00:07 - Our first speaker is to say afternoon.

00:11 - Anthony Rosa and Ruben Torres.

00:15 - Director of human rights and diversity

00:18 - and assistant human rights and privilege to.

00:29 - Thank you.

00:31 - Good morning, brothers and sisters as well.

00:33 - No, I should say good afternoon.

00:35 - Good afternoon.

00:37 - I would I wouldn't be remiss without saying my assistant

00:41 - director, Ruben Torres over there handling the slides how.

00:45 - I want.

00:50 - I have to tell you,

00:50 - this is one of the best conferences that we always love to come to.

00:54 - So, Mr. Felice, thank you.

00:56 - The board.

00:56 - Thank you.

00:57 - Thank you. Bill.

00:59 - Thank you. Gentlemen, call.

01:00 - Thank you for inviting us again. We love coming here.

01:03 - So don't stop inviting us.

01:07 - So the job that I have is we we were bestowed.

01:11 - Being appointed by our general president to do disaster relief.

01:15 - And I'm also the director of the D.C.

01:18 - Human Rights and Diversity Commission.

01:20 - Over the last two years, we've been working very hard

01:23 - with the disasters that are going on around through all the states.

01:28 - And we wanted to take a little time to let you know if you need help,

01:33 - if you want to reach out to us and say, hey, we need some information.

01:37 - We need to know how to donate.

01:40 - And I want to say thank you for the money that you've donated over the years.

01:44 - We appreciate that without your money and your and your members money,

01:48 - things wouldn't be able to be.

01:49 - We wouldn't be able to be put our foot on the ground to help a lot of locals.

01:54 - Over the last couple of months, as you noticed

01:57 - a couple of weeks ago, there was a big disaster in Maui.

02:01 - A rainstorm which flooded a lot of Maui.

02:05 - We were able to, assist and speak to Kevin, who's the,

02:09 - president of Hawaii, over there, and help some of his members over

02:13 - there was still waiting to find out how much more damage has gone on.

02:18 - But in the last couple of weeks, we've reached

02:20 - we went to LA to reach out to some members

02:26 - and see how they're doing with the fires that went on in LA.

02:29 - We also went to

02:33 - we also I

02:33 - my mind is so far from all the disasters that we've been having.

02:37 - We went to North Carolina, Asheville, and we went to see the people over there.

02:41 - We are in the process of making a video

02:43 - to bring to the convention, to all the delegates,

02:47 - to show them the work that we've been doing

02:50 - underneath the great leadership of our general president.

02:53 - But with that being said,

02:55 - we have a video that we will show you in a few minutes.

02:59 - But just a couple of things here.

03:01 - It shows you all types of disasters that hit,

03:05 - and a lot of people don't understand and see all the things that are going on.

03:09 - But more importantly, you know, it touches our lives,

03:12 - it touches our families, it touches our members.

03:15 - And the other key parts of this here is, you know, we do a class

03:19 - on mental awareness after going through all these storms and these disasters.

03:23 - It touches your families.

03:25 - And we we also do a class with mental health.

03:30 - And if you ever get a chance, you want to reach out to us.

03:32 - We can send you information to leave in your local.

03:34 - So that way your members could see the necessity

03:37 - of how mental health touches your family and your friends.

03:42 - And the Teamsters are talented people.

03:44 - Everyone in this room has a talent.

03:48 - We're always looking for volunteers.

03:51 - So if you wish to volunteer,

03:54 - please let us know.

03:56 - It doesn't cost anything.

03:57 - We can train people.

04:00 - And it's a worthwhile thing to do.

04:02 - It's not easy.

04:03 - You see people at the most vulnerable.

04:06 - Well, one thing that's great about it.

04:08 - It's the Teamsters helping Teamsters.

04:11 - And there's nothing better than helping your brothers and sisters.

04:15 - There are need, and we're there.

04:18 - We're probably the first people on the ground.

04:21 - We're probably the first people on the ground.

04:24 - And, we've been able to help

04:27 - in dire times.

04:29 - So if you're thinking about it, if you have members who may want to help

04:33 - volunteer, please do let us know.

04:39 - When we were down in Nashville

04:41 - last year, there was,

04:45 - there was a local

04:47 - local 61, Brian Boyles local,

04:49 - who had two members that worked for U.P.S..

