Teamster Vice President at Large Nominations

The nominations for Vice Presidents at Large have begun this morning and it is an experience. Hoffa has opposition at this years Convention. The Delegates for the Hoffa Hall slate dominate the convention hall and are making it known when a nomination for Candidates on the opposing slates attempt to nominate their candidates.

Our International President George Tedeschi is currently a Vice President at large on the Teamster Executive Board in Washington and a Candidate for re-election at this Convention on The Hoffa Hall slate.

Our local supports the Hoffa/Hall slate.

Fraternally and In Solidarity!
Ronnie Pineda
President, GCC/IBT Local 140-N

The new Teamster "WHO WE ARE" publication.

The new Teamster publication which is circulated all  over the world to let every one know "WHO WE ARE" has honored our shop and Brother Gerald Leavenworth. Gerald's picture is shown inside the book under Graphic Communications Conference informing all who read it who we are,  and also on the back cover! Way to go Levi! I'm bringing home a copy for you to autograph for me!

President Obama Addresses Teamster Convention

The President of the United States pledged to stand beside the working men and women of America and does not support the war on workers.

2011 Teamsters Convention

The 2011 Teamster Convention has begun! Delegates from across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico are in attendance. Workers from all over are being represented at this convention. I am both honored and proud to be here representing my Brothers and Sisters in the Pressroom at the Los Angeles Times!

Fraternally and in Solidarity,
Ronnie Pineda,
President,
GCC/IBT Local 140-N

7 hour shift decision in favor of Local 140-N

I received notice from our  Attorney Adam Stern and Executive Vice President Denson early yesterday informing me that our Local won our 7 hour grievance in Arbitration. First of all I need to thank all of our members that voted to keep our Union and more importantly, your patience for this decision. Believe me, nobody wanted this victory more than our faithful Executive Board Members!  This my Brothers and Sisters is what a Union is about, sticking together for what is right and standing up for the respect every one of in our trade deserves! CONGRATULATIONS!

Fraternally and in Solidarity,
President, Ronnie Pineda

De-Cert Election Results

80 YES 44 NO
Teamsters Win.
Congratulations Brothers and Sisters!

Fraternally,
Ronnie Pineda
President,
GCC/IBT Local 140-N

Staying Union !

Hello My fellow co workers,

I have Just received a mailing from Lee Cary, Stating all the things, we lost being union and all to try not being union for a year. Well that’s very interesting. Do you realize what that really means .Things like Being a fire at will employee, Hours changed at will (40 a week instead of 35) wages subject to change .possible part time employees taking the place of fulltime employees and the good one is no recourse for actions taken against us.
There are 55 yes 55 grievances file as of now !Wow you would have to ask yourself what is going on. Yet we are told they are no good ,trivial, mistaken issues .OK 55 of them lol this is how Lee says you will be taken care of ! I put my trust in solidarity and what we can accomplish together .I do not put anything to chance ! Vote yes to keep our union !!!!

Civil Court Update

Small Claims Court Commissioner  Robert Harrison, to no surprise postponed our cases once again. This postponement is now scheduled for December 2, 2011 with the hope that the NLRB in Washington makes a decision in the De-Auth petition dismissal denying an election to remove the union security language from our CBA. No matter what, a decision will be made in December due to statute of limitations effecting the union's ability to collect dues that are considered in arrears had he dismissed without prejudice allowing the union to re-file once a decision is made in Washington.

The Defendants continue to argue that the union security language is "flawed" when in fact it is not. The defendants should be pleased that the contract gives them the option to become a Beck Objector as opposed to joining the union or termination. The fact that the union cannot seek termination for non-payment of dues is the reason the NLRB Regional Director, James Small dismissed the petition originally and that is what will prevent Washington from overturning the Regional decision.

This should be very easy to take care of with the full support of the membership by simply negotiating a closed shop and require membership and payment of dues to the union in order to work in our shop. We will address this at the table.

I am pleased to say that we did receive another disbursement from the International to aid in our legal costs, I along with NANC President Joseph Inemer presented our Local's  legal statements to the International and President Tedeschi has approved and reimbursed 50% of the cost associated with defending our members and the contract.
The amount received by our Local has totaled over $25,000.00 to date.

