SOLID TALK EPISODE 21 TEAMSTERS TITANS

Gonzo G.: Solid Talk Podcast, episode 21. Thank you for joining me today. Today we're going to be covering a few topics. Number one, with Driftwood Dairy, said. Solid Talk Podcast out here on the practice strike line with the drivers of Local 63, the warehouse man of Local 630 and the machinists of 495. As you can see out here, every locals involved and they're practicing for what might be a real strike if the company doesn't get their act together. Right now, negotiations are dragging along. This is a very large dairy. very large, they provide services to a lot of school districts, including Los Angeles. Right now, this is not the time for the company to play games with these people. These hardworking people are here being business, come to work every day. We really hope that this contract gets done because the teamsters don't play around. Who are we? Teamsters! Who are we? Teamsters! The Teamsters don't play around when it to contracts. So make sure that you support the Teamsters while walking the line with them if you see them out here. Son of Talk Podcast. We need them to come back to the table and do some serious numbers because it's not going to mess around with. But the Teamsters, they try to just get their benefits to be right, the pay to be where it's supposed to be. and the language to be wh That's correct. At the e want to make sure we've employer for many, to do what's right. They w help and they were in fin union and the members took them help them get out of want is for them to remem that we're not asking for their fair share. And 24 7 around the clock to products to the community So we're hopeful that the employees and our members and to get a fair contract th work and the dignity from Well, thank you so much for you a real busy man with all on. But we know we're go 495 when they're at the table serious business, right? That's right. We will. Thank you. you, Lou. They settled their differences on the contract. And for more understanding, they are approving the contract. The members feel that they got what they wanted. And they voted unanimously to take the deal that the company latest offer that they offered them. Also, ⁓ that's avoiding a massive strike. for the school districts because if you know, Driftwood Dairy covers a lot of school districts, especially Los Angeles, which is a very huge school district. It would be a shame if you couldn't get your chocolate milk or your milk at school because these guys are on strike. But the brothers from local 495, 63, and 630 voted already and they agreed to the terms. So they avoided a strike there. ⁓ That was Big Lou, Lou Villavosso from 630 and the whole team from 630 and the guys from 63 and 485, they worked on that deal and ⁓ they got their members what they could have gotten them the best deal possible at the time. And no deal is ever perfect, but as long as the members approve it and they vote on it, pretty much that's it, job's done. big ups to them. Now moving forward on the next topic we got going on is, ⁓ I had the chance to visit, ⁓ local one 86 for their 90th year anniversary. ⁓ it was a dinner that they had, and it was also a shop store appreciation dinner. Also, it was a combination of two things out there in the city of Oxnard. And, I'm going to be bringing you some interviews that I conducted over there. when I was there. Hopefully you like them. Enjoy. in 2022. They never had a standalone contract. had these these mechanics always voting with the drivers so they never their voice was never heard because the drivers outnumbered them two to one. So with his efforts they were able to separate and get their first contract. Henceforth came the next contract. They approved overwhelmingly their second successor contract in the summer of 2025. So who's that person? So Juan Martinez. expected veteran leader, Juan is a true teamster. Congratulations to Juan from Global 186 and the executive board for being Steward of the Year. Thank you. I hope he's not dragging the bolts away because I'm not taking that home for you. So I don't know, but we'll figure it out some way. Because I think that the Knights of Columbus would want to keep the team. Solid Talk Podcast. We're over here at the 90th year anniversary for Local 186 in the city of Oxnard. Today I'm joined by one of those shop stewards that's being recognized today. These shop stewards are being celebrated for their hard work in the workplace. Today I'm joined by Eric Barrios. And where do you work at brother? At Cisco Foods of Ventura. So you work in the warehouse or you're a driver? I work in the warehouse. Hard work putting together all those orders right? tell us a little bit about being a shop steward. How long have you been a shop steward? I've been a shop steward I believe 10 plus years already. Okay so you've been in the union a good minute, you've been a shop steward for a good minute and What advice would you have for any brother that might see this online that's thinking about being in a shop store that has cold feet? What advice do you have for them? Take the leap of faith. Never bite your tongue. If you feel it's not right, speak up. You're not only doing it for yourself, but you're doing it for the members as well. And you are their voice, so you always have to speak up. Never be afraid of that. Remember that management is not your friend. The power comes in the brotherhood. Everybody in the workplace together is the strength and the force of a union. A union is only as strong as its members, correct? So remember this. If you want to be a steward, you got to take a leap of faith. You got to put everything on the line because if you don't, management eventually will step on your rights as a union member. Thank you so much for the time, brother. Stata Talk podcast over here at Local 186 90th year anniversary. I'm joined by Fernando Lara, vice president, team to Local 186. Vice president, right? OK, so tell me 90 years, how is that possible? How