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Attention Members
Updated Oct. 21, 2020 - Our November general membership meetings in Baltimore and Salisbury are canceled. As the coronavirus pandemic continues unabated, we endeavor to do our part to protect the health of our members and staff as we continue to provide you service and support. The essential procedures instituted in March remain in effect. Click here to read these important notices regarding office and credit union hours of operation. If you need to see your business agent or have questions or concerns, give us a call at 410-566-5700.
Local and National News
Delivery drivers at US Foods in Manassas, Virginia, met with Local staff for their first-contract proposal meeting on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Manassas, Va. The meeting was held at a local chapter of the American Legion, where everyone followed the veterans' organization’s safety protocols that required face masks inside the hall. The drivers voted in September to join Local 355.
US Foods, Sysco workers ratify ‘historic’ contracts in So. California
Oct. 27, 2020 | Foodservice workers at US Foods and Sysco in Southern California have ratified contracts that contain historic increases in wages and pension-benefit contributions, providing the workers with a secure future over the next six years and beyond. Local 630 represents 187 warehouse and office workers at US Foods in La Mirada, Ca., and 143 warehouse and office workers at Sysco in Walnut, Ca. Local 848 represents about 200 drivers at the same US Foods center, and about 245 drivers at Sysco. All four units either unanimously ratified the contracts, or did so with just a few no notes. Continue reading here.Download your Teamster ‘I Voted’ Facebook frame
Oct. 26, 2020 | Let everyone know that you’re a Teamster and you voted! Download these frames as your profile picture on Facebook to show that Teamsters are making our voices heard at the polls in this historic election.Early voting in Maryland begins Monday. Here’s what to know.
Oct. 26, 2020 | The end is in sight. With eight days left in the U.S. presidential campaign, early in-person voting begins today in Maryland. In an election reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic and colored with uncertainty, more than 800,000 Maryland voters have already submitted ballots by mail or dropbox. Here are answers to some commonly asked questions.US Foods workers in California vote to join Teamsters Local 63
Oct. 16, 2020 | A group of 68 warehouse workers at US Foods in Fontana, Calif. have voted to join Teamsters Local 63, six weeks after a group of 57 drivers at the same facility voted to join the union. The mail-in votes were counted on September 3 for the drivers; October 14 for the warehouse workers. “It feels real good to win. Now it will be about winning better benefits and respect from managers,” said warehouse worker Raymond Ballard. “Every day, my coworkers and I would say to each other, ‘it’s in the bolsa,’ to remind us it’s in the bag.” Full story at teamsters.orgNotice of nomination and election of Local 355 officers
Oct. 9, 2020 | Official notice is hereby given of the nomination for election for the following officers of Local Union 355: President (Principal Officer), Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, Recording Secretary, and three Trustees for the 2021-2024 term. Nominations, seconds of nominations and Candidates’ acceptances must be made in writing and received by the Local Union Secretary-Treasurer no later than 5:00 p.m. Monday, November 2, 2020. For detailed information, read the Official Notice posted here.Older news items are available at 355 News.
Elsewhere in the News Why Workers Will Decide the 2020 Election 
Oct. 27, 2020 | OPINION | […] As Americans go to the polls, workers are prepared to render judgment on a president who has failed to keep his promises. Corporate profits have soared and executive compensation has exploded, all on the backs of American workers. But our middle class has shrunk and millions labor for poverty wages. And if work isn’t valued, Americans can’t earn their way to a better life for their families – no matter how hard they work… As American workers head to voting booths and mail-in ballots in numbers so large they cannot be ignored, they send a clear message to political leaders: we are the backbone of this country, our work has dignity, and you cannot continue to exploit us. We must pay people for the true value of their work, and give them power in their workplaces, with higher wages and empowered unions… Fox News
Increasing the Minimum Wage Would Help, Not Hurt, the Economy
Oct. 26, 2020 | WAGES | The minimum wage in the United States hasn’t budged in 11 years. Whether it should was a hotly contested question during Thursday’s final presidential debate. President Donald Trump asserted that increasing the minimum wage would crush small businesses, many of which are already struggling as a result of the pandemic, arguing that the decision should be left to the states. Democratic nominee Joe Biden repeated his campaign pledge to raise the minimum wage from its current $7.25 to $15. Establishing a $15 wage floor has been a long-term goal of union-backed advocacy groups, which began putting pressure on big companies like McDonald’s and Walmart to pay workers $15 an hour in 2012… NBC NewsIn Case You Missed It 
• COVID-19 news updates for Oct. 21, 2020
• The Fight for $15 is more important than ever
• Why I’m voting against hate
• Famous protests in US history and their impacts
• Teamsters call for zero emissions in private waste industry
• Laid-off Disney Teamsters work as volunteers at food bank
• Baltimore Teachers Union urges parents to boycott school reopening
• American Postal Workers Union continues fight to save USPS
• Labor prepares for a last-minute general strike if Trump tries to steal the election
• The Baltimore Sun’s Maryland Voter Guide 2020How to Boost Unions’ Power? Sectoral Bargaining.
Oct. 22, 2020 | LABOR UNIONS | In 1980 about a tenth of workers were covered by multi-employer agreements that set industry-wide standards, especially workers in steel, auto, trucking, construction and mining. What happened? An onslaught of deregulation and anti-union attacks reversed those gains. Unions simply lack the power and membership to organize entire sectors and industries. Sectoral or multi-employer bargaining does exist — in heavily unionized industries, like hospitality — but, mostly, unions negotiate wages and improve conditions at one individual worksite at a time. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act would remove some of the major difficulties faced by union organizers and passed in the House earlier this year. It now waits in the Senate. Like so much else, its chance of becoming law any time soon greatly depends on who wins in November. If it does pass, unions can begin the process of rebuilding their bargaining power from the bottom up… In These Times [Note: The Teamsters Union has national master agreements in the freight, warehouse, and passenger transportation industries, among others.]Why Stronger Labor Unions Would Speed Up the U.S. Post-COVID Recovery 
Oct. 20, 2020 | COMMENTARY | Recessions always inflict the most pain on Americans in the middle and lower end of the income distribution range, destroying jobs, eroding wages, and wiping out savings for those working in industries such as construction, manufacturing, hospitality, and retail. But the crushing economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have reached levels unseen in the last four decades, and the long-term scarring will be severe without intervention from Congress – not just in the form of emergency relief, but also with targeted policy solutions. One solution lawmakers should prioritize is a historic workers’ rights proposal, given that defanged labor protections are a large part of the reason the downturn has been so devastating to those who can least afford it... Fortune
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