Local 117 members Robin Robinson and Joy Yarrington who work at King County proudly wearing their solidarity stickers.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in a case (Janus v AFSCME) that is attacking our ability as union members to stand together and negotiate strong contracts.

If the Court rules as expected, public service workers, including thousands of members of Teamsters 117, will lose their freedom to negotiate union security clauses in their contracts.

Members will be able to “opt-out” of paying their fair share in dues but will be able to continue to reap all of the benefits of their union contract and union representation. Our ability to stand together and bargain strong contracts, provide quality representation, and protect each other’s rights at work is at stake.

"I want us to continue having a strong union," said Robin Robinson, a Teamster who works at King County. "We need to make sure everyone is aware of what's happening so we can keep our communities strong."

"We need to make sure everyone is aware of what's happening so we can keep our communities strong."

Wealthy special interests like the “Freedom” Foundation that are backing the Janus case are banking on a ruling against unions. They may call, email or even visit you at home to mislead you into abandoning your union sisters and brothers.

Make no mistake — their goal is to cut or privatize public services, drain unions of resources, and outsource public sector jobs. The Freedom Foundation fought against funding our Department of Corrections contract. They have sponsored numerous initiatives to undermine the ability of workers to organize for higher wages, strong benefits, and safe working conditions.

To draw attention to the threat presented by Janus and the Freedom Foundation, Teamsters 117 members and public service workers across the country have called for a day of action.

Local 117 members who work at the Department of Corrections, King County, and in the South Sound are wearing solidarity stickers today to spread awareness about the case and the importance of committing to each other so that we can continue to have a strong union.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Wear your sticker today and talk to your co-workers about Janus and the threat of open shop.
• Educate fellow Teamsters about the Freedom Foundation and encourage each other to sign a card committing to your co-workers and your union.
• Read about the trail of dark money that is backing the Janus case.
• Learn about our shared values as union members at www.FamilyStrengthCommunity.org.  

By sticking together, we can stand up to the Freedom Foundation’s anti-worker agenda and continue to improve our workplaces and our lives.

On Monday, February 26, the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing a case (Janus v AFSCME) that will likely harm our ability as union members to stand together and negotiate strong contracts.

Public service workers across the country have called for a Day of Action on Feb. 26.

On Monday, Teamsters 117 members will be wearing solidarity stickers to spread awareness about the case and the importance of committing to each other so that we can continue to have a strong union.

Your union rep or member leader will be distributing stickers to you on Monday. Please wear your sticker and talk to your co-workers about why it's important to show solidarity in the face of this impending threat. 

For more information about the Janus case, visit www.FamilyStrengthCommunity.org.

Thank you for your service and for all that you do to make our union strong.

Lynn Constantine and other member volunteers tally up the votes for Local 117 King County bargaining unit contracts at the Teamsters hall in Tukwila on January 18. 

The results are in! All Teamsters 117 bargaining units participating in the recent contract vote at King County have overwhelmingly approved their respective contracts.

Voting took place over the course of two weeks at more than twenty meetings across the county. Turnout in the contract vote was historically high. 

On Thursday evening, member volunteers tallied up the votes on contracts covering 12 bargaining units and over 1200 King County Teamsters. 

You can view the results according to bargaining unit below: 

In voting to approve a Master Labor Agreement (MLA), which was negotiated last year between our Coalition of Unions and the County, members will receive a total wage increase of 3.25%. Members also voted to approve their individual bargaining unit’s appendix agreements.

The MLA together with the appendix agreements contain many improvements, including a provision for economic equity, expanded bereavement leave, protections against sub-contracting, professional development opportunities, among others.

Mary Jane Friel, a county utility worker who served on the bargaining committee, said she is pleased with the results. “We were especially proud to change the language around discipline, the sunset clause. We fought really hard for that. And the boot allowance is important for our group.”

You can access a summary of the highlights of the MLA as well as a redline document of the agreement on our Teamsters website. Contract summary documents and the redline versions for individual units can also be found online.

"I want to congratulate our members at King County on their new contracts that provide across-the-board wage increases and critical workplace protections," said John Scearcy, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117. "King County Teamsters provide essential services to our community. These contracts represent an important step toward recognizing their labor and the invaluable contributions they make to the residents of King County." 

The vote is underway. King County Teamsters have begun casting their ballots on their contract. The voting is the culmination of a year of bargaining, starting at the coalition level and concluding with small table negotiations.

Voting kicked off last week for several King County groups. The first vote meeting for all units was held on Saturday at our union hall in Tukwila. You can access a schedule of all the meeting times and locations here.

Lester Van Gelder, a wastewater treatment supervisor and shop steward who participated in coalition bargaining, encouraged his co-workers to participate. “It’s extremely important - this is affecting your livelihood,” he said.

“If you’re not voting, you’re not getting heard,” added Bobby Stalnaker, a steward in the security screener’s unit. “This is a chance for you to get your voice out there.”

"If you’re not voting, you’re not getting heard."

Members are voting both on a Master Labor Agreement (MLA), which was negotiated last year between our Coalition of Unions and the County, and their individual bargaining unit’s appendix agreements.