04:52 - One of the members lost 11 family members

04:56 - during that devastation.

04:58 - Another member that was out of local 61,

05:02 - he lost four family members.

05:04 - Six. I'm sorry.

05:06 - And there's a we got a clip from this gentleman.

05:09 - I just would love for you to hear it.

05:12 - Who did you love that you lost in the hurricane?

05:14 - Our family lost 11 people.

05:21 - My brother gets a call through or in the truck and he's on speaker phone.

05:25 - He's.

05:25 - He says, are you sitting down? Instantly?

05:27 - That kind of triggered my my sense of

05:30 - tell me what's going on, what's going on?

05:31 - He said, Mom and dad are gone. I'm like, God, what do you mean? I shouldn't?

05:34 - I shouldn't have gone anywhere. Where would they go?

05:36 - Send their kid?

05:37 - The government said we don't know whether that. He said.

05:40 - There's a lot of people over here that got killed.

05:42 - And he named you my family members down through here that we're going to.

05:45 - I said, can I give them?

05:47 - I made it here.

05:48 - People were gathered right up there on the road that started ten days.

05:52 - Sunup to sundown, trying to locate everybody.

05:54 - My dad was the last one. We found him on the 10th day.

05:57 - How did you explain to your grandmother what happened?

05:59 - I say this thankfully, she has to mention that she's at the stage of life

06:03 - where she can't comprehend. To me, that's a blessing.

06:05 - She lost two of her children that day.

06:07 - Five months later, died of cancer.

06:10 - And that was her three children.

06:11 - Things don't mean the same to me now as they did before.

06:14 - And I don't want to take anything for granted because that eternal life is over.

06:19 - I want to be happy with what I have.

06:21 - Enjoy the sunshine.

06:24 - All the good days.

06:25 - You could share a message with the world. What would it be?

06:27 - Love your neighbor.

06:28 - People came to support us.

06:29 - That is what impressed me the most about all of this was to see now

06:33 - how good that community can be

06:36 - when they come together.

06:45 - I didn't get a chance to meet that gentleman.

06:48 - But just the outpouring of all the locals

06:51 - that sent money in to the disaster relief,

06:55 - and they were very appreciative.

06:58 - And I want to say thank you.

06:59 - I want to say thank you for donating the money.

07:01 - I want to say thank you for people

07:03 - that were boots on the ground that helped us out.

07:06 - You know, on my way, traveling back from Asheville.

07:09 - When I went there last year, it was just I had a two hour ride

07:12 - going back to my hotel.

07:14 - And and I said to myself, how do you wake up the next morning?

07:18 - Or how does a person deal with that, knowing that they lost all their family?

07:22 - And just to know that we're Teamsters and we stuck together

07:26 - and we we sent all that money and I want to say thank you.

07:29 - Thank you again. Thank you again.

07:46 - Just to

07:46 - reiterate a little bit with Anthony said,

07:50 - remember when when that notices

07:54 - get sent to you through Titan through or through to the event asking for help?

07:58 - It's just not an outside organization looking to raise money.

08:01 - It's real people, real people's lives.

08:04 - And that's what they do every single day.

08:06 - So when you get those notices, go to your executive board,

08:10 - go to your members, take a collection up and please help them out.

08:14 - Appreciate it.

08:19 - Our next speakers are Tommy Doyle and Sam Garner.

08:22 - Bird and lots more.

08:25 - These guys do a.

08:34 - These guys are on the front lines every day fighting for us politically.

08:37 - So appreciate the.

08:45 - Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.

08:47 - And I want to start, as always, by thanking Bill and Carl for always

08:52 - welcoming our department to take part in the Pennsylvania Conference each year.

08:56 - You know, I've been lucky enough to work at the IBT

08:58 - for a little over seven years now, and, I think Pennsylvania

09:03 - is the state where I work the closest with our elected officers here.

09:07 - And all of you have given me the chance to work with hundreds of our rank

09:10 - and file members, whether through field or or legislative campaigns.

09:14 - So you really make Pennsylvania feel like a second home for us here.

09:18 - Out of the IPT.

09:18 - So we appreciate that.

09:21 - My name is Thomas Doyle.

09:22 - I serve as the state program director

09:24 - in the Department of Political Legislative Action.

