UNFI Teamsters in Tacoma protest the company's failure to make timely health and welfare and retirement payments to the Trust. 

UNFI can't get rid of the Teamsters. As many times as the anti-union company has tried, we’re still here to protect our members.

Since 2012, UNFI lost a strike and two major arbitrations to our union. UNFI keeps striking out.

This week, UNFI suffered a huge defeat in arbitration. An Arbitrator rightly held UNFI was obligated to abide by the contract language it negotiated. 

Rather than honor our contract and the Arbitrator’s final and binding decision however, UNFI announced that they would appeal to federal court and attempt to set aside the well-reasoned Arbitration Award.

Our contract states:

The processing, disposition and/or settlement by and between the Union and the Employer of any grievance or other matter shall be absolute and final and binding on the Union and its members, the employee(s) involved and the Employer. Likewise, as to hearings and the final decisions of a Board or Arbitrator.

But UNFI has demonstrated over and over that it does not honor its commitments in negotiations.

With many employers, we wouldn’t have even arbitrated this case. Our contract with UNFI gives members the right to transfer and retain their wages and benefits in the event that the employer moves operations within the jurisdiction of our Joint Council. It states: 

In the event that the Employer moves an existing facility to any location within the jurisdiction of Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28, as currently defined excluding current facilities under the jurisdiction of and the service area of Teamsters Local Union No. 690, the terms of this contract shall continue to apply with respect to the new facility. 

Seems pretty clear.  So when UNFI announced they would be shutting down their Tacoma warehouse and moving to a new facility in Centralia, the reasonable assumption was that the company would uphold its end of the bargain, as our Union and members have for decades.

Instead, UNFI ignored the contract and said the terms and conditions of the Tacoma agreement would not apply to our members who transferred to Centralia, and even denied our members the opportunity to transfer to Centralia, thus creating uncertainty for over 300 union members and their families. Thanks to the excellent work of our legal team, we were able to fight the company in arbitration and win. 

This is not the first time our union has won an important victory against UNFI.

In July, UNFI employees in Tacoma walked out of the facility after the company was delinquent on health care and retirement payments that the company had agreed to in negotiations. Teamsters did not return to work until the union confirmed that UNFI had made the payment.

In 2016, the company had to cough up 50k for its failure to appropriately compensate employees who had worked in excess of 40 hours a week.

These victories can be attributed to a unified membership, strong contracts, and strong leadership. Under the direction of John Scearcy and Tracey Thompson before him, Local 117 has fought the anti-worker practices of UNFI, and we have have won.

This time will be no different. We will take on UNFI and we will win.

Join us for our 2019 Holiday Membership Meetings to discuss and sign up for Teamsters Lobby Day in February.

View the days, times, and facilities for our union holiday meetings below. To RSVP, click on your facility below.

UNFI Teamsters in Tacoma protest the company's failure to make timely health and welfare and retirement payments to the Trust. 

Teamsters at UNFI’s warehouse in Tacoma celebrated yesterday after an arbitrator ruled that union members shall be allowed to transfer to Centralia under the same terms and conditions that they have in Tacoma. The arbitrator also awarded transfer rights and back pay to any employees who are facing layoffs, which are scheduled to start at the facility later this week.

“I’m prouder to be a Teamster now than I’ve ever been in 30 years,” said Greg Wiest, a shop steward and forklift driver at the facility. “This is not only big for us, but it’s big for the entire labor movement. The talk in the warehouse since the decision is that a lot of us will be going down to Centralia. We’re pretty excited – morale’s way up today. Now we know that we have a job.”

"I’m prouder to be a Teamster now than I’ve ever been in 30 years."

Earlier in the year, UNFI announced that it would be shutting down the Tacoma warehouse and moving operations to a new facility in Centralia. The union filed a grievance after UNFI refused to honor clear contract language that laid out the terms and conditions of the move. The contract states: “…all employees working under the terms of this agreement at the old facility shall be afforded the opportunity to work at the new facility under the same terms and conditions and without any loss of seniority or other contractual rights or benefits.”

Teamsters from Local 25 in Massachusetts on strike at Republic Services have extended picket lines to multiple locations across the Puget Sound region. Our members who work at Republic are standing in solidarity with the striking workers and honoring their picket line.

