Truck on highway in Bakersfield, CA. (Photo: Clari Massimiliano, Shutterstock)
California Trucking Company Workers Win Freedom from Unwanted Teamsters Union Officials
Rather than face vote to strip union officials of their forced representation powers, Teamsters officials concede defeat
By Katy Grimes, March 10, 2023 10:37 am
The National Right to Work announced this week that Valdivia Trucking Co. workers in California are finally free of unwanted Teamsters Local 665 union officials after three months of delays created by the union officials.
Rather than face a decertification vote of Valdivia workers whether to strip the union of its power, the union preemptively “disclaimed” interest in representation and walked away from the workers, NRTW reported.
Here are the details:
Valdivia Trucking worker John Murdick received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation while filing for a decertification vote. His decertification petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) included the signatures of a significant majority of the workers at the facility.
The workers’ petition was filed on December 16, 2022, and quickly resulted in a stipulated election agreement for a decertification vote on January 6. However, the vote was delayed by preexisting “blocking charges” the union filed with the NLRB. This is a union tactic often used to delay workers’ decertification elections, because union officials fear if the vote goes forward the union may lose.
As a result of these blocking charges against the employer the vote was delayed three months, until March, when the blocking charges were finally closed. This permitted the vote to proceed. It was at that point the union officials notified the company’s lawyers and the NLRB that it disclaimed interest in “representing” the Valdivia Trucking employees. That gave the workers the outcome they sought, albeit delayed by nearly three months.
“The Valdivia Trucking decertification situation shows how union officials often use underhanded tactics to remain in power and collect dues from hard-working people as long as possible, even though they know a majority of workers oppose their so-called representation,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation.
“Although we are extremely satisfied that the Valdivia workers have exercised their legal right to be union-free, we cannot neglect the importance the 2020 Foundation-backed reforms played in this case,” Mix added. “If the Biden-appointed NLRB is able to roll back these reforms, as they are attempting to do, workers like those at Valdivia may be trapped in union ranks they oppose for many months and even years.”
Read the entire story by the NRTW foundation here.
This is just one of many wins by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The Globe has reported on the many, hard fought successes by the NRTW on behalf of private sector companies.
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EXCELLENT!
Congratulations to the Valdivia Trucking Co. workers in California being free of unwanted Teamsters Local 665 union officials…for now? How long before Gov. Newsom issues an edict that they must submit to the union or the Democrats in the legislature pass a law forcing all workers to join a union?
Congratulations? This is a horrible mistake, just watch how quickly the company will start screwing the drivers now. The drivers won’t have any representation to protect them. I can’t understand how workers believe unions are bad for them. I’m grateful to be union and in my state I make $15/hour more than non union workers in my same career. I also have health care at no cost, a pension and a 401k, and I literally could keep going. I know this because my buddy works non union In my same field.
Proud Union member here! IBEW local 58 member here!
F the teamsters. I was also one. They are the same hacks that endorse the POS rich Democrats that run the SF Bay Area. They have contributed immensely to the collapse of California. Just another “international” globalist hack organization.
Absolutely right on! You hit the nail right on the head Nope! The cabal of libtards, unions and corporations destroying this country and state from the inside out.
If only enough teachers would have the guts to kick their unions to the curb California’s Legislature and Governor might actually resemble a representative democracy. It ain’t gonna happen though. The teachers unions are too effective at protecting teachers from any responsibility for their ongoing failures. Hence the incentive for teachers to pay their union dues. We all know where that money goes – another cushy vacation in Baja for the union’s toady.