Stay in the pursuit of fairness and we will have our day of reckoning, vote yes to keep your union!

In Solidarity,
Ronnie Pineda
President

New Hats Proof

Executive Vice President, Keith Denson will be sporting the new
GCC/IBT Local 140-N proof cap I received on Friday afternoon. If you haven't reserved your cap yet, sign up with Keith. I expect the caps to arrive within the next week or two so sign up now. If you already signed up for yours, be sure to check out the Exec. V.P.s and let me know what you think of the design. I wanted to design a cap that everyone in the shop would be proud to wear on the job to display your solidarity!

Fraternally,
President Pineda

General Meeting Tomorrow

I know its a holiday weekend but our Local is at stake and it  necessary that we meet prior to next weeks election. We will be brief and move along quickly to keep the meeting to a minimum and take care of our business. I have ordered the usual refreshments and drinks and plan to hold the raffles we have been having at recent meetings.

See you tomorrow at 11:00am at Crowne Plaza Commerce Casino!

JUNE 8 & 9 ELECTION

Dear Brother and Sisters,

The NLRB will be holding an election for us to decide whether to remain TEAMSTERS or De-Certify our Union. 

The Union informed the NLRB through our Attorney Adam Stern that we agreed to hold the election on May 27, 2011 but The Company, Lee and his FREE Attorneys from the National Right To Work Foundation argued that it was not a good day because of the holiday and that there would be employees on vacation. 

Well there are going to be people on vacation the days they suggested as well but the NLRB decided because of the holiday it would not hold the election on the 27th.

 We, as a result of the Boards position agreed to hold the election on the earliest of the available dates of June 8 and June 9 with the polls open during 7:00 am  to 8:30 am and again at 2:30 pm  to 5:30 pm on both days.

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU 

COME IN AND VOTE!

This election will be based only on the votes cast and not strictly percentages. In other words, only the ballots cast will determine whether the Union remains or not so it is critical that ALL MEMBERS VOTE YES TO KEEP OUR UNION. 

We cannot afford to assume that there will be enough votes to win and that your vote won't matter, WRONG! Every vote counts and we must show not only those that signed the petition to hold this election but the company as well, that we are not only building on our contract but also in our numbers!

MARK YOUR CALENDERS! SET A REMINDER IN YOUR PHONE! PUT IT UP ON YOUR REFRIGERATOR! 

Do whatever it takes to be in the shop to vote on either day, but don't wait until the 9th if you can cast your ballot on the 8th. 

The negotiations are going amazingly different this time around and I think we need to continue to stand together if we are to make improvements and see what is accomplished in contract negotiations.

In Solidarity,

Ronnie Pineda

President, GCC/IBT Local 140-N

Teamster Truck Solidarity Stop 5/11/2011

JC 42 Driver, Donna Culwell

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

 UNITED WE STAND!

 TEAMSTER PRIDE

 Teamster Vice President, Rick Middleton addressing GCC/IBT Local 140-N Members 

 WE ARE NOT ALONE!

 TEAMSTER VICE PRESIDENT, RICK MIDDLETON

 TEAMSTERS STARTS WITH "TEAM"

 HERE TO STAY!

April 17th General Meeting Notice

April 17 2011 Emergency Meeting

Negotiations

The Union and the Co. met on April 6 & 7 to begin negotiations on our new contract. We covered a variety of topics which were addressed by our Contract Review Committee and have exchanged several proposals based on the committees findings.

We did reach tentative agreements in areas of the grievance and arbitration  language that would speed up the process of selecting an Arbitrator and having our grievances heard and resolved. We also cleaned and agreed to remove any language that was unnecessary.

A memo was posted detailing an agreement to re-pick vacations which in  turn, resolved two grievances regarding vacation picking. Any one that would suffer a financial loss as a result of re-picking must notify the union with proof of loss such as airline or hotel reservations and those vacation times will be granted. This will be a one time situation as schedules should now be picked prior to vacations going forward. Receipts or non-refundable deposits must be dated prior to April 7, 2011

Some Members have asked to attend the negotiations and are welcome to observe by the union on a limited basis due to seating by first notifying Executive Vice President Denson or myself.

Negotiations resume on May 3&4.

In Solidarity!
President Pineda