09:27 - I want to use my time today to speak about an issue that impacts

09:31 - hundreds of thousands of our members across the country,

09:35 - and some of the recent ways that the fight has been playing out on behalf

09:38 - of our members.

09:41 - The general president spoke a little bit about this this morning,

09:43 - but for far too long, efforts to fight back

09:47 - against the roll out of autonomous vehicles,

09:51 - these efforts were far too disconnected.

09:53 - AB companies took advantage of this.

09:56 - And red and blue state legislatures alike.

09:58 - Big tech companies were often the only voice in the room.

10:03 - In the past decade, lawmakers often rubber stamp legislation

10:06 - that gave broad operating authority for fully driver less vehicles.

10:12 - In many instances, these laws are written so that cities and municipalities are

10:16 - often left with little recourse or ability to even get these vehicles off the road

10:20 - after they've proven themselves to be unready and unable to,

10:25 - show up for prime time.

10:29 - In states

10:29 - where driver less vehicles have been deployed on public streets.

10:32 - The results have been eye opening

10:35 - in the San

10:35 - Francisco Bay area, where Waymo's parent company is based.

10:38 - The problems with these vehicles have been well-documented.

10:42 - Members of the San Francisco Fire and Police departments

10:44 - have both gone on record, with more than 50 individual incidents

10:48 - in which driver less robo taxis interfered with their emergency response efforts.

10:54 - These included not just blocking traffic, but problems as serious as colliding

10:58 - with a fire engine that had both its lights and sirens deployed,

11:02 - and another in which a driver less vehicle actually entered a emergency

11:05 - fire response scene and drove over the active hoses

11:08 - that were being used to put out the fire.

11:12 - Our own members in San Francisco have had to face these same issues.

11:16 - Local 350 represents the sanitation workers for the city.

11:19 - These teamster members have reported being followed closely by these vehicles.

11:23 - They've had their, garbage trucks blocked into alleyways by stopped Waymo's,

11:28 - and they've reported seeing these vehicles stop right in the middle of

11:30 - highway on and off ramps.

11:34 - In Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia,

11:37 - to more cities where there's been wide scale deployment.

11:40 - Waymo vehicles have been caught on camera illegally passing school busses

11:44 - that have both been crossing arms and stop signs displayed

11:47 - while they were actively dropping off children.

11:51 - And in the most recent tragic example,

11:53 - videos circulated around the world of a Waymo vehicle

11:56 - that was stalled horizontally across a narrow street

11:59 - as ambulances and police officers were en route to respond to a mass

12:03 - shooting at a crowded bar in downtown Austin.

12:08 - Now, the companies Waymo in particular, try to brush this off

12:11 - as a momentary delay,

12:14 - but this isn't something

12:15 - that we can let them ignore in an emergency of this nature.

12:19 - Every single second counts.

12:22 - How long will the next ambulance be blocked?

12:24 - Or how many officers will need to find an alternative route

12:28 - in an emergency because of these vehicles?

12:31 - These are not questions that can't be brushed aside by the company.

12:36 - And so while the big tech companies have been used

12:38 - to getting their way in statehouses and city councils across the country,

12:42 - the efforts in recent years by teamster members

12:45 - are beginning to change that narrative.

12:48 - Since 2025, Teamsters in Boston

12:50 - and a group called Labor United Against Waymo

12:53 - have been pushing back within the Boston City Council to take a different approach.

12:58 - They've been fighting to make sure that working men

13:00 - and women actually have a seat at the table and have a real say in how

13:04 - and where these vehicles can be operated.

13:08 - I could file members from across joint Council ten

13:10 - testified before the city council sharing their concerns.

13:13 - And for anybody who's had the chance to watch the video or read in the aftermath,

13:17 - the city council actually did push back against the companies.

13:21 - And for the first time, really,

13:22 - in their decade long legislative campaign, the company was put on the back pedal.

13:28 - And the

13:29 - reaction is kind of what we would expect.

13:32 - They badmouth our members in the press.

13:34 - They call us Luddites.

13:35 - They tell everyone that we're getting in the way of what they frame as progress.

13:40 - The corporate backed Washington Post editorial board

13:44 - even dedicated an entire article to try and humiliate the Boston City Council

13:48 - for having the audacity to consider to consider the concerns of working people.

13:54 - But what's been the result of this engagement?