you guys unify this local so tight like this? Well, obviously it starts with the members. Obviously they're the ones that drive us to do what we do here at the local. And obviously the leadership we have, the stewards, obviously they're the pillars of this local and the driving force obviously and the engagement. So right now you guys have a lot of organizing going on. You guys are just growing in numbers, you know, for being a small area as it is, right? It's like a like you said, like an island. You guys are growing, man, at a good rate. Yes. Obviously, I came from local six 30s to shout to six 30 Lou and all the guys down there. Lou actually grew up like 15 blocks away from local six 30. Nice. But no, South Central. I'm a boy. OK, right. Yeah, yeah. L.A., right. So then I came out here with the transfer when Cisco opened up of in Tura. And I've always been active, when I was at 6.30, but you know, obviously came over here, became a steward, came through the ranks. And I'm here thanks to Able, obviously shout out to Able and the executive board for bringing me on. And we've been here ever since, but putting in work since day one. Well, I tell you this, for the young brothers out there that are not in the union. Anybody in the body else anybody or anywhere what advice you have to for them as far as joining a union? obviously we all want this is like kind of like a generic message, but we all want our our family our sons Our nieces our nephews to be doctors lawyers, but sometimes that doesn't pan out Sometimes they you know they have to join the workforce and what better way to give them a career to But to join a union right and that's why I'm here, too. You know well being in union is It's like a college degree. You get to tell your boss how the running of the operation goes. A lot of times these bosses don't know how the shit even runs. They're just here, managing, right? So you as a shop steward, got to pretty much enforce how things operate in a day to day, right? Right, yep. Absolutely, you have to enforce the contract. That's the biggest thing is the contract. And you know, here at 186, you see the strength of the membership, right? You see you guys in Sacramento or other rallies. You guys are there, present, deep, you know. Tell me, what's the formula to that? I would say the membership. That's where it starts. If you as a business agent, from the top to the bottom. if you know it's you having that you know engagement with your members. If you go by and do some member or steward right and they know that you're a man of your word, that speaks volumes. And anytime you're called, you call for a favor, right? And you ask for something, they'll be there for you. Not only as a man, but as a member, as a union rep, it leads forward, right? And make sure that we're all together in one. We're all here for the same fight regardless of what craft you come from. We're all in the same fight. against these corporate motherfuckers. Right. Because they'll do their shit. Don't spend a thousand dollars an hour and get a lawyer to fuck up our day. But we're going to fuck up their day even worse because we're going to prepare every member, every member the same. Prepare them like, like Abel said, if they're going to be business agents one day, prepare everybody the same. Knowledge is power, right? Right. That's right, brother. Well, we thank you so much for the time and we know that you're a busy man with this local and we appreciate you having on brother. Thank you, brother. Solid Talk Podcast today I'm joined by a real recognizable teamster right here. This man's a member of local 186. Tommy brother, what's your name? David Cruz. David Cruz. You're doing Cisco, right? Yeah, you work for Cisco. So with Cisco, how long have you been with Cisco? About 10 years now. You've been on Team for how long now? Started at the end of 1999 with Roadway Express and Put my time in there, they kind of went under, so transitioned over here to Cisco. Ready to start my career here. So tell me brother, in your lifetime as a teamster, this local, it's a smaller local than where you come from, right? You were in another bigger local. But look at the brotherhood here, the unity that it is. How is it to have that as a regular here? It's a strong local, man. ⁓ I think, ⁓ Brother Abel Garcia and Fernando Lara, man, they're doing a great job here. As far as putting the members first, they're making those strides, know, they're growing the local. They were saying earlier, it's more than doubled in size, and that just goes to a test of the leadership. Like I said, they're doing a great job, and we'll just see what comes, Well you guys have a good thing going on Every time I go to rallies you guys are there And I a Sally Fernando man I was in Sacramento and you guys were there And trust me not everybody shows up to these things They only show up when the big bosses are around But no need Abel and his people will be there no matter what Who's there? That's right brother So you know you're driving for Cisco Just like I'm a driver for Albertsons Tell me that camera in your face That's something that it takes some time to get used to right? Yeah, absolutely man starting out You know we started when there was no cameras involved and then all of a sudden you got a eye in the sky man, you know, and it's just feels intrusion at time not intruding, know, and Yeah, you got to get used to it man. Definitely got to Watch your pzqs and make sure you're doing things by the book when I was a steward at a qcd I used to always tell my guys say things about dispatch. So if you notice it wearing a red shirt, say how ugly that shirt was on video. So that way when they pull you in for a ride, it will be like, wait a minute, you're not supposed to be illegally tampering and listening in on what this person is talking about. That's right. Yeah, no, they're not. They're supposed to be only for incidents only and when they're triggered. But you know, as time goes