JULY 2022 |
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Reminder for American Red Cross Teamsters: Ballots Are Due Friday
July 11, 2022 | This is a reminder that you have less than five (5) days left to vote for the Teamsters Red Cross National Addendum and Local Union agreement. You may vote by phone or email. To vote by phone, call toll-free 1.877.771.2185. When prompted, enter the Access Code you received with your ballot. To cast your vote online, click here. Enter the Access Code you received with your ballot and click LOGIN. Voting closes at 11 AM – and will be tallied at 3 PM – on Friday, July 15, 2022. Don’t wait. Vote now! Teamsters Ratify American Red Cross National Agreement July 15, 2022 | With 93 percent voting yes, Teamsters at the American Red Cross (ARC) voted to ratify a strong new contract protecting more than 1,500 health care workers. The agreement affects Teamsters working in a variety of health care roles and remains in effect until 2024. “We exceeded turnout from the last national agreement from four years ago by 16 percent, which I think is a reflection of the fact that enthusiasm for our union is growing at the Red Cross,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “We now have united contract expiration dates to give local unions greater bargaining power and we retained our neutrality language to organize more locations. This agreement is a blueprint for the future.” “The pandemic has shown all of us just how invaluable health care workers are, and this now-ratified agreement honors their service,” said Jason Lopes, Teamsters Health Care Director. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to bargain on behalf of members who are literal lifesavers.” The agreement was the first negotiated bilaterally and the first with rank-and-file members who served on the negotiating committee. Most notably, the members kept their current health care plan after the threat of a strike. Some improvements in the contract include increased wages and paid days off, better family leave and scheduling policies, and higher safety and health standards. Marya Woodget has worked as a Collections Tech at ARC since 2015 and is a member of Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta. “I think it’s important to unionize every Red Cross location because we could stand for more things that workers want and need as a whole, throughout the entire country,” said Woodget. “If we’re all part of a union, it will be a bigger, more intact unit on the things that we fight for.” A few local unions remain in negotiations, but seek to ratify supplemental agreements within the next 90 days. The national agreement will become binding once all local supplements are ratified. 7/27 Virtual Townhall: 'Workers Standing Up and Fighting Back' July 26, 2022 | General President Sean M. O’Brien, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) President Sara Nelson will headline a virtual townhall Wednesday night at 8 pm ET where they will take on Amazon, UPS and all of big business who are holding workers down. While millions of essential workers toiled through the darkest days of the pandemic, corporate leaders like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Howard Schultz and others sat round and counted their record-setting profits. But workers are demanding their fair share through union organizing and strong contracts. That includes the Teamsters, who are preparing to kick off its fight for a new UPS contract next year. Tune in at live.berniesanders.com. Via Teamsters on Facebook Warehouse Members! Tune In For An Update Sunday, 7/31 Workers at MOM’s Organic Market in Hampden, MD, Move to Form Union July 28, 2022 | Eighty workers at MOM's Organic Market in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood moved to form a union Tuesday, according to the National Labor Relations Board. The workers at the store in the Rotunda shopping center will be represented by the Teamsters Local 570. “Teamsters Local 570 has filed a petition for an election to represent the workers of Mom’s Organic Market in Baltimore. We are looking forward to representing these brave men and women who are standing in solidarity with one another,” said Sean Cedenio, Teamsters Local 570 secretary-treasurer. City Councilwoman Odette Ramos, who represents the area, congratulated the workers on taking the step to form a union. The NLRB will set a date for a vote soon. "This is great. Happy to have our grocery workers at Mom’s at the Rotunda unionized," Ramos said. "They really needed it during the pandemic and now they are ready.” The MOM's union is the latest in a number of pro-labor efforts in the Baltimore area. In April, workers at a Starbucks store in the city's Midtown section became the first Starbucks in Maryland to form a union. In May, the workers at the Towson Town Center Apple Store voted to form a union. The Towson store became the second such store to form a union. The union drive comes at a time when more traditionally non-union companies such as Amazon, Apple and Starbucks are facing pressure from employees and labor groups to accept union workers. A request for comment from MOM's Organic Market, which operates more than a dozen stores in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, was not immediately returned. Fox45News |
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