13:56 - Well, these vehicles are not yet on the roads in Boston,

13:59 - and the city and state legislature are engaged

14:02 - in a real discussion with our members in the first study

14:05 - about the economic and the safety impacts of what we take,

14:09 - to actually safely deploy these vehicles on our roadways.

14:14 - And that's been the recent trend in states throughout the country,

14:17 - in both Maryland and Virginia, to session teamster rank and file members

14:24 - got up in front of their state legislature.

14:26 - They told lawmakers of their genuine concerns about these unproven vehicles.

14:30 - And as a result,

14:32 - the bills that would have allowed both driver less robo taxis

14:35 - and driver less trucks onto

14:37 - the roads were officially killed for the legislative session

14:41 - earlier this month.

14:42 - More than 120 rank and file Teamsters from across Joint Council 25

14:47 - assembled at the Statehouse in Springfield, Illinois,

14:49 - where they told their lawmakers that they would not accept legislation

14:53 - that forces these driver less cars onto the streets of Chicago.

14:57 - And we are currently in a good position to make sure that that bill

14:59 - is officially dead for the year in Illinois.

15:03 - This year, the governor of New York decided

15:06 - to remove a provision from her state budget from her state budget,

15:10 - which would have put these vehicles on to, public roadways in New York State.

15:15 - The mayor of New York City has decided not to push forward with renewing

15:19 - an application for Waymo to operate on public streets in New York City.

15:25 - And so while this current

15:26 - trend does show that lawmakers are for first time starting

15:29 - to listen to the concerns of drivers and the public on these issues,

15:33 - I've seen firsthand that there's still a problem of too many elected

15:37 - officials claiming that they don't know that this is a labor issue,

15:41 - and that they don't know that unions like the Teamsters would oppose it.

15:46 - In Maryland this March, where we had

15:48 - our rank and file drivers from both UPS, Giant Foods and Ruan Transport

15:52 - to reopen transportation to testify

15:55 - against this corporate tax bill.

15:58 - Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike acted as if they were completely shocked

16:02 - to hear that we would be against a bill allowing 80,000 pound

16:07 - driver less vehicles onto public roads.

16:11 - And while we've not yet

16:13 - seen wide scale deployment of these vehicles here in Pennsylvania,

16:18 - companies like Waymo have circled the state

16:20 - as the next place where they do want to do business.

16:25 - And we have to make it clear that the Teamsters

16:28 - are not opposed to new technology that makes our roads safer.

16:33 - Thousands of teamster drivers have trained and adapted to work

16:35 - in vehicles with features like automatic emergency braking,

16:40 - devices that help them with lane departure and more.

16:43 - What we're saying is that until this technology can be proven,

16:48 - especially in large trucks, there needs to be a properly trained

16:50 - and licensed driver who can take over in the event

16:53 - of a failure by the computer.

16:57 - And I want to bring this up now, because we're heading into the summer months

17:01 - where a lot of you will be attending events and,

17:05 - you know, our surrounding the 4th of July, surrounding different summer community

17:09 - picnics, events in your own community where candidates are going to be asking

17:13 - you and your members to vote for them and say, I'm going to talk about,

17:17 - you know, the power behind our endorsement here.

17:21 - When you

17:22 - see these candidates, these folks who are running for the state House,

17:25 - running for city council offices, and they ask you for your vote.

17:29 - We need to tell them that the issues

17:32 - surrounding driver less vehicles, autonomous vehicles

17:36 - are absolutely teamster issues.

17:38 - Teamster members demand a seat at the table.

17:41 - We need to be the ones who are setting the rules for the road of how

17:46 - and where these vehicles are going to operate on our streets.

17:50 - Our department is ready to stand with you in this fight,

17:53 - whether it's in the City Council, whether it's in the state House.

17:56 - And we look forward to working with you as we push to make sure

17:59 - that every public official in the state of Pennsylvania

18:01 - and throughout the Pennsylvania Conference understands that the Teamsters are

18:05 - the ones who need to be at the table when these decisions are being made.

18:09 - And again, I want to

18:10 - always thank the Pennsylvania Conference for working closely with our department.

18:14 - Thank you for your time.

18:25 - Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.

18:28 - Thank you.

18:28 - PA Conference President Hamilton and Secretary Treasurer Bailey

18:32 - for having me.