on, hearing different things, it seems like they're listening when they want to. Yeah, they turn it out when they feel like it. That's right. Right. It has to be balanced. Well, I think we got a right step. got to get some type of legislation across in California to make sure that that camera is only flipped on for safety. Not so you could know what Dave is ordering for dinner or what I'm ordering for dinner. Because it ain't like that. You know, we're human beings at the end of the day. Absolutely, man. You know, we want to scratch, we got to scratch. none of their business exactly so yeah definitely dips into a privacy issue you know in a workspace they had to respect that at a certain point right I agree with you 100 % to all those to all those guys at full service right here he could tell you and I will tell you that's a real man's work right there the full service because you're breaking shit down and it ain't for the weak yeah it's definitely a different kind of hustle man it came from freight We're bumping docks man and this job at Cisco Foods man, no joke, it's not for the weak man. It's definitely a demanding job. Yeah trust me, I bump docks now and I put on a bunch of weight and trust me, I miss running those 18,000 steps a day. You can eat whatever you want and it goes right off. But we thank you for the time my brother and we continue to see you on there man. This guy you see him he's always on 395 say hello to this guy he's always on 395. That's right brother. Alright we're out here at 186. Thank you so much. Salah talk podcast here at the local 186 90th year anniversary and I'm joined by the man himself Abel Garcia the secretary treasurer of 186 tell me Abel how how is this possible 90 years Well, I don't know how it's possible because I'm not 90 years old. That's okay You've been here. Maybe a quarter of it. Maybe like 30 years of it. Maybe less More than that, I've been a Teamster for 45 years now. All what, the same local? All 186. So what, 44 years? 43 years? 45. 45? So you've been here half of the... Okay. Started very young. So you're a second generation Teamster, right? And tell me Abel, in the time that you've been a Teamster, what are the biggest things that you've seen and you took away from all these changes? That's a loaded question. They're the biggest thing that I've seen. Well, in 186 or our entire- Entire. Entire union. Oh, interesting. Well, and you'll saw in 2022, we had a new IB &T president. was Sean O'Brien and got elected. And that was huge. Mr. Hoppe had been there for 23 years before him. And there was a lot of changes that were done. A lot of good, a lot of good and there's been massive organizing across the country for the teamsters under Sean's leadership and Chris Rosell. I mean we get a lot of participation, a lot of help from the international organizers that come and with their efforts under Sean's leadership we've just about doubled the size of the local. Now I've been hearing you talk about organizing here at 186. Amazing. The numbers, the scope of aggressive on the streets and grassroots and organize the old school way. Because remember, if you're not growing, you're dying. Your local has to grow in order to continue. And if you're not doing that, you're dropping the ball. So tell me, organizing in 186 is major. Since you got elected, how many new places have you guys added? Well, I think when we walked in, We were at ⁓ about 37 contracts and I think we're up to like 51 now. So wow, yep. And every organizing drive that we have done, we were able to secure that first contract. Because organizing, you can go organize the workers. They can vote yes, you win the election. But then now comes the hard work. You have to negotiate that first contract. That first contract is about the hardest thing that I've done in my time here as an ST at 186. You know, you're meeting new executives, lawyers, union busters, you know, that are just trying to break the morale of the worker there. So you get that first contract done and hey, we're good for, you know, some we have to do just for one year depending on the company and their finances, but we're good for three years or five. You know the workers are secure So Frito-Lay you organize them you broke through I Haven't heard nobody else done it, but you out here organized Frito-Lay That needs to be the thing going forward if this man could tell you anything before he's out of the picture and retired You need to organize Frito-Lay barns in your area Because Pepsi has money to break a union. So you gotta turn the fight around and bring it all. Bring all the members together. So tell me something about Fri or Late. Is there room for improvement there on the next contract? What kind of things you think the members will want to see here? ⁓ absolutely, every contract that you negotiate a successor agreement. There's always room for improvement. Improvement in wages, healthcare, pension, ⁓ more holidays, ⁓ more vacation time. So these are working conditions. These are things that we always look to, not just in a first contract, like you know we just have like this first contract, but every contract that we do, you heard me talking to our members, that one of our contracts that we have with a truck and crane company, we increase their pension by $7. So, you know, we're always looking to hear what the members, what they propose, what they want, what their needs are, because every company is specific to that particular unit. So with these folks that wanted more in their pension, another company might want more in their wages, you know. So that's why the proposals are so important. Listen to the members, put a good, a good proposals together, and then the company knows, hey, You're not messing around. You mean business. You're ready to rock and roll. And usually when we take that first vote, we're ready also. That vote is also a strike vote. Sometimes we'll do a strike vote ahead of like when we're in economics to let the company know we're