Our union’s bargaining with the DOC does not stop after the completion of contract negotiations. Throughout the year, we bargain with the State over a number of issues impacting your work.

In 2017, we have filed demands to bargain over newly-organized units, newly-created FTEs, the elimination of certain classifications, and many other issues.  

Most recently, a group of member leaders (LouAnn Anderson, Phillip Cook, John Dunn, Becky Haney-Nixon Venus Ortiz, Jessica Poston, and Shawn Piliponis), along with union representatives Tawny Humbert and Sarena Davis, met with the State to bargain over the Advanced Corrections Case Management program impacting classification counselors. 

Bargaining took place here at our Teamsters Union Hall in Tukwila on Wednesday, October 24.

At the bargaining table, our member team and union representatives discussed the excessive workload demanded by the program and the emotional impact of the work. We passed our complete initial proposal and the State asked clarifying questions. We are in the process of scheduling further dates to continue discussions over the program.  

It’s important to remember that any time the DOC implements changes that may impact your wages, hours, or working conditions, they are required to enter into negotiations with the union. Failure to do so constitutes an Unfair Labor Practice.

Stay vigilant and report any such changes to your shop steward or union representative so that we can file a demand to bargain. This is your right as a Teamsters 117 member under your contract and under the law.

If you have questions about the recent bargaining over the Advanced Corrections program, please contact lead negotiators Tawny Humbert at tawny.humbert@teamsters117.org or Sarena Davis at sarena.davis@teamsters117.org.   

If you are covered by a Teamsters medical plan through the Washington Teamsters Welfare Trust, you can save on your 2018 medical expenses by taking your confidential Health Assessment.

Both you and your eligible spouse or covered domestic partner must take the Health Assessment between November 1 and December 15 to qualify for the reduction.

For members covered under plans A, B, C, and Z and the Kaiser Permanente Options Plan, your annual deductible in 2018 will be $200 less for individual coverage and up to $600 less for family coverage than if you do not take the assessment. 

To take the assessment, visit wateamsters.vivacity.com. If you don't have internet access, call Vivacity at 855-784-4562 to request a paper version. Kaiser Permanete Plan Participants go to www.ghc.org or call Kaiser at 866-458-5277 to request a paper version.

If you have questions, talk to your union representative.

Teamsters 117 represents approximately 3,500 members who work for local public sector jurisdictions in King and Pierce Counties (in addition to 6,000 state employees who work for the state Dept. of Corrections). 

We have members who work for the cities of Seattle and Tacoma, at King County and Pierce County, as well as a dozen other local cities and both the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, in hundreds of classifications.

One thing all of our members share, regardless of whether we work in the public or private sector, is that we all deserve good public services, and we believe that anyone who works for a living should have good wages and benefits to be able to take care of their families.

Elected officials who serve on city councils, or county councils, make decisions that impact our members every day. They approve or reject collective bargaining agreements we negotiate in the public sector, which means that who gets elected to office matters a great deal. 

In 2017, our Statewide Political Advisory Committee met with nearly 50 candidates, and made endorsements for local office for positions which will appear on your General Election ballot this year. For more about our endorsement process, please click here. To see the list of all of our endorsed candidates, please click here.

• Election Resources

  • Register to Vote and Check your Registration Status
  • Election Calendar and Important Dates

• Our 2017 Endorsements

• Our Endorsement Process and Statewide Political Advisory Committee

If you have any questions about the ballot you get in the mail, or you need more information on anyone we have endorsed, please feel free to reach out to our Political Coordinator, Dustin Lambro, at 1-888-872-3489 x1262 or dustin @ teamsters117.org. 

Yury Silva (left) counting ratification votes along with fellow Teamsters.

Teamsters at Fred Meyer voted resoundingly in favor of a fully-recommended contract proposal last weekend.

This was not an easy win. With Teamsters securing strong contracts at Safeway and SuperValu earlier this year, Fred Meyer workers authorized a strike in July by a vote of 332-1 and voted down two subsequent proposals.