18:36 - I'm not going to throw up my slides because I know

18:37 - folks on this side of the room can't see them.

18:40 - My name is Sam Gardner Byrd.

18:41 - I'm the IBT PAC manager.

18:44 - First time I spoke with last year's PAC conference.

18:46 - So, again, appreciate the privilege it is to come and speak before you all here.

18:52 - I want to talk a little bit about this discharge petition

18:54 - that you've probably heard a lot about,

18:56 - and you might know what a discharge petition is, but I'm going to explain it.

18:59 - And if this is a refresher for you, just bear with me.

19:02 - So a discharge petition is the mechanism

19:05 - that has been used in this Congress to get around the speaker.

19:08 - This speaker, Mike Johnson, is

19:10 - not going to let a pro-labor bill like federal collective bargaining

19:14 - for the past or labor contracts up for a straight vote.

19:17 - So this is a tool that we can use to get around him.

19:22 - It requires 218 signatures.

19:24 - So majority of the House

19:26 - requires members to physically sign on and for the House to be in session.

19:29 - So we have currently 145 House members.

19:33 - They'll be in session the next couple of days.

19:35 - They can go up to the dais.

19:37 - They can sign their name there on the bill.

19:39 - Once we reach to 18, it goes to a floor vote where all members can vote

19:43 - yes or no on it.

19:45 - As I said, we have 145 House members,

19:47 - which includes one Republican, Mike Lawlor from New York.

19:51 - We have 68 House Democrats who are still targeting to sign

19:53 - on, and we'll need about five more Republicans to join.

19:56 - So there's 17 House Republicans currently on that underlying bill.

19:59 - We only need 5 or 6 of them to sign on to get to that to 18.

20:03 - The good news for all of you in Pennsylvania,

20:06 - five out of your six Democratic House members have signed on.

20:09 - We're just waiting on Christy Houlihan, and I'm sure we'll be getting that

20:12 - signature soon.

20:15 - This effort has been

20:17 - a long term project, and sunshine McBride isn't here,

20:20 - but she has been at the forefront of making this a tool and putting pressure

20:24 - on House members to actually decide whether they want to stand

20:27 - with the Teamsters and all of labor.

20:30 - I want to move ahead to a little bit of our midterm outlook.

20:33 - Currently, Republicans hold the Senate 53 to 47.

20:38 - You know, pundits are saying that Democrats will have a good year

20:41 - in the midterms.

20:42 - That's typically true for the party out of power.

20:46 - And in the House, I would say right

20:48 - now, Democrats are likely favored to take back the majority in the Senate.

20:52 - They need to send two states that were won by President Trump in 2024.

20:55 - That's Georgia and Michigan.

20:58 - They also have to defend New Hampshire, and then they need to flip North

21:01 - Carolina and Maine.

21:02 - Those are probably their best to flip opportunities.

21:05 - After that, the road gets a lot harder.

21:07 - Ohio, Texas, Alaska, Iowa.

21:10 - Those are challenging.

21:12 - Even in a good year for Democrats.

21:14 - On the House side,

21:16 - you know, from a

21:17 - general public perspective, I think we're in a place where

21:22 - there are fewer representatives that are actually attuned to the interests

21:25 - of their community than ever,

21:26 - because very few of them run in a competitive House district.

21:30 - Rob Bresnahan is one of 30 or 40 people who actually have to run a real race.

21:34 - The vast majority of representatives will not have to run a real race.

21:38 - They're safe.

21:41 - And what that means is the margin is not going to be that big.

21:44 - If House Democrats do win, in the upcoming midterms.

21:48 - You might have seen Texas kicked off redistricting.

21:51 - They gained some Republican seats.

21:52 - California got some Democratic seats.

21:54 - After all those states that that it's basically a wash.

21:57 - They remained at the same place they are right now, except

22:00 - that everyone is in a more comfortable seat

22:02 - so they don't have to run as hard or seek as many endorsements.

22:06 - So in Pennsylvania, on the state side, I think it's safe

22:11 - to say that, you know, Governor Shapiro should be reelected pretty easily.

22:14 - He has a challenge from, say, security.

22:16 - It'll be a real race.

22:18 - You know, in my personal opinion, I think it'll be, pretty easy for him.