Dumbest thing they could have done to their career as truckers now they are vulnerable to company mistreatment and low workplace safety….how dumb🤣. fools
Well done!
what an absolute load of crap this is. “the national right to work” lol.. if any rank and file member of any union… and I mean ABSOLUTELY ANY UNION ON PLANET EARTH thinks The “national right to work” wants you to earn a good living, have a retirement, or have union class medical benefits … you’re lying to yourself and the union is stronger without your membership. but it really does upset me that tactics like this fake ass news story, riddled with nonsense quotes can even confuse one union brother or sister. surely, anybody can ask themselves “why would any company spend millions of dollars and thousands of man hours trying to bust up a union? they don’t want the unions in their business because union means higher pay, added with real safety equipment and real consequences for wiping their ass with your contract. real medical benefits for your family.. you think a non union company would pay that kinda money because “they care about your finances”? if a company actually cared about you that way, they would not spend money on union busting. they’d donate that cash to your Christmas bonus, and your 401ks and a million other things that they don’t do now. if you are ever unsure of who has your back, the union or your company, just ask yourself, who donates $20,000 to a charity and spend HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS advertising that they donated $20,000? they don’t care about you as a person… maybe on an individual level, but as a cog in the money machine? a machine that has share holders waiting for the quarterly financial reports? you aren’t anything to them but an expense. they don’t care about your”right to work”. hell the union is ALWAYS THE one that gets a wrongfully terminated employee their job back. the big company never comes to them and says ” ok, our bad. come on back”
it takes a collective bargaining agreement and a membership that is willing to enforce that contract.
even the name “right to work” is such an obvious attempt to construe the real meaning, in an effort to confuse rank and file and laymens.. in Nevada, a “right to work”state, there is literally “no right to work”
you can literally be fired for ANYTHING , just so long as it isn’t illegal. you can get fired for your skin color, but you can be fired for being considered too ugly. they could literally right on your pink slip “I had a fight with my wife, so I was already mad, and I didn’t like the fact that his marriage appears to be supportive and stable.. so I fired him”
that is “right to work”
(I’m talking about unions in general.
I’m not sure what happened with the teamsters in this instance, but I imagine it was some confusion caused by union busting tactics and then men being men and getting into a pissing contest with each other instead of talking it out. 🤷🏻♂️ it’s a good bet)
I do know that being a teamster means you have brethren that can bring this country TO A SCREECHING HALT to support one another.
if a teamster represented trucking company goes on strike, all the other teamsters in the country have verbiage in their respective collective bargaining agreements that they do not have to cross a picket line to do their job.
in other words, UPS (the largest teamster base) doesn’t have to deliver packages in to any building where the picket line is . that republic services doesn’t have to collect the trash there. the limo drivers, truck drivers, warehouse workers, convention workers hands to keep doing their job, but they don’t have to do it for a company that is unwilling to offer a fair contract to fellow teamsters.
imagine that? the entire country supporting your fight for fair wages against a company that insists they don’t want you to pay union dues… 🙄
also, buy union made. stop supporting Chinese crap and the huge companies that pay HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on union busting firms… those companies don’t want union because they want more money. not happier employees.
“Brad”??? Isn’t this really Lorena Gonzalez?
No kidding.
I like to hear the other side of the story. Why and what lead to the disgruntled employees to go against the organization who represents them. As of today the employees lost a pension, decent wages, and the most important benefit, a grievance procedures.
If they were complaining about the union dues as a way to get out of a union, what a pity. Next time you guys speak to the employer ask them if they have a organization that represents them, and how much they pay???
What a propaganda piece for the National Right to Work For Less group. Interested to find out what their healthcare costs now.
This is terrible for truck drivers. If you’re not getting Union representation, you vote your officials out of the local; in the bylaws of the IBT, you have elections every three years. You make them accountable now you’ve become an at-will employee. You could get fired for anything; you probably just gave up your Health and Welfare, raises, and pension. The owner of the company owner will love you guys now. Good luck.
I’m a union worker behind one of the greatest unions there is, teamsters. Because of them we are the highest paid workers for the positions that we are in. Brad is right on point!!! This is about being educated for the future of you and your family. Good luck with what you have sacrificed for your future.
Good, now the truckers can be “Independent Contractors” who charge for their services, not slaves to some arbitrary Union protocol that locks them into group arbitration. Good job, guys!