John Scearcy, our union’s secretary-treasurer, said that the workers’ collective power brought the company back to the negotiating table. “By standing together and demanding a better deal, our members got a proposal that is commensurate with industry standards and will lift up their families.” 

“We are the number one distribution center,” said Yury Silva, a shop steward who participated in the tough negotiations. “Our co-workers wanted our contract to put us at number one.” Among the achieved benefits was a reduction in family healthcare cost, protected vacation leave, and solid wage and retirement increases.

This win was a result of workers feeling empowered to not settle for less and be on the same footing with the grocery giant. “I am proud to work for Fred Meyer and I am proud to be a Teamster,” concluded Silva.  “Our union is only as strong as the people who work there, and that’s us.”

Join us for our 2017 Holiday Membership Meetings for Teamsters at DOC. At the meetings, we will be discussing:

• Our goals for the 2018 legislative session
• Threats to our freedom to stand together for better wages and staff safety

You can view days, times, and facilities below. Click on the link to your facility to RSVP.

It’s a new day for Teamsters at Auto Warehousing. After a long contract fight, members voted to ratify what is clearly their best contract in years.

Members will see historically high wage increases in all three years of the agreement, greater retirement security, and an incredible 50% reduction in their monthly premium share on their health insurance. 

"We came in aggressive... We’re already seeing positives out of that."

“We came in aggressive, we had points we wanted taken care of, and we argued those points. We’re already seeing positives out of that,” said Randy Chronister, a shop steward, member on the union bargaining committee, and Teamster of over nine years.

It wasn’t easy. The group overwhelmingly authorized a strike, and they voted down two previous proposals. Their militancy, Chronister said, arose because members felt the support of their union like never before and a dramatic increase in union visibility.

“We did BBQs, wore buttons, and posted pictures on the union’s website and Facebook page. Seeing our secretary-treasurer come down here, having our lead negotiator be the vice president of the union – people are feeling very much empowered.”

For a group that hasn’t filed more than a grievance or two in the last several years, these are big changes.

The trick, Chronister insists, is to sustain member involvement for the long run, now that the contract has ratified. “We need to continue doing what we’re doing with the shop stewards working with the union representatives, and making sure people are aware of their rights and empower them. We’re looking forward to that.”

John Scearcy, our union’s secretary-treasurer, says the changes he’s seen at Auto Warehousing have built a powerful foundation for the future. “Teamsters at Auto Warehousing fought incredibly hard to achieve meaningful improvements to their contract. They used their collective voice to demand respect in the workplace. Our goal is to continue to build this momentum so that we can achieve an even stronger contract three years from now.” 

A small group of Teamsters who work at Wanke Cascade in Tukwila are all on the same page. The group voted unanimously last month to ratify a new 3-year contract.

"Thanks a billion times on our new contract! The BEST EVER!"

The agreement provides guaranteed wage increases nearly double that of the previous contract, and significant reductions in the amount members will be paying toward their medical.

“Thanks a billion times on our new contract! The BEST EVER!” wrote Shop Steward Craig Williams in an email to his union rep, John Howell, Jr. and lead negotiator, Paul Dascher.

This contract is one of over a dozen that Local 117 members have ratified over the last couple of months.

Our members at Wanke Cascade house flooring supplies, such as hardwood, laminate, and vinyl, for distribution throughout our region. 

Jessica grew up in a small town in the Yakima Valley in a family of Teamsters. Her brothers are both police officers and members of the union.

At the University of Washington, she majored in Political Science and engaged in Latin American studies and Law. She credits her activist skills to working with a non-profit fighting for immigrant rights.

“I learned the basics of organizing and become a truly passionate activist there.” Since then she has worked in the labor movement for almost 7 years, most of which she spent as an organizer with UFCW.

Local 117 members gather on the Capitol steps in Olympia during our 2017 Lobby Day. 

As a part of our strategic planning process, we surveyed Local 117 members at the end of 2016 asking what priorities our union should focus on, in addition to bargaining strong contracts.