22:21 - He's cut sort of that bipartisan mold.

22:24 - In the House, Democrats have to maintain that slim majority.

22:27 - A teamster majority will make the difference.

22:30 - And in the Senate, they need to flip four seats to get to a tie.

22:34 - Those would be challenging for seats, but it's doable.

22:36 - And if you know, we get that trifecta, then we'll have some great work

22:39 - to do on the state side with Thomas and his team.

22:43 - I want to talk a little bit about endorsements.

22:45 - You know,

22:47 - I've tried and we have tried as a team over the past year

22:50 - to really coordinate with locals and joint councils, to get federal endorsements

22:53 - and to share perspectives on that.

22:55 - We certainly appreciate the autonomy,

22:58 - that locals and joint councils have to make those endorsements.

23:01 - But, you know, as I've talked with a lot of principal officers and,

23:04 - with President Hamilton here,

23:06 - you know, federal endorsements don't just impact Pennsylvania, right?

23:09 - They impact all Teamsters nationwide.

23:11 - So we have tried

23:12 - very, very hard for both statewide

23:14 - and federal endorsements to to work on those together.

23:16 - So we know,

23:18 - you can imagine when our lobbyists, like Sunshine or Coal go up to the hill

23:22 - and we're not aware that somebody has been endorsed against in the race, it

23:25 - makes it hard to ask members to do something for them,

23:28 - if they already see that we're coming out against them in November.

23:32 - You know, endorsements are our strongest,

23:34 - one of our strongest tools for leverage in pushing forward gains for our members.

23:38 - And I'm going to read off a couple headlines

23:41 - that are going to be on the slides.

23:42 - So October 1st,

23:43 - 2024, Teamsters endorse Abigail Spanberger for governor of Virginia.

23:50 - May 8th, 2025.

23:51 - Spanberger splits the middle on right to work, opposes full repeal.

23:56 - And just this last week, Virginia lawmakers reject Governor Spanberger

24:00 - proposed changes to collective bargaining bills.

24:03 - So you see, there's somebody who's been endorsed a year before

24:06 - the election is happening right now.

24:08 - What does she do during election time?

24:10 - She runs to the middle.

24:12 - She says she's not going to repeal right to work.

24:14 - She wins by a 15 point margin.

24:16 - Could have used all that political capital

24:17 - to do a great collective bargaining bill.

24:19 - Nope. Wants to do tweaks on that, too.

24:21 - That's that's the risk of the early endorsement.

24:23 - That's the risk of giving endorsements to the candidate

24:27 - who you know is going to win. You want to jump on that bandwagon.

24:29 - That's our opportunity to

24:32 - ask for things, to make sure we share the same priorities.

24:34 - Because I'm going to be honest, this is a person who has 20, 28 visions.

24:39 - They don't share our priorities.

24:40 - Spanberger team clearly does not share Labor's priorities.

24:43 - They have that trifecta. They could do it.

24:45 - They could do it right now.

24:47 - And even the half measure of doing public sector collective bargaining

24:51 - reform, even that's not on the table, it seems like right now.

24:54 - So we're going to see where that ends up in Virginia.

24:57 - But I think it should be a lesson

24:59 - to all other local and joint councils outside of Pennsylvania, too,

25:03 - about where we use our power to endorse candidates that actually support us.

25:08 - I want to move on, to drive.

25:09 - I mean, that's really where I am. The principal point of contact

25:12 - for principal officers and political coordinators.

25:16 - There's a driver requests.

25:17 - Feel free to reach out to me.

25:18 - The process is simple.

25:20 - Send me an email, shoot me a text.

25:22 - We sit down with the front office every Wednesday to discuss the requests.

25:25 - You know, over the past year, we've been much more stringent on charter requests.

25:29 - I can't tell you how many, you know, people have come to us

25:32 - just expecting the same $5,000 they got every single year.

25:35 - They just don't even they don't even ask.

25:38 - They they're just expecting.

25:39 - You know, I was here last year

25:41 - and I remember speaking at a fundraiser, I told the same story, which is.

25:45 - I asked him to attend one of these events that they have.

25:47 - They have all these happy hours and lunches and dinners.

25:50 - And I said, you know what?

25:50 - What is the the PAC attendance costs look like?

25:53 - And they said, well, the teams are always going to $5,000.

