrespect and discrimination from management.

According to their union, instead of bargaining in good faith for a contract with reasonable wages, management has spent $11 million on an agency to temporarily replace workers during the strike.

“The Teamsters Union represents over 50 thousand healthcare workers, including hundreds who are members of Teamsters 117. Our members work long hours, often with limited resources, in stressful environments to provide critical, ethical care. We stand with our labor partners at SEIU 1199NW to ensure that workers in the profession are treated with dignity and respect,” said Michelle Woodrow, President of Local 117 and Western Region Representative for the Teamsters Health Care Division.

"We are committed to standing with the striking workers until their demands are met."

“In Washington State and nationally, we want Swedish  Medical Center workers to know that we have their backs. We stand by them as they fight for what’s right—fair treatment and quality care for patients,” said Nina Bugbee, Director of the Teamsters Health Care Division.

“Nurses and caregivers touch every life and every community,” said John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters 117. “As a community, we need to come together and support them in their fight for fair working conditions, racial equity, and patient safety. We are committed to standing with the striking workers until their demands are met.”

Got a kid who's headed off to trade school or college? In the last few days, two more scholarship opportunities have opened up for Teamster families.

First, our Teamsters 117 Jeff Alfieri Scholarship is now accepting applications. 

The scholarship is awarded to outstanding students whose parents are members of Teamsters Local 117. 

The founders of the scholarship fund, Ralph and Sue Alfieri, established the scholarship in memory of their son Jeff Alfieri, a former Business Representative with Teamsters Local 117.

Check out eligibility requirements and apply here.

Local 117 members unlawfully laid off by UNFI bring their fight for justice to Amazon/Whole Foods

On Thursday, in Austin, Texas, a delegation of Oxfam, Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) and Teamsters Union representatives joined forces, demanding Whole Foods take real steps to clean up abusive labor practices in its food supply chain.

Whole Foods is one of the lowest-scoring supermarket chains on Oxfam’s human rights scorecard, even worse than Walmart.  

On the same day, in Seattle, laid-off grocery workers, Teamsters Local 117 representatives and consumer allies visited Amazon headquarters to demand that Amazon-owned Whole Foods weigh in on its largest supplier, UNFI to stop labor abuses there.

Teamster officials in Austin, participating in the event with Oxfam and FLOC, tried to deliver a letter to John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods.

Seattle protestors sought to meet with Stephenie Landry, VP of Grocery Delivery for Amazon and deliver the same letter, demanding justice. Click to read the letter, and see photos and video from Seattle.

“Hundreds of families are hurting today, because Whole Foods' partner UNFI is not honoring contract terms that we negotiated and they agreed to, that's unacceptable and we won't stand for it," said John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local Union No. 117. “Amazon has the ability and the responsibility to demand Whole Foods and UNFI stop abusing workers and communities across its entire supply chain, and honor their commitments to us all.”

"We demand Whole Foods and UNFI stop abusing workers and communities across its supply chain."

Right before the holidays, UNFI illegally laid off over 200 workers from its Tacoma, Wash., distribution center. UNFI is refusing to honor an arbitrator’s award that upholds the workers’ contract and protects their wages and benefits.

“The loss of money, medical benefits and retirement that we have become accustomed to has really made life difficult. I have had my garbage service canceled due to inability to pay. My phone has been shut off for a couple of weeks. How am I supposed to find employment without a phone? What if there was a problem with my daughter at school? I have also fallen a month behind in rent,” said Jason Black, one of the laid off Tacoma, food distribution workers. “Other workers have been hit with evictions, had utilities shut off and scrounged for change to make sure their families are fed. Food, shelter, clothing and good health for our families are the main priorities now and covering these expenses is hard and is only going to get harder because of UNFI’s greed.”

Teamsters urged Amazon’s Whole Foods grocery executives Mackey and Landry to call on UNFI CEO Steven Spinner to comply with the arbitrator’s decision and stop breaking the law – as a first step toward demonstrating their combined company’s commitment to a truly sustainable food supply.

Whole Foods Market has a strategic supply chain agreement with UNFI, which runs more than 50 grocery warehouses, and is an essential partner to Amazon’s premier grocery channels: Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh.

The protestors also called on Amazon’s Whole Foods to ensure that all its suppliers respect workers’ rights and safety.

Teamsters represent over 4,000 members at UNFI across much of the U.S. UNFI has recently escalated its attacks on its local labor unions, leading to extensive unrest across its grocery distribution network, including a two-week strike in the Midwest in late December 2019.

This is an exciting time for workers in the gaming industry in Washington State. Teamsters 117, one of the most powerful and respected unions in the Pacific Northwest, has been certified to represent you in contract negotiations with your employer.

This means that a Union Negotiation Committee will meet with Maverick to negotiate a first-time contract that will secure your rights and benefits in the workplace.  The Committee will consist of professional Teamsters 117 negotiators along with a team of your co-workers to ensure that everyone who works at Maverick is represented at the negotiation table.

To prepare for negotiations, your voice is critical!  Your feedback will help your Union Negotiation Committee develop meaningful proposals for negotiations.  You can provide feedback in two ways: 1) Complete the online Contract Survey and 2) attend a Contract Demands Meeting.

1. CONTRACT SURVEY – COMPLETE THE SURVEY!
Our Union’s legal team has developed a short survey that will help you and your co-workers establish priorities for negotiations. The survey will take you 5-10 minutes to complete. By taking the survey, you are making sure your voice is heard in the contract negotiations process. 

