NO ON THE RECALL
URGENT MOBILIZATION TO FIGHT AGAINST THE RECALL OF STATE SENATOR JOHN NEWMAN
If you have some time, please volunteer
Saturday, April 21st 9:30am - 1:00pm
153 N. Raymond, Fullerton, CA 92831
Gunder H. Hansen, 87 of Sheridan, died Sunday November 5, 2017 at Sheridan Manor. A celebration of life will be held at 11:00am Friday, April 20, 2018, at Champion Funeral Home with Pastor Doug Goodwin officiating.
Memorials may be made to Kalif Shriner's Hospital Travel Fund, P.O. Box K, Sheridan, 82801, or Sheridan Dog and Cat Shelter, 84 East Ridge Rd., Sheridan 82801. Online condolences may be written at www.championfh.com.
Arrangements are under the direction of Champion Funeral Home.
MOTIONS MADE BY TIM CANOVA IN FLORIDA
In Florida we are fighting for justice in the election process. The Election Registar destroyed ballots that needed to be examined in order to determine whether or not the primary election was fair in 2016.
EMERGENCY TEAMSTER PENSION MEETING April 7th, Northwest Administrators, Pension Plan Trustees, politicians and Pension Chair Chuck Mack unveiled their strategy to FIGHT THE COMPOSITE PLAN! Oppose the "GROW ACT", sign the petition NOW!!!!
The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee and ABF Freight System reached a tentative contract agreement, Ernie Soehl, Co-Chairman of the Teamsters National ABF Negotiating Committee, announced today. No further details will be released until leaders from Teamster local unions that represent ABF members meet in the next two weeks to review the tentative agreement and approve sending it out for a membership ratification vote. The parties agreed to an extension of the current agreement to allow for the ratification process to take place. Once the upcoming meeting takes place, the union will release more information. FOR MORE INFO PLEASE VISIT THE WEBSITE AT WWW.TEAMSTER.ORG/ABF-CONTRACT-UPDATE
SUPPORT FAMILIES IN MULTIEMPLOYER PENSION PLANS
OPPOSE THE GROW ACT
We, the members and retirees of Teamsters Joint Council 42 participating in the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund (WCTPT) urge you to oppose the Give Retirement Options to Workers (GROW) Act (H.R. 4997). This legislation weakens the entire multiemployer pension system, putting our retirement security, and that of millions of other Americans, at risk.
WCTPT is the largest and most successful multiemployer defined benefit pension plan in the nation. WCTPT provides retirement security to over 600,000 families in all 50 states and nearly every congressional district. We rely on the WCTPT and the current multiemployer pension system as critical components to support the financial well-being of our families.
The GROW Act would change the rules for multiemployer pension plans in a way that weakens the system as a whole and threatens our retirement security:
First, the bill would drain contributions from existing multiemployer plans to fund new composite plans—setting up both plans for failure and putting our retirement benefits at risk.
Second, the bill would permit draconian cuts to workers’ promised benefits and subject retirees to devastating cuts to their pensions.
Third, the GROW Act would make it easier for employers to withdraw from pension plans without paying their fair share of the plan’s liabilities.
Fourth, the bill undermines the solvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) because composite plans would be exempt from paying premiums, despite creating significant new liabilities for the PBGC due to the plan failures that would result from weakening plan funding.
Finally, under the GROW Act, workers lose the safety net of PBGC insurance coverage and face the prospect of total benefit loss in the event of a plan failure.
We strongly urge you to oppose the GROW Act and to instead support efforts to sustain and strengthen the multiemployer pension system in a way that protects the retirement security of millions of American workers and retirees, including those of us who depend on a healthy WCTPT for our financial future.
2018 GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND CAR SHOW To Download Flyer Click Below ** To Download Vehicle Registration CLICK HERE
Congratulations to newly retired Brothers Ha Nguyen of 31 years and Ernie Booe of 40 years from OCTA Maintenance Department. Happy Retirement Brothers! LtoR: Ernie Booe, Secretary-Treasurer Patrick D. Kelly and Ha Nguyen
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUS V. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY, AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, COUNCIL 31, ET AL
The Janus Case - hearings have begun before the Supreme Court
beginning today Monday, February 26, 2018
Ex LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa with his wife Patricia Govea, accompanied by Teamsters Local Union 396 Secretary-Treasurer & Western Region International Vice President Ron Herrera and Secretary-Treasurer of Local Union 952 Patrick D. Kelly at Union Station Birthday Celebration
TO ALL TEAMSTERS LOCAL 952
COACH OPERATORS
EMPLOYED AT
Orange County Transportation Authority
February 8, 2018
The links below, you will find copies of executed (signed) tentative agreements, some unexecuted (unsigned) letters of agreement as well as Last, Best and Final offers with respect to Article 2, 8, 11, 20, 30, 38, 39 & 40. At this time we do not have a comprehensive Last, Best and Final offer from the Authority. At this time although there is a significant improvement in wages as part of their offer, there is a lack of information available with respect to the healthcare costs, i.e. 5%, 7% or 10% of what number? There is also no executed letter of agreement prohibiting an increase in subcontracting. Once we get a comprehensive offer we will schedule informational meetings and conduct balloting on the offer.
