(The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued the following news release on November 3.)
WASHINGTON– In every industry and in every part of the country, the Teamsters Union has been making great strides in organizing. In the past three months, the union has added thousands of members in core industries and expanded its reach in others.
School district workers in Washington State, city employees in Florida, food processing farm workers in California, package delivery drivers, thousands of airline workers all over the country and countless other victories have all added to the recent surge in membership.
In addition to the thousands of new members organized in the past few months, last week’s merger of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE) added another 31,000 members to the ranks of the Teamsters Union. The Teamsters Rail Conference was established in January 2004 and has already garnered 70,000 new members.
“The pace at which we’re organizing and the diversity of those joining the union is unprecedented,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “The success we’ve had over the last three months shows that working men and women need strong unions like the Teamsters now more than ever.”
In addition to the BMWE merger, the Teamsters Union has also secured the following organizing victories in the last three months:
* 3,200 customer service representatives at America West airlines;
* 1,000 municipal workers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida joined Local 769;
* 700 Diamond Walnut workers joined Local 601 in Stockton, California;
* 400 Highline School District workers near Seattle joined Local 763;
* 345 Grandview Foods/BBSI workers joined Local 760 in Yakima, Washington; and
* Various other victories in the Teamsters’ core industries, including:
* Thousands of part-time UPS workers in right-to-work states;
* 92 Waste Management workers in Stoughton, Massachusetts;
* 65 sanitation workers at Allied Waste/BFI in Pensacola, Florida;
* Victories at DHL Express, including 176 ramp workers in South El Monte, California; 9 drivers in Detroit; 345 ramp and clerical workers in New York City; and 200 drivers in North Miami, Florida;
* As well as victories at DHL subcontractors in:
* Centralia, Washington (25 drivers);
* Virginia Beach, Virginia (139 workers at 5 different sub-contractors);
* San Diego (140 drivers);
* Easton, Maryland and Bridgeville, Delaware (40 workers);
* Worthington, Pennsylvania (26 drivers);
* Portland, Oregon (34 drivers);
* Huntington, West Virginia (24 drivers);
* Corpus Christi, Texas (22 drivers);
* Depew, New York (42 drivers); and
* Frederick, Maryland (30 drivers).
“The Teamsters have a well-deserved reputation for strong representation and bargaining,” said Jeff Farmer, Director of the Teamsters Organizing Department. “With our emphasis on rebuilding power for members in our core industries, more and more workers are seeking to join our great union. As more locals, Joint Councils and trade divisions get involved in organizing, there is no end to what we can accomplish as Teamsters.”
The momentum shows no signs of slowing down as the Teamsters Union filed for elections last week at Allied Waste/BFI locations in Mobile, Alabama, and for 500 Laidlaw drivers in Orange County, California.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States and Canada.