One priority that came through loud and clear was the need to “hold politicians accountable.” Elected officials make decisions that affect our pay, our benefits, and our right to collectively bargain. We need to make sure that we’re holding their feet to the fire.

To work toward that goal and to ensure that our endorsement process is member-driven, we created a Statewide Political Advisory Committee. Our committee this year consisted of nine rank-and-file members from each of our divisions in the union (public sector, private sector, and the DOC).

This committee is the decision-making body to determine whether a candidate for office receives our endorsement, or not.

If a candidate wants our support, here’s the process that person must go through:

1. The candidate must fill out a questionnaire, which was written by our committee. The questionnaire asks for a candidate’s positions on labor and community standards, and where the candidate stands on promoting fair pay and benefits for workers. 
2. Once we receive the completed questionnaire, we schedule the candidate for an interview with our Statewide Political Advisory Committee. These half-hour interviews are an opportunity for members to ask more specific questions about where the candidate stands on issues like wages, health care, and retirement security for working families.
3. Once the interviews are completed for a given race, we then make an advisory recommendation to our elected Executive Board, which has the final say on whether to endorse a candidate or not. We don’t typically endorse or contribute to a candidate unless they go through this process.

Once candidates are elected to office, we don’t stop there. We make sure that they are holding true to the policy positions and pledges made during the member interview process. 

We are incredibly proud of our Statewide Advisory Committee and the outstanding work they have done this year. For the 2017-2018 election cycle, you can view our endorsements online.

If you’d like to get involved with this committee, please reach out to our union’s Political Coordinator, Dustin Lambro, at dustin@teamsters117.org or 206-441-4860 x1262.

Our King County Coalition of Unions bargaining team celebrates a fully-recommended Master Labor Agreement. 

Teamsters across the country have a special opportunity today to learn more about a Supreme Court case that presents a grave threat to the freedom of members working in the public sector. 

The Rick Smith Show will be devoting today's episode to Janus v AFSCME, a case that takes aim at the ability of working people to join together in strong unions to speak up for themselves, their families and their communities.

You can view the show online starting today at 2PM at www.TheRickSmithShow.com. If you have a question or wish to express an opinion, you can call in at 717-422-5215. This episode of the show will also be available online after it airs. 

Rick Smith is a fellow Teamster who grew up in a working class neighborhood in Cleveland. He took his straight shooting no nonsense Teamster outlook to the air and started mixing it up with working people across the Midwest. His show grew steadily, attracting listeners starved for a voice that spoke to working stiffs who felt the economic floor crumbling beneath them.

Smith will focus today's show on the Janus case, which is the culmination of decades of attacks on working families by wealthy CEOs and the politicians who do their bidding to rig the economy in their favor. They want to weaken unions because unions have played a central role in defending the freedoms we cherish to build and protect the middle class.

No one knows exactly how the Court will rule on Janus, but experts believe there is a strong likelihood that Janus will eliminate your freedom to negotiate union security clauses in the public sector. If this occurs, members would be able to abandon their membership, but continue to receive all of the benefits of representation without having to pay for it. Unions would lose resources, contracts would become weaker, and the membership would become divided.

The so-called “Freedom Foundation”, a front group for wealthy corporate interests and a strong supporter of Janus, has already started contacting union members in Washington State, encouraging them to abandon their unions. You can learn more about the Freedom Foundation’s anti-worker agenda at www.FamilyStrengthCommunity.org.

The best way for us as members of Teamsters Local 117 to prepare for an adverse Janus ruling is to stand together with our co-workers and reaffirm our commitment to each other. We have a plan to win and be even stronger, with members leading the way. Many members across our union who work in the public sector have already signed cards or an online pledge committing to stick together with their co-workers no matter how the Court rules.

Our union is incredibly resilient. We have faced many challenges in the past, and we’ve proven that when we stand together, we can improve our lives and our communities. We are confident we will prevail this time as well.

Our King County Coalition of Unions bargaining team declares victory after nine months of tough negotiations. 