We urge you to thoroughly review the enclosed documents and if you have any questions, contact your union steward or your Business Representative Almeta Carter at 714-740-6235.
Also enclosed is a summary (8 page document) of benefits and coverage for Kaiser Permanente services as it is currently provided through the Labor Alliance Managed Trust Fund.
Thank you for your support of the Teamsters Union.
CHRISTAIN STONE - REYES COCA-COLA ORANGE WAREHOUSEMAN
RECEIVED CHECK FOR OVER $19,000 FOR
REIMBURSEMENT OF HEALTH AND WELFARE
DUE TO AN ARBITRATORS AWARD!
*IMPORTANT TEAMSTERS NEWS*
TO ALL TEAMSTERS LOCAL 952 MEMBERS
WHO PARTICIPATE IN THE
TEAMSTERS AND FOOD EMPLOYERS SECURITY TRUST FUND
Due to an issue that has arisen between the parties with respect to a Unilateral change in benefits by the 3rd party administrator some of the Brothers and Sisters.........
Chapter 9
Coercive Organizing: Legal Restraints and Hoffa's Response
Chapter 10
Hoffa's Leverage Techniques in Bargaining
THE RISE OF TEAMSTER POWER IN THE WEST
Written by Mr. Donald Garnel - March 9, 1972
University of California Press, Berkeley
Click Chapter to read excerpts from the book
Chapter 2,
History of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Chapter 4,
The Highway Drivers Council of California Chapter 5
The Organization of Los Angeles
It’s hardly new for politicians to wrangle over the National Labor Relations Board. This time, though, partisan warfare has penetrated the agency itself. | Jon Elswick/AP Photo
A federal agency that regulates labor unions is engaged in something close to civil war as political appointees, career bureaucrats and its inspector general battle one another.
The agency is the National Labor Relations Board, created in 1935 to promote collective bargaining and adjudicate disputes between businesses and workers. An independent agency insulated — in theory — from partisan politics, the NLRB under President Donald Trump is consumed to the point of paralysis by fights over personnel policies, ethics rules and legal decisions that stem from ancient political disagreements over the proper balance of power between employers and workers.
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The in-fighting is bad news for workers who seek the NLRB’s help to organize unions and increase corporate accountability for labor law violations — and also, paradoxically, bad news for employers who want to fight unionization and limit corporate liability by reversing pro-labor rulings issued under the Obama NLRB.
“This is like when Yugoslavia broke up,” said one employment lobbyist who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “You’re fighting over things that happened 10,000 years ago — you killed my ancestor so I’m going to kill you.”
At the center of the controversy, which has pitted civil servants against political appointees, conservatives against liberals and, on occasion, conservatives against other conservatives, are Peter Robb, the NLRB’s bare-knuckled general counsel, and board member William Emanuel, a controversial Trump appointee with deep ties to business.
Robb outraged the NLRB’s career staff in January by proposing a restructuring that would demote regional directors, whom the business lobby considers too pro-union. That prompted revolt from the NLRB’s employee unions. “Peter Robb is considering measures to ‘streamline’ the NLRB that will only make it harder to remedy federal labor law violations,” read a flyer that three New York union locals distributed at an event Robb attended in February.
Nearly 400 NLRB employees followed up March 15 in a letter sent to members of Congress that said Robb’s changes “strike us as unlikely to generate cost savings for the agency. What they do seem likely to achieve is the frustration of our efforts to provide members of the public with high quality, thorough investigation.”
The second and more elaborate NLRB controversy concerns Emanuel's decision not to recuse himself in December from Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, a pro-business ruling in which the NLRB’s inspector general later concluded Emanuel had a conflict of interest. After the inspector general issued his report, the NLRB vacated the ruling.
The two story lines crossed this month when Robb issued a legal opinion that said he “does not agree with the conclusions reached in the IG report,” and accused three NLRB members of breaking the law. Robb faulted the members — including the Republican chairman — for vacating Hy-Brand without consulting Emanuel, and urged the board to reinstate Hy-Brand. It’s highly unusual for an NLRB general counsel to criticize the board’s judgment so harshly. The White House, signaling apparent agreement with Robb, replaced NLRB Chairman Marvin Kaplan last week with the just-confirmed board member John Ring. (Kaplan will remain as board member.)
Meanwhile, the NLRB’s inspector general, David Berry, is investigating a second NLRB member, Mark Pearce, who is one of the board’s two Democrats. (By law, two of the NLRB’s five board members are chosen by whichever party does not occupy the White House.) Berry is following on a complaint filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative nonprofit, based on a Wall Street Journal editorial that accused Pearce of alerting in advance attendees at an American Bar Association meeting in Puerto Rico that Hy-Brand would be vacated. Pearce did not answer a request for comment.