Read more from our Teamsters International Union below:

Massachusetts Teamsters on strike at Republic Services extend picket lines to Seattle

Sanitation workers on strike at Republic Services in Marshfield, Mass., extended their picket line to Seattle this morning. Approximately 250 Republic Services/Allied Waste workers throughout the Puget Sound area—members of Teamsters Local 38, Local 117, Local 174 and Local 763—exercised their right to honor the picket line.

The striking workers, members of Teamsters Local 25 in Boston, began their strike on August 29 after Republic refused to agree to a contract with a livable wage and affordable health care. On average, the striking sanitation workers are paid 40 percent below what it takes to make a living wage in Massachusetts for a family with one adult and one child, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator. 

“Republic Services set a record last year with almost $3 billion in profits,” said striking Republic employee Bernie Egan-Mullen. “But instead of providing safe working conditions and industry-standard health care and retirement plans, the company is using its record profits to pay out huge salaries to its executives and huge dividends to its shareholders.” 

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is Republic Services’ biggest shareholder. His personal investment manager, Michael Larson, sits on Republic’s Board of Directors. 

“That’s why we’re here in Seattle,” Egan-Mullen said. “Bill Gates gets over $100 million in stock dividends alone from Republic each year, yet meanwhile we are on the picket line for a living wage. “Sanitation work is the fifth-most dangerous job in America. Sanitation workers are two times as likely to die on the job as police officers and nearly seven times more likely to die on the job than firefighters,” said Sean O’Brien, President of Teamsters Local 25 and Teamsters International Vice President.

“This company has forced quite a few strikes in cities across  America over the past few years, when it has violated federal labor laws and has refused to address conditions of inequality and unsafe conditions.” 

The Teamsters represent over 7,000 Republic Services workers across the country. Recently, hundreds of Republic sanitation workers in Northern and Southern California represented by Teamsters Local 350 and 396 voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against the company. 

Last month, Republic sanitation workers represented by Teamsters Local 728 went on strike in Cumming, Georgia, to protest the company's violations of federal laws that protect workers' rights. 

Recent calculations show that workers in 10 cities with a combined population of over 1 million residents are currently in contract negotiations with Republic Services, and that Teamsters in 31 cities with a combined population of over 6 million residents have the right to honor picket lines. 

Media Contact:
Sean Martin
617-756-7474  

At a press conference at City Hall on Wednesday, Uber and Lyft drivers urged the Seattle City Council to support their ‘Fare Share’ priorities to establish a minimum pay standard with driver input, combat unwarranted deactivations, and fund driver support services and other community investments through a 51 cent tax on the ride-hail giants.

At the event, drivers shared stories of how declining pay, a lack of basic labor protections, and sudden deactivation without recourse has impacted their livelihoods.  

“Since I started driving for Uber, my pay has been cut in half," said Sukhchain Banwait who started driving for Uber in 2013. "But while driver pay has gone down, Uber charges my customers more and more and pockets the difference. I'm glad the City is looking at establishing a fair minimum pay standard to stop the race to the bottom in driver pay." 

"I'm glad the City is looking at establishing a fair minimum pay standard to stop the race to the bottom in driver pay."

According to the Federal Reserve, 58% of gig economy workers cannot afford a $400 emergency expense. This means that thousands of drivers in Seattle are one vehicle repair away from an economic crisis. Drivers are especially vulnerable when they can be wrongly terminated by Uber and Lyft without recourse.

“Many drivers are suffering from unfair deactivations, leaving us with expensive car payments but without income to support our families,” said Mohamed Aria, one of the first Uber drivers in Seattle.  “Drivers are the ones who built this business, and we deserve to be treated fairly.”

Speaking in support of the drivers’ priorities, City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda highlighted the need for an impartial process for drivers to appeal unfair deactivations. “I’ve heard from countless drivers who have been unjustly deactivated,” Councilmember Mosqueda said. "When you have a job, particularly a job that requires tens of thousands of dollars of investment, asking for a fair process for adjudicating deactivations is a necessary first step.”

VOTING IS NOW OPEN FOR DOC CUSTODY STAFF TO EXPAND UNIFORM OPTIONS!

After long, challenging negotiations, our union's uniform committee, consisting of union staff and rank-and-file members from DOC facilities across the state, has bargained a tentative agreement to expand available options with respect to your DOC uniforms.

If approved by Teamsters 117 members who are custody staff, the negotiated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would grant those members the ability to wear polo shirts as a DOC uniform option. Polo shirts, as with other uniform options, would be provided by the Department at no cost to custody staff. Under the agreement, members would retain the option to wear BDU-style shirts.