We have some exciting news! Today, after nine months of challenging negotiations, our King County Coalition of Unions reached a fully-recommended tentative agreement with the County over a Master Labor Agreement (MLA).

From the outset, our goal in MLA bargaining was to solidify the strongest language from the myriad of County contracts into one unifying agreement. Despite many difficult moments, we were able to partner with the County to successfully achieve that goal.

The MLA, if ratified by your bargaining unit, will determine many of the terms and conditions of your employment at the County. There are 40 articles that cover topics such as union recognition, union bulletin board usage, safety gear, safety allowances, after-hours support, holidays, vacation leave, bereavement leave, parental leave, jury duty, reclassification, and many others.

"Today is a great day for the laborers who work for King County." - Dan Fernandez, Local 117 member

In nearly all cases, we were able to achieve the best language that currently exists in the many union contracts across the County and incorporate it into the agreement. As a result, the MLA will mean significant improvements to the contracts of Coalition members.

A fully-recommended MLA represents another critical step in the bargaining process that started with Total Comp negotiations last year. The next step is for us to return to our small table negotiations. Once those negotiations are complete, Coalition members in their individual bargaining units will have an opportunity to vote on their small table agreements and the MLA.

As we complete our small table (individual contract) negotiations, your specific contract/bargaining units should continue to update you on their progress. 

Thank you to the outstanding work of our Coalition bargaining committee. Our team did an extraordinary job navigating the challenging issues that arose at the bargaining table. Thank you also to the County for listening to the concerns of union members and being a willing partner in these negotiations.

If you have questions, please reach out to your bargaining committee member or talk to your union representative.  Thank you for your service to the residents of King County.

James Borsum will be representing Local 117 members in the recycle and dairy industries.

James Borsum got an early start as a Teamster, when he went to work at Sysco, in the food service industry, at the ripe old age of 18.

At Sysco, the benefits were better than his previous employer, wages were higher, and best of all, it was a union shop. Borsum bounced around at Sysco, selecting groceries, loading trucks and docking freight. After seven years, he bid into a position as a driver, and ultimately became one of the group’s shop stewards.

Borsum always wanted to be more involved in the union. “As a steward, you can stand up to the employer and say this is wrong, you need to fix it,” he said.

The latest quarterly issue of Teamster Talk has arrived. Here are some highlights from this issue.

A message from John Scearcy.

Teamster driver helping with Harvey relief effort.

More contract wins at Supervalue and Shuttle Park 2.

Organizing victory at Woodland Park Zoo.

Taxi drivers strike at SeaTac.

You can read it online here or check with your business representative for a hard copy. Teamster Talk will be distributed in your facility over the next few weeks.

Taxi drivers are being fined $100 for speaking out about the disgusting state of Port bathrooms.

The Port of Seattle has stooped to a new low. The Port has issued $100 citations to taxi drivers who participated in peaceful demonstrations in August over the deplorable state of Port bathrooms for drivers, among other issues.

By protesting publicly, drivers finally compelled the Port to acknowledge the problem and take action to fix it. Previous efforts by the drivers to raise the bathroom issue with Port officials had fallen on deaf ears.

The Port has approved funding for the design and construction of the new bathrooms, but apparently the drivers who exercised their right to speak out on horrendous state of the old bathrooms will be picking up part of the tab.

Drivers have five days to pay the $100 or face suspension and additional citations from the Port. Some drivers have reportedly appealed the citations, only to have their appeals denied. 

Over the next two weeks, we will be posting for new Shop Stewards on union bulletin boards at all Department of Corrections facilities across the state.

The Shop Steward position involves engaging your co-workers in the union, advocating for them in the workplace, enforcing the contract, maintaining direct communication with the Union Rep, participating in grievance meetings, among many other duties.

The next two-year term for newly-elected Shop Stewards begins on January 1, 2018 and ends on December 31, 2019.

If you are interested in the position, please watch your union bulletin board over the next two weeks, and sign up. If you have questions, talk to your union representative.