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Berry, in turn, stands accused by the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation, the legal arm of the anti-union National Right To Work Committee, of disclosing confidential board deliberations improperly in his report on Emanuel, and in a follow-up report issued one month later. The right-to-work group asked an umbrella group, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, to investigate. Berry did not answer a request for comment.
“It’s sort of like 'Game of Thrones,'” said Roger King, a friend of Emanuel’s and senior labor and employment counsel for the HR Policy Association.
Or maybe three-dimensional chess. The National Right to Work Committee is a natural ally to Emanuel, but, remarkably, it’s come to regard Emanuel as a problem that must not be replicated in future NLRB nominations, lest pro-labor Democrats gain an upper hand through additional recusals.
In its March newsletter, the group revealed that the Trump administration ignored its advice “not to choose … another management attorney who would have to recuse himself or herself potentially from vast numbers of cases involving clients of the attorney’s former employer.” That advice, the newsletter complained, “went unheeded” when Trump nominated Ring, a partner at the management-side law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, “whose client list is even longer than Littler Mendelson’s.” The Senate confirmed Ring last week.
“For the next year and a half,” warned National Right To Work Committee vice president Matthew Leen in the newsletter, “two of the three NLRB members who aren’t profoundly biased in favor of forced unionism may have to recuse themselves from multiple cases.”
In effect, Leen was saying that the Trump administration was so blatantly anti-labor that it may be unable to fulfill its anti-labor objectives.
It’s hardly new for politicians to wrangle over the NLRB. In 2012, the board made headlines when President Barack Obama tested the limits of his executive power by bypassing Congress and granting three recess appointments to the NLRB even though the Senate was technically in session. Obama ended up losing in the Supreme Court.
This time, though, partisan warfare has penetrated the agency itself.
General counsel Robb sent senior agency staffers reeling after he announced in a Jan. 11 conference call that he wanted to consolidate the agency’s 26 field offices into larger “districts” overseen by officials hand-picked by him. Under Robb’s plan, regional directors would lose their classification as members of the Senior Executive Service — the civil service’s highest rank — and be replaced by a new layer of officials who'd be answerable to Robb.
The title “general counsel” makes Robb sound like a lawyer for NLRB management, but in fact it’s arguably the agency’s most powerful position. The NLRB general counsel is the agency’s gatekeeper, a sort of prosecutor who brings cases before the board. The vast majority of NLRB cases are processed at the NLRB’s 26 field offices and never reach the board. The field offices are staffed by career officials who don’t typically agree with the pro-management outlook of Robb, to whom they report.
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In a letter to Robb shortly after the January conference call, the regional directors called his proposed changes “very major” and complained that they hadn’t “heard an explanation of the benefits to be gained.” They also warned that enacting such changes might prompt senior directors and managers to retire en masse — a clear shot across the bow.
In reply, another official from the general counsel’s office proposed by email additional restrictions on the decision-making power of regional officials, such as requiring all cases go through headquarters for initial review.
Robb declined to comment for this story and, according to a source familiar with his thinking, is upset that the controversy spilled into public view.
Marshall Babson, a former Democrat appointee to the NLRB, said that Robb’s proposed changes risk making the NLRB less efficient. “If you’re talking about injecting another level of review, that could slow things down,” he said.
Jennifer Abruzzo, who was acting general counsel before Robb, agreed. “I think that’s a mistake,” she said. “I think the regional directors know what they’re doing.”
Shifting rationales for the changes have intensified the career staff’s suspicions about Robb’s motives. At the March ABA meeting in Puerto Rico, Robb’s deputy John Kyle said they were intended to bring the agency in line with the White House’s proposed 9 percent budget cut for the agency. But the $1.3 trillion spending bill signed into law last month by President Donald Trump, H.R. 1625 (115), rejected that cut and maintained funding at current levels.
“It certainly undercuts the general counsel’s rationale for restructuring,” said Karen Cook, president of the NLRB Professional Association. “He will try to move forward with his plan, though, on the basis that he expects a severe cut to the 2019 budget.“
The budget picture grew more complex Tuesday when the White House budget office alerted NLRB that the agency should spend only $264 million of the $274 million it received in the spending bill, a 3.6 percent reduction. Such a rescission, were it to become permanent, would require congressional approval under the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act.
“I am unaware of a single instance in the past wherein the White House or OMB subjected the NLRB to the budget rescission process,” said Marshall Babson, a former board member.
Fevered though the Robb Revolt is, it hasn’t yet engulfed members of the board itself. The same can’t be said about the controversy surrounding Emanuel and his participation in the December Hy-Brand decision.
