Greetings Brothers & Sisters.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like the last few years have been a rollercoaster ride.
We went from years of consistent all-year-long work, into the alternate reality of the pandemic when we were declared essential workers and worked crazy hours. Then hyper-inflation set in like we haven’t seen since the late 70s. At the same time, we were met with the slowdown of our industry after 11+ years of sustained work. Mind you, it wasn’t as bad as the dot.com bubble crash or the housing crash slowdowns, but readily available work slowed to a crawl. Our members felt the crush of inflation at the same time that jobs ended without new ones beginning. Today, work is picking back up slowly, and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Our work has always been and will always be cyclical and what’s happened is a screaming reminder for all of us to save for our future and unexpected events.
My message will always be the same: Get out ahead, prepare for the worst, and set yourself up for the best. Please look at the results of the past few years and consider learning how to run work; step up to run work; and as a 332 member, always remember that we are all part of the same health & welfare and pension plans. As 332 members, we must keep those plans strong. We need to be driving the jobs and not be passengers in our own local. Only together as a union can we keep our future secure!
I encourage you to come to the next general membership meeting, where we can discuss how to create the brightest work picture and keep our health & welfare and pension plans strong. Meetings are the first Tuesday of the month at 5:30 at the hall. I also encourage you to attend all the contract negotiation meetings: bargaining information meeting to inform negotiations, ratification votes, and wage allocation votes. Most of our contracts are up this year, making this the “Year of the Contract.” I look forward to seeing you there!
Always Union,
Javier M. Casillas
Business Manager
Year of the Contract
Inside, Residential, & Material Handlers bargaining units are all up for negotiation this year!
“What do we want?” was the key question members answered at the Inside informational meeting as well as in the bargaining survey. 47% of members participated, which is a 332 record. The results are clear to inform our negotiations.
During the pandemic, we adjusted and had online voting. Now all contract ratification and allocation votes will be in person for all units.
Your vote is your voice. So when you receive notification for the in-person votes, let’s set a participation record for all of our units!
