Organizing
Joining the Teamsters allows you to have a voice in how you
are treated at work. As a Teamster member, you are part of 1.4
million working men and women and their families fighting to
improve working conditions at your workplace and around the nation.
The Teamsters are a family, along with 400,000 Teamster retirees
in the United States and Canada. You will always have the support
and strength of your union sisters and brothers. Your union is
a democratic organization, where the members have the right to
elect their leaders, and decide the union's policies.
Click a heading below or scroll down to read
more.
Your Rights at Work
Helping Other Workers Organize
Union Democracy Makes Us Strong
A Changing Union in a Changing World
Your Rights At Work
By joining together, Teamsters have more say in working conditions.
We can negotiate with management to make jobs better and make
sure we are all treated fairly.
The Union Contract
Most Teamsters, except for some public employees, are covered
by a union contract with the employer. Contracts cover such
rights and benefits as...
Pay levels and pay raises.
Health coverage.
Job security.
Promotions.
Paid time off for vacations and holidays.
Retirement benefits.
Rules about how you must be treated on the job.
Your contract is negotiated with management by your co-workers
and Teamster leaders. Every member has the right to make suggestions
about what should be in the contract and to vote on the final
agreement.
To win a good contract, workers have to show management that
they are united in support of their negotiating team. Sometimes
workers have to get support from other unions, community groups,
public officials, consumers, or other organizations to convince
management to reach a reasonable agreement.
The rights and benefits in the contract are guaranteed. Management
cannot legally change them without negotiations with the union.
Your Right to Fair Treatment
Everyone wants to have smooth working relationship on the job.
But problems sometimes come up in every workplace.
A Teamster contract includes a procedure to protect you from
being treated unfairly or fired without good reason. It also
protects you from discrimination or favoritism in the way work
assignments, promotions, layoffs, or other issues are handled.
A complaint that the contract has been
violated is called a "grievance".
If you think management may have violated your rights, or have
any questions or problems about work, tell your Teamster steward.
The steward and other local union leaders can answer your questions
and help you figure out the best way to solve the problem.
Sometimes that involves discussions with management.
Sometimes it requires getting the support of other workers for
a fair solution.
Help From Your Local Union
When you join the Teamsters, you become a member of a local union.
Your local union has the main responsibility for enforcing your
rights under the union contract. Most Teamster contracts are
negotiated by the local union.
Your local union has seven officers, all elected by the membership.
Some locals employ business agents to represent members and
help the officers coordinate union activities.
Your most direct link to the union is your Teamster steward.
Your steward is a co-worker trained to help represent and organize
union members. You should go to your steward when you have a
question or problem.
How You Can Get Involved
Read your contract. Ask your steward to explain parts that seem
unclear.
Insist on your rights. Let your steward and other coworkers know
if you think management is acting unfairly. If a manager asks
you questions that might lead to discipline, you have a legal
right to have your union steward present during the questioning.
Support your coworkers If someone else isn't being treated fairly,
back them up. Our union is strong because we stick together.
Back up your union leaders when they ask for your support.
Support campaigns to win better contracts. Give your local union
representative your ideas for what to negotiate in your contract.
Join in activities to show management that you support your union.
Help reach out to community groups if their support is needed.
Back other workers' campaigns for fair contracts. When other
Teamsters or members of other unions win better contracts, that
helps set higher standards that make it easier for your group
to negotiate improvements. Other workers may ask you to help
them by boycotting a certain product, displaying a bumper sticker,
or attending a rally to demonstrate your support.
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Helping Other Workers Organize
You have an important role to play in supporting the Teamsters
program to organize new groups of workers.
Helping them organize is good for them because they can win
new rights and benefits. But it also benefits current members
of the union.
A bigger and stronger union can win better contracts and better
laws for all of us.
Employers often argue that union members should be brought down
to the lower wage and benefit levels of the unorganized.
Our organizing efforts create victories for all workers - union
as well as non-union - by raising the standard, ensuring that
we can all have better and more secure jobs.
Teamster officers and staff lead our organizing
efforts–but
they can't do it alone. Successful organizing drives often depend
on Teamster members who give their time to explain the benefits
of being a member to unorganized workers.
How You Can Get Involved
Offer to help with union organizing. Ask your local union about
current organizing efforts.
Talk to unorganized workers, friends, and neighbors about the
importance of being a union member.
Help make our union strong and democratic–by being involved
in the programs described on this page–so that unorganized
workers will want to join us.
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Union Democracy Makes Us Strong
The Teamsters Union belongs to the members. The more active the
members, the stronger the union.
You and your coworkers have the right to...
Elect the officers of your local union.
Attend local union meetings.
Vote on contracts that your union representatives negotiate.
The International Union
You also have the right to elect the leaders of the International
Union, which includes all Teamster local unions in the U.S. and
Canada.
The International Union supports locals with...
Coordination so that we can all work toward common goals in
contract negotiations, political action, and organizing workers
who don't have union protection.
Training and educational programs for local leaders, stewards,
and members.
Advice and assistance from experienced organizers, negotiators,
researchers, attorneys, safety and health professionals, auditors,
and communications specialists.
In 1991, Teamster members in the US and Canada had their first
chance in history to elect the General President of the International
Union and the other members of the General Executive Board. Future
elections will be held every five years.
Every five years, the members of each local in the US and Canada
also elect delegates to the International Convention. The convention
sets overall policy about the programs, goals, and finances of
the Teamsters Union.
Trade Divisions/Conferences
The International Union has a number of Trade Divisions that
provide special help for locals with members in particular
industries or kinds of work. These include...
Airline
Automobile Transporters Industry
Building Material and Construction
Freight
Industrial Trades
Motion Picture and Theatrical
Newspaper Drivers
Parcel and Small Package
Port
Public Employees
Tank Haul
Trade Show and Convention Centers
Warehouse
There are also three trade conferences: Bakery and Laundry Conference,
Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference, and Dairy Conference.
Joint Councils
Local unions in a particular city or region make up a Joint Council.
In some cases, Joint Councils have formed state or multi-state
conferences.
How Your Dues Are Used
Your dues money pays for the Teamster programs and activities
described on this page.
Dues are divided between the Local Union, Joint Council, and
International Union, with most of the money used directly by
the Local Union.
Each level of the union prepares annual financial reports. As
a Teamster member, you have a right to obtain information about
how your dues money is being spent.
How You Can Get involved
Stay informed. Ask your steward and local leaders for information
on union activities. Read local union publications and the International
Unions magazine.
Participate in union activities. Take an active part in union
meetings. Vote in union elections. Become familiar with your
Local Union By-laws and the International Union Constitution.
Volunteer your time. A successful union needs people who are
willing not only to give ideas and make proposals but to get
involved in carrying them out.
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A Changing Union in a Changing World
The Teamsters Union has a proud history, going back to its founding
in 1903.
We were originally a Drivers' union. But as the Teamsters grew
stronger, those drivers came into contact with thousands of workers
in warehouses, factories, offices, hospitals, local government,
and many different kinds of businesses who also needed a union.
Today, the 1.4 million Teamsters hold just about every kind
of job found in the US and Canada.
With new approaches and programs, the International Union is
working closely with locals to...
Strengthen our bargaining power.
Increase our clout in politics.
Help workers without unions to organize.
Build unity among all levels of the union.
Insure union members democratic rights.
Get family members and retirees involved in union activities.
Build closer ties with other unions and community organizations.
Click here to contact the Organizing Office
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