Hy-Brand narrowed the circumstances under which a business could be classified a so-called joint employer, jointly liable for labor violations committed by its contractors or franchisees. It reversed an earlier ruling in Browning-Ferris Industries, a 2016 decision by the Obama NLRB that broadened the circumstances under which a business could be classified a joint employer. Fast-food chains like McDonald’s were outraged by Browning-Ferris because it put them on the hook for maltreatment of employees over whom they didn’t necessarily maintain direct control.
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Hy-Brand was rushed out along with several other pro-management decisions shortly before a Republican NLRB member’s term was about to end in December, leaving the board deadlocked, 2-2. The overturning of Browning-Ferris took many by surprise, because Hy-Brand wasn’t a case that had much to do with the joint-employer issue.
“It was a rush to judgment,” said Wilma Liebman, a Democratic board member under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama.
One week after the Hy-Brand ruling, congressional Democrats accused the NLRB of loading the dice by allowing Emanuel to participate. Emanuel’s former law firm, Littler Mendelson, had represented a party in Browning-Ferris, noted a Dec. 21 letter to Emanuel from Senate HELP Committee ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), House Education and the Workforce Committee ranking member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and others. In the letter, the six Democrats posed several questions to Emanuel about his participation in Hy-Brand.
In his response, first reported by ProPublica, Emanuel said he wasn’t aware at the time of the ruling that his firm had been involved in Browning-Ferris, noting Littler’s very long client list. Unfortunately for Emanuel, he’d already noted his firm’s participation in Browning-Ferris on a questionnaire submitted during his confirmation hearing. Emanuel scrambled to revise his response, but the damage was done, and inspector general Berry opened an investigation. The first report, issued Feb. 9, was scathing, finding “a serious and flagrant problem and/or deficiency in the board's administration of its deliberative process.” Emanuel, Berry concluded, should have recused himself from the decision to overturn the Obama-era standard.
The NLRB’s other three board members, including Trump-nominated chairman Marvin Kaplan, were persuaded by Berry’s reasoning and vacated Hy-Brand, waiting to act until after Emanuel departed for the ABA conference in Puerto Rico. Emanuel was stunned when a fellow attendee pulled up the ruling on a cellphone, according to a source who was present at the conference.
“You should have seen the look on his face,” this person said. “He had no knowledge of it in advance. He was totally floored.”
Emanuel, who declined to comment for this story, hired Zuckerman Spaeder, a prominent white-collar law firm that previously represented former International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Emanuel’s defenders insist he did nothing wrong because his firm wasn’t directly involved in Hy-Brand. Zuckerman Spaeder Chairman Dwight Bostwick argued in a letter to Berry that he'd evaluated Emanuel under an unusually strict standard that “has the potential to bedevil and frustrate this agency for years to come” and “‘weaponize’ the ethics rules for purposes of improperly excluding presidential appointees from doing the jobs they were sworn to do.”
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Bostwick also wrote that one month after the Hy-Brand decision, the NLRB’s designated ethics official told Emanuel that she didn’t believe Emanuel should have been required to recuse himself in that case. According to the letter, Emanuel asked for that opinion in writing, but the request was denied at the OIG’s request.
Emanuel’s allies have cried foul, noting that former Democratic NLRB member Craig Becker participated in cases involving local chapters of the Service Employees International Union despite having previously been counsel to SEIU. In that instance, Berry raised no red flags. Becker declined to comment on the record.
The conflict-of-interest charge is “based on a house of cards and not a very strong one at that,” said King, the attorney with the HR Policy Association. “We see a long-term game plan to destabilize and undermine the NLRB.”
In his second inspector general report on Emanuel, issued March 20, Berry concluded that Emanuel violated the Trump administration’s ethics pledge, which states: “I will not for a period for two years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients.” But in his letter to Berry, Bostwick said he “respectfully disagree[d] … with the determination the member Emanuel violated his presidential ethics pledge.”
Berry acquitted Emanuel of the most serious charge: lying to Congress about whether he was aware of a possible conflict of interest. But that did little to cool Congress' fury. After Berry issued the report, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) called on Emanuel to resign, saying he “no longer has the credibility” to serve.
Portman at Today’s Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pensions Plans Hearing: “The Status Quo is Unacceptable”
WASHINGTON, D.C. —At the second meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer PensionsPlans today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) made the case that the panel must work together on solutions that address the multiemployer pension crisis and deliver results, saying that, “the status quo is not acceptable.”Portman is hopeful that his colleagues on both sides of the aisle can come together to achieve a comprehensive and permanent solution that protects earned pensions, protects taxpayer dollars, prevents the insolvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and alleviates pressure on employers. The focus of the hearing was on the legal structure and history of the multiemployer pension system, and Portman focused his questions on funding rules for plan sponsors and employer withdrawal liability, which are important issues in ensuring that plans can improve their solvency without placing an undue burden on contributing employers.
The Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans consists of 16 members of Congress: four Republicans and four Democrats in the both the House and Senate. The deadline for the Committee to vote on a statement of findings and recommendations, and propose legislation to carry out these recommendations, is November 30th.In order to successfully report out legislation, a minimum of five out of the eight members of both parties must support it.
Transcript of the questioning can be found below and a video can be foundhere.
Portman: “The information that you are able to provide us is critical to helping us figure this out, and it is complicated, and there are different rules from multiemployers as we’ve talked about today. I think there’s a consensus around the table, I hope, that the status quo is not acceptable and that was your first summary comment, Mr. Goldman. I think, also, there is a deep interest in figuring out what we could do going forward to not just provide some solvency for Central States plan and PBGC that could otherwise go insolvent as soon as 2025, but also to put rules in place going forward that could solve some of the problems that have occurred, and one is withdrawal liability. You talked about that a little bit, Mr. Goldman, it was your third point, you said, ‘The status quo is not acceptable, many plans remain healthy’ and you talked about withdraw liability. Your point was that it keeps employers from being able to effectively help solve the problem, right?”
Mr. Ted Goldman, Senior Pensions Fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries: “Yes.”
Portman: “The key question I think we need to spend a lot of time on figuring out is the extent to which this insolvency is going to drive more employers into bankruptcy and create more issues, and one of the issues that concerns me is for the roughly 200 employers on Ohio and Central States, they would be reducing contributions for other multiemployer plans too, right? Creating a contagion effect, as you all call it. That threatens to compound the entire multiemployer system. There are many ways this could happen under current laws as evident from reading your report. The withdrawal liability issue and the possibility of a mass withdrawal, once Central States becomes insolvent. On page 46 of the Joint Committee report that we got, you noted, Mr. Barthold that the amount of an employer’s withdrawal liability is in theory determined by the plan’s sponsor and generally based on the employer’s portion of the plans unfunded, vested benefits. However, it is my understanding that the amount of withdrawal liability that employers actually pay is calculated based on their previous contributions to the plan and is payable with interest in annual installments and that those can last up to a maximum of 20 years and can also be paid in a lump sum based on that present value at 20 years, or it can be a negotiated solution between the plan sponsor and the employer. Can any of you comment on how often employers pay the full withdrawal liability, pay it off within the 20-year period, versus having some of the withdrawal liability forgiven at year 20?”
Mr. Tom Barthold, Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation:“Senator Portman, I do not know the answer.”
Mr. Goldman: “It is not uncommon for employers to not pay that full liability. There is a mechanism that has a 20-year payment cap, and after you’ve paid those 20 years, you’re done. It doesn’t always necessarily align with the total amount you should have paid, so that’s another sort of leakage from the process and sometimes there is a negotiation up front and a lump sum settlement that is often well below the total value of that withdrawal liability, mostly dependent on the ability of the withdrawing employer to be able to pay, so it is better to get something than nothing.”
Portman: “It’s not uncommon, you’re saying, in that year 20, for you to have that withdrawal liability forgiven, causing leakage, and that money never comes back in. How would employer withdrawal burden change in the event of a mass withdrawal once a plan becomes insolvent?”
Mr. Goldman: “In the mass withdrawal, I’m blanking out on how that works. I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”
Portman: “I think when there’s a mass withdrawal there’s no 20-year cap on the payment.”
Mr. Goldman: “That’s right, there’s no 20-year cap and everybody has to pay up at that point.”
Portman: “Right, which is very hard to imagine, right? We have lots of issues here but one is, what is the current law, with regard to withdrawal liability, doing to make these plans even riskier and take away some of the possibility of us solving this problem? Another question that I’m not going to have time to ask but I would like to get an answer in writing if I could is, on the rate of return, what do we assume the rate of return is, which is really the discount rate---and I think in multi-employer plans is really seven to eight percent---and how often has that been true? In other words, is part of our problem here just that we have just estimated that there be a much higher return on investment then there actually has been?”
Mr. Goldman: “Yes, and by the way on the cap, you’re right, the cap goes away and a payment is in perpetuity in theory. On the interest rate, one thing to keep in mind is this is a very long-term pension plan and it does have a long timeline, a long investment horizon so you’re funding for people when they join the plan in their twenties and projecting out when they’re actually going to get their last payment at death. So, the long-term rate reflects long-term expectations and also reflects the investment mix of a plan so it is unique to a plan and each plan has to go through a process of assuring that the rate they select is defensible and appropriate.”
Portman: “If you could give me some comments in writing on how many times this seven or eight percent has been achieved, that would be great, thanks.”
Dear Union Leader,
Something is happening in America. A growing number of working people are recognizing that the best way to raise our own standing is by standing with the person next to us. Collective action is on the rise.
Building power for working people was the focus of our district meetings held from coast to coast over the past several weeks. Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre and I were inspired by the energy and enthusiasm local unions brought to each of these gatherings.