CONTRACT SURVEY - CLICK HERE!

2. CONTRACT DEMANDS MEETINGS – ATTEND A MEETING!
Contract Demands Meetings are another opportunity for you to provide feedback so that the Union can establish priorities for negotiations. At the meetings, you will also be selecting Shop Stewards. These are your co-workers who will help represent you in your workplace. Please attend one of the Contract Demands Meetings listed below.

Thank you for your participation in this process! As soon as we have established negotiation dates with Maverick, we will let you know.  Our goal is to make sure you have the strongest possible representation and to negotiate a contract based on your priorities that will provide a better, more secure future for you and your family.

Today marks the first of a 60-day legislative session in Olympia where lawmakers will be making critical decisions that impact members of Teamsters 117 and their families.

As always, our Union will have a strong presence in Olympia. We will be working to hold politicians accountable and pass bills that help workers, increase government accountability, and protect the health and safety of working families in Washington State.

Teamsters 117 employs a full-time Legislative Affairs Director, Brenda Wiest, who will be on the ground in Olympia working to protect the rights of Local 117 members and their families. Brenda works closely with Political Action Director, Dustin Lambro, who is organizing opportunities throughout session for members to speak directly with their legislators about critical issues.

Our Teamsters 117 Lobby Day will be held on February 12-13, 2020. You can register for the event online or contact Dustin at 206-794-2606 for more information.

OUR 2020 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

PRIORITIES FOR STATE EMPLOYEES

• FUNDING ADDITIONAL CUSTODY AND HEALTHCARE POSITIONS AT DOC - Supplemental budget funding to increase the number of custody and healthcare staff at DOC is imperative. The Staffing Audit identified several flaws in the current DOC Staffing Model. Understaffing has put a strain on workers burdened by excessive overtime, which leads to unsafe working conditions inside the prison system and an increased likelihood of errors in the healthcare of incarcerated individuals. We support the Governor’s budget which adds money to increase staff at DOC.
• PEER-TO-PEER COUNSELING FOR DOC - DOC staff are often witness to terrible trauma inside the adult prison system. We are seeking to pass a bill that will create a privileged relationship between staff that access the peer support team to allow open dialogue during a member’s moment of need without fear of disclosure. This will create parity between the DOC and other county corrections and law enforcement jurisdictions.
• WORKER PROTECTION ACT - We have many great workplace protections—wage and hour, equal pay, health and safety, and anti-discrimination laws. But enforcement agencies often have years-long backlogs and the federal government limits what tools workers have to achieve justice. HB 1965, the Worker Protection Act, creates a pathway for workers to blow the whistle when current laws are violated, while generating resources for stronger state enforcement.
• PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PRIVACY - Our state has robust public disclosure laws, but ones that can expose the personal and financial information of public workers to scam artists. HB 1888 takes common-sense steps to safeguard personal data—like birthdays and data that reveal addresses—to protect public workers’ safety and guard against identity theft and fraud.
• IMPROVEMENTS TO LEAVE FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES - We will be working on several bills this session that improve leave for public employees by raising the cap on leave, allowing injured workers to access shared leave, and giving employees earlier access to leave. 
• IMPROVEMENTS TO DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFITS UNDER PSERS - We support policy that will create parity between DOC and other public safety personnel by improving Death and Disability benefits for PSERS members.

OTHER WORKER PRIORITIES

• WORKER PROTECTION ACT - We have many great workplace protections—wage and hour, equal pay, health and safety, and anti-discrimination laws. But enforcement agencies often have years-long backlogs and the federal government limits what tools workers have to achieve justice. HB 1965, the Worker Protection Act, creates a pathway for workers to blow the whistle when current laws are violated, while generating resources for stronger state enforcement.
• OVERTIME PROTECTIONS — This year, the Department of Labor and Industries updated overtime rules for the first time in 40 years and restored protections for thousands of salaried workers. Restoring overtime helps working families by honoring and respecting people’s time — that’s good for workers and our economy. Teamsters 117 will oppose any attempt to erode, roll back, or limit L&I’s ability to maintain overtime protections.
• THIRD PARTY ADMINISTRATOR REFORM — TPAs are supposed to provide case management expertise for self-insured employers and Retrospective Rating program participants. Unfortunately, they are often used to suppress workers’ compensation claims and undermine injured workers’ ability to get the wage replacement and medical benefits they are due.
• INDEPENDENT MEDICAL EXAM REFORM — Too often employers and the Department of Labor and Industries require unnecessary and invasive Independent Medical Exams for injured workers trying to heal and return to work. New workers’ compensation policies should limit how often IMEs can be requested when other sufficient medical information is available.
• AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - Requires that persons or entities testing autonomous vehicles or autonomous vehicle technology equipment under the Department of Licensing’s Self Certification Pilot Project shall maintain with the Department of Licensing proof of an umbrella liability insurance policy in an amount not less than five million dollars per occurrence for damages by reason of bodily injury, death, or property damage in addition to the  financial responsibility requirements in accordance with RCW 46.30.020.
• EMPLOYEE PERSONAL VEHICLE SEARCHES HB 2239 - Prohibits certain searches of employee vehicles in employer parking areas. Specifies an employee right of possession of property within their vehicles in employer parking areas. Provides for investigations and potential civil penalties by the Department of Labor and Industries.