VOTE HERE!

Since this would constitute a change to Article 36, Uniforms, Tools, and Equipment, of our 2019-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement, custody members who are required to wear uniforms at work will have an opportunity to vote on the agreement.

You must be a member of Teamsters 117 in order to vote. If you are not a member and would like to vote on this change, please complete the online membership application here and submit it by September 30.

Voting will take place online and by telephone from September 30, 2019 at 8 a.m. through Thursday, October 10, 2019 at 5 p.m. View voting documents and instructions below:

• Voting Instructions
• Article 36 MOU - Redline Document
• VOTE HERE (Voting closes on October 10 at 8 A.M.)

Thank you to the members below who worked incredibly hard to achieve expanded uniform options for custody staff at the DOC. If you have any questions, be sure to reach out to one of the members on the committee or your Union Representative.

• Elizabeth Beaber, WCCW
• Stephen Bolinger, CRCC
• Lloyd Bookter, CBCC
• Reginald Braswell, CCCC
• Edwin Gonzalez, MCC
• Angela Henneman, SCCC
• Corey Schmidt, WSP
• Gordon Sprague, MCCCW
• Jami Todd, CRCC
• Douglas Vincent, WCC

Thank you for your service. Please stay safe.

At the end of September, we will be posting for new Shop Stewards on union bulletin boards at all Department of Corrections facilities across the state.

Our Shop Stewards play an essential role in ensuring that our union is strong and effective.

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

The next two-year term for newly-elected Shop Stewards begins on January 1, 2020 and ends on December 31, 2021.

If you are interested in the position, please watch your union bulletin board for the posting and sign up. If multiple people are interested in a single position at your facility, an advisory vote will be conducted with the membership. If you have questions, please talk to your Union Representative.

The dates that postings will go up and elections will be held, if necessary, are as follows:

Follow the story of tireless Teamster who never missed a day of work at the warehouse he considers his second home, read about a group of Teamster women fighting daily to protect victims of domestic violence and discover an incredible result of a 3 year fight at Leadpoint where workers got $686K of stolen wages back.

TEAMSTER TALK NEWSLETTER - CLICK HERE!

You can find an electronic version here or talk to your rep or shop steward to get a hard copy at work. 

The fall issue of our DOC Guardian newsletter is hot off the press!

In this issue, you'll find a story about a true Teamster hero, William Flores, who apprehended a runaway inmate from the Olympic Corrections Center near Forks. 

You'll also find articles about the work of our DOC Retirement Committee and news about the independent audit report that identified severe staffing shortages in WA State prisons.

Guardian newsletter - Click Here

Print copies will be distributed at your facility over the next few weeks.

Meet your Teamsters 117 Executive Board (from l to r): Alfredo Espino, Dave Roberts, Brenda Wiest, John Scearcy, Michelle Woodrow, Robin Robinson, Scott Anderson

At our General Membership Meeting last night, our Union held its nominations meeting in a packed Union hall in Tukwila for all Teamsters 117 Executive Board positions.

Congratulations to John Scearcy, Local 117’s current Secretary-Treasurer together with Michelle Woodrow, our current President, along with our Union's entire Executive Board! Secretary-Treasurer Scearcy and his team were nominated by the members to continue to lead our Union for the next three years. With no other nominations at the meeting, a union election at Teamsters 117 is not necessary.

“I am honored and humbled to continue to serve the members of this great Union,” Secretary-Treasurer Scearcy said. “We will continue to fight to bargain strong contracts and to expand the wages and benefits of all members of Teamsters 117. We'll also work to build stronger communities where all workers and their families can thrive.

"Our overarching goal is to build power and unity to improve lives and lift up our communities."

“Our overarching goal is to build power and unity to improve lives and lift up our communities so that working people of all stripes have a fighting chance to make a better life for themselves and their families. 

“Thank you to everyone who believed in our vision for a better future for members of Teamsters 117. We are grateful to you and to all of our members who work so hard to support their families and make our union strong.”

The Teamsters 117 Executive Board includes:

• John Scearcy – Secretary-Treasurer
• Michelle Woodrow – President
• Brenda Wiest – Vice President
• Dave Roberts – Recording Secretary
• Scott Anderson – Trustee
• Alfredo Espino – Trustee
• Robin Robinson – Trustee