We focused on the political landscape, the need to increase our density and the ways we can use the 2018 election to engage with our members on issues. We highlighted the Workers’ Bill of Rights and our Path to Power program, which is helping elect more union members to office.
We talked about the threats of Janus and right to work and our power to overcome them. And we made some important asks like assigning local union coordinators, identifying elected officials who are union members and incorporating Common Sense Economics into your outreach.
We are bringing our vision of a robust, diverse and politically independent labor movement to life. Since our final district meeting April 10, more than 10,000 new members have joined our movement. Flight attendants at JetBlue (TWU), utility workers at Atlanta Gas Light (IBEW), registered nurses at Stanford Valley (CNA/NNU), health care workers at UMass Medical (AFSCME), personal support workers and registered nurses at Spectrum Health (IAM), editorial staff at the New Republic (TNG-CWA) and teaching and research assistants at Harvard University (UAW), just to name a few.
WASHINGTON -- TIME named Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA-43), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, to the 2018 TIME 100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The list, now in its fifteenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. The TIME tribute to Congresswoman Waters, written by Yara Shahidi, is below:
Congresswoman Maxine Waters of the 43rd District of California, a.k.a. Auntie Maxine, has made my generation proud to be nieces and nephews. She is adored and admired by people who care about social justice and is oh so eloquent in letting the world, particularly the white men of Congress who dare test her acumen, know that she is not here for any nonsense. From “reclaiming my time” to leading a movement to “impeach him,” she says what many of us are thinking. And she reminds us that we are worthy of any space we occupy.
You would think that 41 years of public service would make Congresswoman Waters tired, but her laser focus is unmatched. When other policymakers criminalize protests, she is there, verbalizing our pain. She fights for funding to support neglected communities. And she takes to Twitter to raise her voice on our behalf, whether or not Congress is in session. In this time of sociopolitical unrest, Congresswoman Waters has been the brilliant, tenacious representative of the people that we all need.
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Bertheria Grady, 55, of El Dorado Hills, has been appointed chief deputy director of the California Office of Tax Appeals. Grady has served as director of the filing compliance bureau at the California Franchise Tax Board since 2011, where she has served in several positions since 2001, including director of the enterprise data management bureau, director of the audit administration and technology support bureau, director of the internal web and administrative systems bureau and director of the audit and filing compliance systems bureau. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $179,076. Grady is a Democrat.
Jason Lopez, 47, of Sacramento, has been appointed director at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Administrative Services. Lopez has been deputy director, fiscal services at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation since 2014, where he was associate director of the budget management branch from 2011 to 2014. Lopez was deputy director, fiscal and operations at the Yolo County Health Department in 2011 and held several positions at the California Rural Indian Health Board from 2001 to 2011, including chief financial officer, director of financial administration and assistant director of financial administration. Lopez was an auditor-appraiser at the Yolo County Assessor’s Office from 1996 to 2001 and held several positions at the California Franchise Tax Board from 1995 to 1996, including seasonal clerk and student assistant. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $160,764. Lopez is a Democrat.
Jennifer Osborn, 49, of Sacramento, has been appointed director of fiscal and business services at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Osborn has been deputy secretary of fiscal policy and administration at the California Government Operations Agency since 2013. She was deputy secretary of fiscal operations at the California State and Consumer Services Agency from 2012 to 2013 and principal program budget analyst at the California Department of Finance from 1998 to 2011. This position will require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $160,764. Osborn is a Democrat.
Ditas Katague, 52, of Sacramento, has been appointed director for the Complete Count Census. Katague has been California census coordinator at the California Department of Finance since 2017 and national chair of the U.S. Census Bureau, National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations since 2012. She was chief of staff to commissioner Cathy Sandoval at the California Public Utilities Commission from 2011 to 2017, chief deputy commissioner at the California Department of Corporations from 2010 to 2011 and director for census 2010 at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research from 2008 to 2010. Katague was first vice president of public affairs at Countrywide/Bank of America from 2005 to 2008, program director at the California Telemedicine and eHealth Center from 2004 to 2005 and assistant secretary for transportation at the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency from 2000 to 2003. She was chief deputy director of census 2000 for the California Complete Count Committee from 1999 to 2000. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $135,408. Katague is a Democrat.
Adelina Zendejas, 58, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy director for the Complete Count Census. Zendejas has been deputy director of the Broadband and Digital Literacy Office at the California Department of Technology since 2012. She was a data processing manager III at the State Board of Equalization from 2004 to 2012, a chief information officer at the Victim Compensation Board from 2002 to 2004 and a data processing manager II at the Department of Finance in 2002. Zendejas held several positions at the Department of Technology from 1997 to 2002 including, senior information systems analyst, data processing manager II, deputy director and special assistant to the director. She was a staff information systems analyst at the Health and Human Services Agency Data Center in 1997, where she was an associate information systems analyst from 1992 to 1997, and was a staff information systems analyst for the Department of Social Services from 1987 to 1992. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $133,248. Zendejas is a Democrat.