25:56 - I mean, that's the the attitude, right?

25:58 - For some of these folks, the Teamsters are always giving $5,000.

26:03 - The problem

26:03 - is you can look at that as a long relationship,

26:07 - or you can look at it as sort of, complacent relationship.

26:11 - They always know the 5000 is going to be there.

26:13 - They always know that labor is going to be that check that they can count on.

26:17 - We've put a stop to a lot of that.

26:19 - We've made our elected officials work harder.

26:22 - We've made sure that they share the same priorities,

26:24 - and we're going to continue doing that.

26:28 - And what's even more important,

26:31 - to know, I think, for all of you.

26:32 - And you should read this yourself. I'm no expert.

26:34 - You can read these new stories, too.

26:37 - In 2024, 20% of federal donations were made by billionaires,

26:42 - 20% of donations

26:44 - in the 2018 midterms, there's only five super PACs

26:47 - that raise more than $50 million over the entire cycle.

26:50 - There are seven right now that I've already reached

26:52 - more than $50 million.

26:54 - Our PAC.

26:55 - If we have a good two years, we'll raise 16 million over the cycle.

26:59 - There are PACs that are just crypto, that are just AI, that already have over

27:02 - $50 million in the bank.

27:04 - Labor does not have the cash on hand advantage it once did.

27:08 - If you think that's our advantage, I encourage you to go read this.

27:11 - I'm not the expert.

27:12 - You can go read all the New York Times, Politico.

27:14 - It's right there.

27:16 - North Carolina,

27:17 - Georgia those are races that will alone cost more than $1 billion.

27:21 - That's what I'm predicting.

27:22 - They around 800 million last time.

27:24 - Again we raised 60 million a cycle.

27:26 - Those will cost $1 billion.

27:29 - SNP, Senate majority PAC, House majority PAC and the Republican counterparts.

27:33 - They used to be these big, you know, tens of millions of dollars.

27:36 - There are whole industries that have multiple PACs.

27:39 - They're going to raise about the same level.

27:42 - Why does that matter?

27:43 - It matters because crypto, the crypto industry alone

27:46 - put in tens of million dollars on one race in Ohio

27:49 - because Senator Sherrod Brown wanted stringent rules on crypto.

27:52 - They spent nearly $50 million.

27:54 - And all of that gets burned on the ads you guys see in Pennsylvania.

27:57 - I'm sure you remember in the last cycle, you just open your TV every single time.

28:01 - That's where all those millions of dollars goes.

28:03 - It gets burned in Supreme Court right now.

28:05 - There's a case, and I won't bore you with all the details, but right now,

28:10 - candidates, official side

28:12 - committees, they can't coordinate with their super PAC vehicles.

28:16 - So if you get $5,000 for Sam Gardner bird running for Congress,

28:19 - I can't coordinate on strategy with my super PAC.

28:23 - There's a potential that the court rules that they can coordinate,

28:25 - and then that'll just blow the doors off.

28:27 - I mean, the things I'm talking about now will get even worse.

28:29 - You'll see more ads and it all get wasted.

28:32 - And the reason why it matters for us and it's still important.

28:36 - You know, President Thompson talks about raising more money, the drive.

28:39 - It's very important to get our members to races to drive.

28:42 - But it matters because we can't think of our advantage as cash on hand.

28:46 - We can't think of it about resources.

28:48 - Our advantage has been and will always be our members.

28:52 - 1.3 million rank and file members, that member education

28:56 - talking to them about the races that matter.

28:58 - That's that's our entire advantage.

29:01 - Crypto, AI, all these people can raise hundreds of millions of dollars,

29:05 - but they don't have any people behind it.

29:06 - You know, these are people.

29:08 - There's a couple of them.

29:09 - They make a ton of money so they can throw it all in the PACs,

29:11 - but they don't have 1.3

29:12 - million members that they can go and talk to about the issues that affect them.

29:16 - That is our advantage.

29:18 - And that's what we're going to use against those candidates.

29:20 - They can't mobilize people.

29:22 - We can. So looking ahead to the midterms,

29:25 - our department is going to be partnering with locals and joint councils

29:28 - around the country to expand our work in the field to make sure that candidates

29:31 - show up to either a general membership meeting, a work site to speak to us.

