Message from Secretary-Treasurer Jason Rabinowitz
Happy New Year and congratulations on making 2017 our Union’s biggest year yet! We showed that when we stand together in our Union, we achieve great successes:
- We came together in our contract campaign to exercise Teamster power like UC has never seen before. We conducted over 300 worksite actions involving over 11,000 members, and dozens of effective pickets and rallies, all culminating in our successful strikes. We brought our message to millions throughout California that UC must pay workers enough to live.
- We won new contracts with guaranteed raises of 19.8-30.4% over five years, significant signing bonuses, and protection of our rights and benefits. Over the ten years of our last two statewide contracts, Teamster members have won guaranteed wage increases more than double that of non-Union workers (56.8% compared to 24.9%).
- We surpassed 80% Union membership, up from 29% just a few years ago, making us exponentially stronger in protecting our rights.
- We saw 9,000 members sign our Member Power Form, committing to stand together in our Union so we can defend our pay and benefits, even with changes in the law aimed at weakening us.
- We affiliated 1,400 Skilled Trades workers in SETC, making Teamsters Local 2010 a higher education powerhouse of 2,300 skilled trades and 12,000 administrative workers across 27 campuses of CSU and UC.
- We exceeded 90% member satisfaction in our latest survey.
- We stood together and won victories for our members, including millions of dollars in unpaid overtime, the right to days off with pay in times of disaster (UCLA & UCSB), and saving the jobs of our members who were wrongfully terminated.
Our successes are the result of our members coming together in our Union, and taking strong action for our rights. We have power because our work makes the UC and CSU work every day. We harness that power when we all stand together in our Union to demand fair treatment.
In 2018, we face even bigger challenges. We are bargaining for fair pay and benefits for our new members at CSU. We are working to defend our retirement, protect our work, stop abusive conduct, and enforce our rights under our contracts. We are organizing our members to be active and involved in the Union, and we are organizing new members into the Teamsters to make us stronger.
But we are facing great threats to our future. A few billionaires and corporate lawyers have been on the attack against public workers, plotting to take away our freedom to stand together in our Union. In state after state, they have taken away Union rights, and then lowered wages and benefits. Now they are attempting to use the Supreme Court to take away our fair share rights, to discourage membership in our Union. Their motive is greed, pure and simple — they want to weaken us, so they can lower our hard-won raises and benefits.
The good news is that no one can stop us from standing together in our Union if we choose to do so. The past year showed that when we stand together, we win together: better wages and benefits, and fair treatment at work. We also know that when we do not stand together, we are weak, and our real wages and benefits go down, as happened in the days before we were Teamsters and went years without a raise.
We can protect our rights and our power by continuing to stand together as active Teamster members. That’s why we need all Teamsters to commit to being and remaining Union members, by signing the Teamster Member Power form, and by being active and involved in the Union.
In 2018, we will harness our power by standing together as Teamsters, building our size and strength, so we can defend and improve our hard-won pay, benefits and rights at work!
In Solidarity,
Jason Rabinowitz
Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local 2010