Darius W. Anderson, 53, of Sonoma, has been appointed to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. Anderson has been chief executive officer and founder at Kenwood Investments since 2000 and at Platinum Advisors since 1998. He was chief of staff at Yucaipa Companies LLC and vice president of external affairs at Ralphs Grocery Stores Inc. from 1993 to 1998. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Anderson is a Democrat.
Arthur Krantz, 47, of Berkeley, has been appointed to the California Public Employment Relations Board. Krantz has been a partner at Leonard Carder LLP since 2002, where he was an associate from 1996 to 2002. He was a practitioner advisor for the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2017, where he was a lecturer in 2016. Krantz served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Ellen Bree Burns at the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut from 1995 to 1996. He is a co-editor-in-chief of California Public Sector Labor Relations and an executive committee member of the California Lawyers Association, Labor and Employment Law Section. Krantz has served as a pro bono attorney for the Centro Legal de La Raza Asylum Project since 2014. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $147,778. Krantz is a Democrat.
Erich W. Shiners, 48, of Galt, has been appointed to the California Public Employment Relations Board, where he was a legal advisor from 2008 to 2011. Shiners has been senior counsel at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore since 2017. He was a partner at Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai LLP from 2015 to 2017, where he was senior counsel from 2013 to 2015 and an associate from 2011 to 2013 and from 2006 to 2008. Shiners was a law clerk at Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld in 2006 and a judicial extern for the Honorable M.Kathleen Butz at the Third District Court of Appeal in 2005. He was a summer law clerk at the National Labor Relations Board in 2005 and at the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board in 2004. Shiners is a member of the California Lawyers Association, Sacramento County Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $147,778. Shiners is registered Green Party.
Priscilla S. Winslow, 65, of Berkeley, has been reappointed to the California Public Employment Relations Board, where she has served since 2013 and served as legal advisor from 2012 to 2013 and from 1979 to 1983. Winslow served as assistant chief counsel for the California Teachers Association from 1996 to 2012, where she was a staff attorney from 1983 to 1984. She was managing partner at the Law Offices of Priscilla S. Winslow from 1986 to 1996 and an adjunct professor at the New College of California School of Law from 1984 to 1993. Winslow was an associate at Boltuch and Siegel from1984 to 1986. She is member of the American Constitution Society. Winslow earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $147,778. Winslow is a Democrat.
Cathryn I. Rivera-Hernandez, 47, of Sacramento, has been reappointed to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, where she has served since 2002. Rivera-Hernandez served as chief deputy cabinet secretary in the Office of the Governor from 1999 to 2002. She was a new voter registration and event coordinator for Governor Gray Davis’ gubernatorial campaign in 1998. She is a mentor at the Florin High School Law Academy and a member of the Cruz Reynoso Bar Association and the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Board of Directors, where she served as chair from 2015 to 2017. Rivera-Hernandez earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $147,778. Rivera-Hernandez is a Democrat.
Steven Morrow, 83, of Yucaipa, has been reappointed to the Dental Board of California, where he has served since 2010. Morrow has been associate dean for advanced dental education at the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry since 2014, where he has held several positions since 1980, including professor of endodontics and director of patient care services and clinical quality assurance. He was a dentist and endodontist in private practice from 1963 to 2005 and served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps, Active Reserves from 1962 to 1968 and lieutenant on active duty in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps from 1960 to 1962. Morrow earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry and a Master of Science degree in microbiology from Loma Linda University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Morrow is a Democrat.
Larry Sheingold, 71, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California State Mining and Geology Board. Sheingold was owner and sole proprietor at Sheingold Associates from 1989 to 2018. He served as legislative staff in the Office of California State Senator Don Perata from 2005 to 2007, in the Office of California State Senator Betty Karnette from 2002 to 2005, in the Office of California State Senator Jim Costa from 1996 to 2002 and in the Office of California State Senator Henry Mello from 1980 to 1996. Sheingold served on the State Bar Examining Committee from 2008 to 2017. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Sheingold is a Democrat.
John Capitman, 63, of Tollhouse, has been reappointed to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District Governing Board, where he has served since 2014. Capitman has served in several positions at Fresno State University since 2005, including Nickerson distinguished professor in health policy and executive director of the Central Valley Health Policy Institute. He held several positions at Brandeis University from 1987 to 2004, including professor and director of long-term care studies at the Schneider Institutes for Health Policy. He held several positions at Virginia Commonwealth University from 1983 to 1987, including health policy analyst for the Virginia Center on Aging and assistant professor in the Department of Health Administration and the Department of Gerontology. He was a principal investigator at Berkeley Planning Associates and an evaluation research consultant at the California Department of Health Services, Office of Long-Term Care and Aging from 1980 to 1983. Capitman was a teaching assistant at the Duke University Department of Psychology and Institute of Policy Sciences and Public Affairs from 1978 to 1980 and research director at the Center for Research in Social Dynamics from 1977 to 1979. He is co-founder and Board of Directors member at VISIONS Inc. Capitman earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in psychology from Duke University. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Capitman is a Democrat.