The MLA consolidates language from contracts across the county into one unified contract.

Starting in January, we will be conducting contract ratification meetings for all Teamsters who work at King County.

At the meetings, you will have an opportunity to vote on the Master Labor Agreement (MLA), which is unanimously recommended by all members of the King County Coalition of Unions, and on your individual bargaining unit's appendix or "small table" agreement.

To prepare for the vote, you can review the MLA and your individual unit's agreement here.

To vote, you must attend one of the drop-in ratification meetings below. If you have any questions, please contract your union representative or shop steward. For a print posting of the schedule, click here.

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.

King County Teamsters -

Master Labor Agreement (MLA) bargaining between our Coalition of Unions and King County has been an extremely challenging process that has lasted for six months. 

Our union bargaining team has worked hard to incorporate the strongest possible language from the myriad of County contracts into the MLA. 

Yesterday was our last scheduled bargaining session, and although we have TA'ed many articles, we still have not reached a final tentative agreement with the County. 

The Coalition chairs, Denise Cobden (PTE 17) and Michael Gonzales (Teamsters 174), put out a brief statement today to update members on the status of bargaining. We should have a more complete update some time next week. 

KC Coalition Members --

Sept. 28 was the last scheduled bargaining session for the Master Labor Agreement (MLA) with King County. It lasted from 9 am to 7:30 pm and considerable progress was made, however, we are still far apart on several language items.

With no more meetings scheduled – at least, at this time -- the Coalition of Unions leadership will be working hard over the next few days to determine if there is a way to get through this logjam. We are hopeful and confident that we can find a path forward.

We will provide a much more detailed report later next week. If you have questions about MLA bargaining, please contact your bargaining committee member or your Union Representative.

Thank you for your service to the residents of King County.

Respectfully,

John Scearcy
Secretary-Treasurer

Members of our Local 117 union coalition team representing Teamsters at King County in MLA bargaining. 

King County Master Labor Agreement (MLA) bargaining is getting down to the wire. The county is interested in ushering any tentative agreement reached with the coalition through the county’s contract transmittal process by December 28. To meet that timeline, they have proposed wrapping up MLA negotiations by next week and small table bargaining by October 2.

Our union coalition is committed to achieving the best possible agreement on behalf of the membership based on your feedback. We are amenable to the county’s timeline, but not if it means sacrificing our priorities at the bargaining table.

Any agreement reached by our coalition and the county is subject to ratification by the individual bargaining units in the coalition. If we are able to reach an agreement with the county, we anticipate giving you the opportunity to vote on the MLA this fall.

Local 117 members have been working as a part of a broad coalition of unions to negotiate a Master Labor Agreement with King County.

We wanted to update you on the status of the Master Labor Agreement (MLA) negotiations between our coalition of unions and King County.

As you know, these negotiations started in March and have been ongoing throughout the summer. Our goal in bargaining is to consolidate the best language from contracts across the county into one general agreement that will apply to all unions in the coalition that vote to accept the MLA.

On July 29 and August 3, our coalition met, without the employer present, in caucus to discuss the county’s most recent proposals and to develop a strategy moving forward.

We are addressing issues that the membership identified, such as vacation leave, other kinds of leave (bereavement, jury duty, organ donor, donated, executive, etc.), volunteer time, holidays and eligibility, reclassification, special duty, professional development, longevity and merit pay, term-limited temps, and working out of classification.

Again, we are proposing to incorporate the strongest language found in county contracts on those issues for the purposes of the MLA.

Teamster Bargaining Committee members in King County MLA negotiations.

Our Coalition of Unions continued negotiations with the County yesterday over a Master Labor Agreement (MLA) here at our Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila.

The idea behind the MLA is to consolidate language from the various contracts countywide into one general agreement that will apply to all Unions in the Coalition that vote to accept the MLA.

You can read more about the purpose and process for MLA bargaining here.

In previous sessions, our Coalition broke into sub-committees to develop counterproposals based on specific topics that the County presented where we felt there could be some shared interests. We had sub-committees for vacation leave, other kinds of leave (bereavement, organ donor, donated, etc.), holidays and eligibility, reclassification, special duty, and working out of classification.

In yesterday’s negotiations, rank-and-file union members presented the proposals to the County that they had developed in their sub-committees and vetted through the Coalition. 

Lisa Longdon, one of our Bargaining Committee Members representing Teamsters in the Professional, Technical, and Administrative Support bargaining unit, presented on the topic of reclassification: “Members were able to tell their stories of situations that they’ve experienced and it was an eye opener to management,” said Sister Longdon.

Our presentations by sub-committee took the better part of the morning. Afterwards, the County indicated that they wanted to break early for the day.  After some discussion with Union leadership, the County agreed to continue working and ultimately presented a counterproposal on leave in the afternoon. 

We will be meeting again with the County next Thursday, June 15 at the Teamsters Union hall where the County will be giving us their full counterproposal. If you have questions, please contact your Bargaining Committee Member or your Union Representative.

For more news about what’s happening at our Union, please attend our upcoming quarterly General Membership Meeting starting at 7pm on June 15. Join us for dinner starting at 5:30pm.

Thank you for your service to the residents of King County.