Teamster Families Lose Homes to Fires; Union Steps up Again
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Joint Council 7 TEAMSTER Volume 62, Number 5 Serving members in Northern California, the Central Valley, and Northern Nevada December 2017/January 2018 David Larson is Teamster families lose homes interviewed on the local CBS station when he returned to see if there to fires; union steps up again was anything to salvage from his charred home in Glen Ellen. Member saves neighbor; both lose their homes Early in the morning on October 8, David Larson made one of his most important pick up and deliver- ies, saving his elderly, disabled neighbor. Just after midnight, the 25-year UPS veteran and member of Local 665 got a call from his dad who saw on the news that a fire was approaching his Glen Ellen home and moving quickly. The parking lot at Local 665’s Santa Rosa hall served as the staging area for donations for fire victims. Here, Teamsters and “I put on sneakers, looked out the back door, and community volunteers take a break from sorting goods to show their solidarity. saw a huge plume of smoke. I heard the police going down the road giving the evacuation notice. I knew After one of the worst natural disasters in 856 members had their homes destroyed, as did a California history, the Teamsters came together few members each from Locals 70, 137, 150, 315, and that this was the real thing,” he explained. again to help our brothers and sisters and to support 853. The fire had moved so swiftly that most evacu- As Larson made his plan to exit, he remembered their communities. ated with just the clothes on their backs. his neighbor, Karin Dell, who lives about a half-mile The fires that cost at least 100 Teamster families For Mike Yates, President of Local 665 who up the hill behind his house. After calling his next door their homes, that destroyed more than 8,400 works out of the Local’s Santa Rosa office, the fires structures, and that killed 42 people started just after were personal. He had been out of town on union neighbors to make sure they were awake and getting midnight on October 8. Within days, 22 separate business, but received a 3 a.m. call from one of out, Larson tried calling her. Then he got in his car fires were raging across Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, his stewards advising him to check on his family. and drove up the hill. “Her house was just glowing Solano and other Northern California counties. While his home was not in the evacuation zone, his orange,” he recalls. After helping her gather her cats in The toll for Teamster families in the area was daughter’s family camped out at his house. their carrier, “I got her and her walker in the car. We immense. About 70 Local 665 members and 22 Local As the days progressed and fires kept burning, Yates got a call from the manager of the local Les drove off with the fire right behind us.” Schwab. “They were getting donations for the fire It took a few hours for Larson to find a safe place victims and had nowhere to put them. So we moved for Dell and her cats to stay. Then he drove around into action,” Yates says. barricades to get back to his house. “I turned on all “At first, we borrowed two UPS trailers. That quickly turned into four and then into eight. Then, my hoses to try to save my house and the area, but the JC7 truck came up, filled with more donations.” the embers were flying and the wind was out of con- Union members and volunteers from community trol. I ran into the house to grab my phone, i-pad, and organizations came to the parking lot to sort the a wad of cash and I got out of there. I came back two donations and move them into the trailers designated hours later, and my house was completely gone.” continued on page 3 Larson reports that Dell is staying with family. “She’s a tough old lady and is very eager to get the Important Notice ball rolling to rebuild.” Larson is currently staying in To: Participants and Beneficiaries of the Teamsters a small apartment down the road from his house. Life With Dues Benefit Plan (Trust Fund) He figures it’ll take 2-3 years to get his house rebuilt. Important information about your rights under “Right now, it Iooks like a nuclear bomb went off. I’m Periodicals postage paid at San Francisco, CA (USPS 395-880) the Plan, and under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, is included in this newspaper on page still in a state of shock,” Larson says. “UPS has been 8. You should read this information and retain it for great, but they’re eager for me to get back to work.” future reference. PRESIDENT’S REPORT BY ROME ALOISE Teamsters take action in a year filled with disaster As the year comes to a close, I think it would be was incredible, and the amount of supplies that the a safe bet to call this “The Year of the Disaster!” We Teamsters brought to the table was overwhelming. started out with Houston, then Florida and Puerto There are too many individuals to name, but suffice Rico, where thousands of Teamster members were it to say that it was a team effort and again showed seriously impacted by hurricanes and flooding. Then the power, strength, resolve and comradery of the tragedy struck in our own backyard, in Santa Rosa and Teamsters when it comes to taking care of our own! the surrounding areas. Major negotiations in 2018 All in all, thousands of our members have had their With the New Year, we’ll be opening negotiations homes flooded, burned down, destroyed, and all of on a number of high profile contracts: UPS, which their belongings lost to one disaster or another. This is covers almost all of the Local Unions within the Joint not to forget the horrendous events that cost three of Council and Costco, to name two. Our contracts have our members their lives at UPS. All around, it has been been improving year by year; and, hopefully, these will a devastating year. be no exception. However, as Teamsters, we are trained to move into action rather than sit around and complain. Disasters in Washington, D.C. Within days of the Houston disaster, we had plans to Unfortunately, we have a President, Senate send a convoy of seven Teamster trucks loaded with and Congress that are hell-bent on finding ways to articles that Local 988 said that their members needed undermine unions and workers. Trump’s appointee to the most. By the time our trucks arrived, a warehouse the NLRB is a documented union buster who obviously had been set up to serve Teamster families who were will use his influence to award his clients—Safeway, disadvantaged by the hurricane and flooding. In fact, in AT&T and Amazon are just a few of more than 50 the end, there was so much product, the Local Union influential companies that he has represented in “union opened the warehouse to the general public and helped avoidance” (also known as union-busting) procedures. many more people than just our members. This will serve to undermine many positive changes we Joint Council 7 sent three of our drivers along with experienced in the last few years of the Obama Labor the truck to help and deliver goods. They did a great job Board, severely hurting what we do, especially our and represented our Joint Council extremely well. organizing efforts. We sent money to help the Florida and Puerto Rico Additionally, with Trump’s appointment to the Teamsters, and East Coast Locals copied the model we Supreme Court, we expect an adverse ruling involving set in Houston. our public sector members. The case most likely will Then the fires hit. We again moved into action. change a system that requires all workers represented We collected water, food, refrigerated trailers, and by the union to pay their fair share, either in the form much more to distribute. The International, the Locals, of dues or a designated amount. By effectively making and numerous companies and individuals contributed the public sector an open shop, our strength will be funds. Many members who were burned out of their undermined as the union will be forced to cover the homes were given emergency gift cards by the Joint costs of representing freeloaders who do not pay their Council and their home locals. fair share. As I have said all along, Trump and the Local 665 basically made their union hall and Republicans are not friends to working people. parking lot a collection and distribution center for Happy holidays! those people who were impacted by the fires. Members In closing, I want to wish you and your families a first, and then the general public, were allowed to healthy and happy holiday season and a fabulous new pick up needed items. The outpouring of support year! IN MEMORIAM Joint Council 7 Daniel Varela TEAMSTER June 15, 1949 - October 11, 2017 Dan Varela lived life with passion. He loved his High and Sonoma State. He was also a world-class pow- USPS 395-880 family deeply and is survived by his lifelong partner of erlifter, holding numerous world records in amateur and ISSN 2154-2643 50 years, Penny, his five children, and nine professional categories. Dan cheered passion- grandchildren. He died of cancer in October.