Tian Feng, 59, of Walnut Creek, has been reappointed to the California Architects Board, where he has served since 2014. Feng has been district architect at the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District since 2001. He was senior architect at LCA Architects from 2000 to 2001, an architect at JKA Construction Consultants from 1997 to 2000 and at Jacobs Engineering-Sverdrup Corporation from 1994 to 1997. He was project manager at Sue Associates Architecture from 1989 to 1994, architectural designer at Fong and Chan Architects from 1988 to 1989 and a teaching and research assistant at the University of Southern California School of Architecture from 1985 to 1988. Feng is a fellow at the American Institute of Architects and at the Construction Specifications Institute. He earned a Master of Building Science degree in architecture from the University of Southern California. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Feng is a Democrat.
Mark Nunez, 52, of Burbank, has been reappointed to the California Veterinary Medical Board, where he has served since 2013. Nunez has been medical director at the Veterinary Centers of America (VCA) Miller-Robertson Animal Hospital since 2018. He was associate veterinarian at the Veterinary Care Center from 2012 to 2017, practice owner and veterinarian at Animal Medical Center Inc., Van Nuys from 2006 to 2012, medical director and veterinarian at VCA Animal Hospital, Burbank from 2002 to 2005 and VCA regional medical director from 1999 to 2001. Nunez was associate veterinarian at the Animal Medical Center Inc.,Van Nuys from 1994 to 1999 and at Dill Veterinary Hospital from 1993 to 1994. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, California Veterinary Medical Association, Southern California Veterinary Medical Association and the American Animal Hospital Association. Nunez earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of California, Davis. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Nunez is a Democrat.
Deborah Bedwell, 65, of Granite Bay, has been reappointed to the 20th District Agricultural Association, Gold Country Fair Board of Directors, where she has served since 2014. Bedwell was senior vice president and market manager at JP Morgan of Northern California from 2008 to 2011. She was senior vice president and division executive for Utah, Colorado and California at Washington Mutual from 1998 to 2008. Bedwell is president of the Friends of the Granite Bay Library Board and a past president of Soroptimist International of South Placer. She is a member of the Children’s Tumor Foundation Endurance Team. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Bedwell is registered without party preference.
Michael Carson, 57, of Newcastle, has been reappointed to the 20th District Agricultural Association, Gold Country Fair Board of Directors, where he has served since 2017. Carson has been an owner and operator at Gold Hill Gardens, B&B Inn and Event Center since 2013 and owner and consulting engineer at Michael Carson Development Incorporated since 2007. He was a project manager at JTS Communities Incorporated from 2000 to 2007. Carson is a member of the Gold Country Fair Heritage Foundation, Leadership Auburn Board of Regents, Auburn Chamber of Commerce and the Newcastle Community Association. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Carson is a Republican.
David Ebbert, 48, of Auburn, has been appointed to the 20th District Agricultural Association, Gold Country Fair Board of Directors. Ebbert has been an electric distribution supervisor at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company since 2010. He is a member of the Gold Country Fair Junior Livestock Auction Committee and the Gold Country Fair Heritage Foundation. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Ebbert is a Republican.
Samia Macon, 50, of Auburn, has been appointed to the 20th District Agricultural Association, Gold Country Fair Board of Directors. Macon has been a self-employed large animal veterinarian since 2004. She earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of California, Davis. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Macon is a Democrat.
Anthony “Ray” Smith, 30, of Auburn, has been reappointed to the 20th District Agricultural Association, Gold Country Fair Board of Directors, where he has served since 2016. Smith has been a groundskeeper at Mike Carson Development since 2014. He was a pastry chef at the Winchester Country Club in 2014 and a shop manager at Royce Air from 2011 to 2013. He is a member of Leadership Auburn. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Smith is a Republican.
SUPPLEMENTAL PENSION & SUPPLEMENTAL DEATH BENEFITS Toll-free: (877) 214-8928
To schedule an appointment with the Pension (ONLY) field representative from the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust please call Local 952 at (714) 740-6200. A pension representative comes to Local 952 every Thursday of the month from 9:00am to 4:00pm. If you wish to contact the pension department directly, please call one of the above numbers or visit www.nwadmin.com.
GUNDER H. HANSEN
It’s hardly new for politicians to wrangle over the National Labor Relations Board. This time, though, partisan warfare has penetrated the agency itself. | Jon Elswick/AP Photo
A federal agency that regulates labor unions is engaged in something close to civil war as political appointees, career bureaucrats and its inspector general battle one another.
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