Posts tagged Teamsters Local 117
Bill would authorize two pensions for WA state employees
March 19, 2025 // Union-backed legislation under consideration by state lawmakers in Olympia could open the door for the state to fund union-run pensions for state workers in addition to the existing state-run pension system. If adopted, HB 1069 would allow unions representing state employees to collectively bargain over “supplemental” retirement benefits. Depending on the result of these negotiations, such supplemental benefits could be funded by the state/taxpayers, deductions from state employees’ wages, or some combination of the two.
Some of the 18 Teamster officials in the Western region charged by the Teamster Independent Investigations Officer (IIO) in May and July of 2023 have been suspended from office or resigned their positions, while others await the decision of Judge Barbara Jones. Judge Jones serves as the Teamster Independent Review Officer (IRO) and makes the final decisions on corruption charges filed by the IIO.
February 22, 2024 // Three officials who ran on the Vairma-Herrera Slate in the 2021 International Union election are among the charged officers. They are all charged for their role in aiding disgraced former IBT Vice President Rome Aloise to direct union business after he was suspended from the union for corruption and taking gifts from a major employer during bargaining.
Workers at Elysian Brewing Have Unionized, and Want to ‘Set a Trend’
September 7, 2023 // Elysian is one of many craft breweries in the U.S. that is owned by multinational beverage titan Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI), which is sometimes vilified by smaller breweries. One curious aspect of the beer industry is that many of the facilities that produce ABI’s best-selling beers, are unionized, but craft breweries are generally non-union. The large number of craft brewers, most of which don’t have many employees, hasn’t been fertile ground for union organizers. But craft brewery employees across the country may be looking at unionization. They’re spurred on (like most workers who consider joining unions) by low pay and poor working conditions, but also by the realization that though craft breweries are often small, the craft industry as a whole is now a big chunk of the overall beer market. As ABI has bought up brewers, “craft” is no longer really synonymous with “small” or “anti-corporate.” (ABI has reportedly laid off workers at breweries this year in response to an overall decline in the craft beer market.)
Sysco Picketing Lawsuit Hinges on Standard for Secondary Strikes
April 18, 2023 // The conflict arose earlier this month after Sysco workers in Indiana and Kentucky went on strike over wages and retirement benefits. Sysco workers belonging to Teamsters Local 117 in Washington state followed suit, exercising a clause of their contract that allows them to refuse to cross a “lawful, primary picket line,” according to court records. In a complaint filed in US District Court for the Western District of Washington, Sysco Seattle argued that the workers there couldn’t join the picket because its operation is a separate entity from Sysco Louisville and Sysco Indianapolis.