ready to rock and roll. We almost hit the 12th hour with E.J. Harrison. We were ready to walk on them. I think we finished that. We went almost 48 hours straight in a row negotiating, ready to walk, and they settled with us at the last minute before we pulled them out. and enable when somebody increases, remember E.J. Harrison belonged to another union, came over to us. the first contract, they were like $27 of change. That first right out the gate ratified, they were gonna go to $30. And then from there, ⁓ I believe six months later, they went to like $31. So this is a huge change in their lives, right? They have pension now for the first time, and it changed these people's lives, you know? And so those are always my goals, always improve, make better, right? Improving your language is major because language is just like money right? Absolutely, and seniority is always important too because the most important thing about seniority is nobody likes it until they have it and you know people complain you know this bullshit I do a better job than him or her but if you don't have seniority you have to earn your stripes. But thank you, Gonzo, for showing up. Solid talk here. We appreciate you coming to our function. Enjoy the rest of your time here. I got to keep moving. All right. He's a busy man. We can't keep him forever. Thank you, Abel. Like them? Enjoy. Well, if you enjoyed those as much as I did, I will tell you right now that the food was bomb. It was bomb. I want to thank Abel. I want to thank all his team for inviting me. I appreciate it. ⁓ see, ⁓ you know, and get to talk to members of different Teamster locals and to ⁓ get to, you know, break bread with them and to see what's, what's going on with them and how they feel. And I'll tell you right now, the members out there are very good people. They're always, whenever I run into them and I'm out there delivering, they're very cool to talk to. And ⁓ any Teamster I run into from local 186 is usually pretty cool. They're usually the type that will talk to you. and like, you know, it's, it's based on the leadership, the leadership that you have. It's a good reflection of, of how to be a teamster. Big ups to Abel Garcia and all his team. ⁓ Fernando, ⁓ the vice president, thank you for the interview. And, ⁓ the other guys were pretty busy running around shaking hands. If I didn't get them on camera, it's okay. We'll have time for that eventually some other time. With that, ⁓ I leave it at that. I appreciate everybody's support, watching us ⁓ every week. Solid Talk podcast, we aim to talk about all the things going on, ⁓ from labor to ⁓ union use. Right now, there is, I believe, one other thing going on. There's a lockout. The United Steelworkers got locked out. from a refinery company I believe is in ⁓ Michigan. ⁓ That is f-ed up because those workers are just trying to get a new contract and the company pretty much is using a tool, it's called a lockout. What's a lockout, you ask? Well, a lockout, they lock you out and they can start hiring people from the outside and pretty much they don't have to go back to a table till they pretty much feel like it. If I'm misinformed on that, go ahead and drop in the comments if you're involved in that local. I believe it's up in Michigan. Marathon refinery oil company, I think it's called the company that they're negotiating with. It's pretty messed up. It's pretty messed up. They're making a good profit and they just don't want to give the members their piece of the pie. That's not the way it works. We provide a service. You pay us. paying them Polly wages that are not keeping up with inflation in the current time right now. And they're just requesting a piece, a bigger piece. Maybe their benefits to be big, or paid medical and retirement. But with that big shout out to those guys about usw that are fighting to get a new contract up there in Michigan. ⁓ And we'll hopefully see them get a contract soon. ⁓ Other than that, that's all I got today. I wanted to invite everybody to tap in with us on all our social medias. Make sure that you follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and watches on YouTube. Listen to us on Spotify or listen to us on Apple podcast. When you're driving to work, you're driving at work. If you're a truck driver, a tap in, listen, listen, you know, give us a listen. And if you like what we're talking about, drop us a message. If you want us to cover anything, go ahead and drop us a message because I would love to cover whatever you got, whatever is bothering you as far as in the labor world and also in politics. If you got something that we could cover, let's cover it. OK, one more thing. Don't forget the announcement is May the third, Sunday, May the third. We have our first ever live podcast live podcast event. We interviewing ⁓ Joe Kerr, which is a firefighter ⁓ captain, retired captain. and former union leader that is running for US Congress to represent District 40, is Corona, California, and parts of Orange County. So it's going to be a live event taking place Sunday, May the 3rd. We're interviewing Joker. And ⁓ following that interview, we're going to have a live comedy show. We're to have five great comedians going up on stage and making all our brothers from different unions laugh. Want to make sure that you're there. It's the Union Comedy Fiesta. That's right. The Union Comedy Fiesta. Sunday, May the third. Don't forget. Don't forget to buy your tickets. Buy your tickets. The pre-sale tickets are 20 bucks. You can get them on eventsbright.com. ⁓ It's the Union Comedy Fiesta and it's available on Eventbrite. Tap into our social medias if you want a link to follow the link. All right. Thank you so much. Remember, go to work, work hard, respect your coworkers and remember teamsters don't rat on teamsters. Union members do not rat on union members. So make sure that you have your coworkers back and they have your back. Okay. We'll see you next week. Solid Talk Podcast. Thank you.