29:37 - So it's not just about the check relationship,

29:39 - but it's that they campaign

29:40 - that they have to go out with us and talk to our members

29:43 - and make sure that they represent us fully.

29:46 - You know, if you have any questions about this, I'm always open to talking.

29:49 - Always open to a call.

29:51 - If you have questions about how the drive process works, please find me after.

29:55 - But appreciate the time and look forward to a good November.

29:59 - Thank you. So.

30:43 - Thank you guys.

30:44 - That was pretty sober. Yeah. The money gets spent.

30:47 - We can't touch it. But listen,

30:49 - Pac is our only answer,

30:51 - so please keep encouraging your members to join.

30:54 - Have, people and to help you.

30:57 - It's it's it's the only way we can get to people.

30:59 - That's.

31:01 - It's hard today to raise money to compete with these big donors.

31:04 - But we do what we can and, influence a few.

31:09 - As I say that you may have noticed

31:12 - that we had a sign put up in back of me here.

31:16 - So at this point in time,

31:18 - I will entertain a motion from the floor

31:22 - to endorse Josh Shapiro.

31:25 - Say your name.

31:25 - Stand up, please.

31:28 - There you guys.

31:31 - Is there a second

31:32 - for our first president, little 6.3?

31:35 - There is a motion and a second to endorse,

31:38 - re endorse Josh Shapiro to be our governor.

31:43 - All in favor signify by saying I,

31:45 - I anybody gets unanimous.

31:49 - Thank you.

31:57 - Josh sent his condolences.

31:58 - He couldn't be here today, but, he's always with us in spirit,

32:02 - and he always has our backs whenever he's asked to step up for labor.

32:07 - He does.

32:08 - There's never been a question.

32:11 - Our next president

32:13 - presentation will come from Alberta Byrdie Palmer.

32:17 - Mike, Kristin, Joe and Joe Fritz.

32:19 - Local 773.

32:22 - Did I butchered that name? Up.

32:34 - Thank you. Hi.

32:39 - Good afternoon, sisters and brothers.

32:42 - I won't hold you very long, I promise.

32:45 - But I do have some things I want to share.

32:48 - But before I do, I do have a question.

32:52 - Who are we?

32:54 - Who are we?

32:56 - Who are we?

32:58 - Who are we serving?

33:01 - Damn right we are.

33:03 - I got to say that that,

33:05 - that question was answered for me

33:07 - when I drove up in a parking lot today and I saw so many pickup trucks.

33:10 - I know exactly where I was.

33:14 - But good afternoon.

33:14 - My name is Alberta Bernie Palmer, and I am the Mid-Atlantic.

33:18 - Region coordinator for the Amazon Division of the mighty,

33:22 - mighty International Brotherhood of the Teamsters.

33:25 - And I got to say, I love this union.

33:28 - I'm a proud to be a member of this union because there is no union in America

33:33 - that is more dominant than we are.

33:36 - I've been an organizer for over 22 years,

33:39 - but I've been a teamster only for three, and I got a problem with that.

33:44 - I was just in the elevator a little while ago, and I heard somebody

33:46 - say, this is my 21st year at this conference.

33:50 - I'm trying to get like in, I want 20, 21 years.

33:53 - And again, it's my prayer to retire a teamster and to die a teamster.

33:59 - I have oh, you.

34:07 - So just three short years ago,

34:09 - I did make a commitment to attack

34:12 - the most imminent threat to our union,

34:16 - which is a Goliath company that we call Amazon.

34:21 - Right? See?

34:21 - Right on right bull bow to Amazon.

34:25 - Years ago, before my time

34:27 - here, there was an attack on our freight division.

34:30 - How many of you remember that there was an attack on freight?

34:34 - Yeah.

34:34 - You do this before my time, but I hear about it all the time.

34:37 - In the history of this union.

34:38 - We took a hit. We lost some members.

34:40 - Right?

34:40 - It hurt us, but thankfully, we were able to survive that.

34:45 - Now our logistics industry is under attack.

34:51 - Future working conditions and retirement plans

34:53 - all across our industry are under attack.

34:56 - And, brothers and sisters, I really hate to give you the bad news,

35:00 - but if

35:00 - Amazon continues to grow at the rate that it's growing,

35:04 - we may not be able to survive that.

35:09 - We have 340,000 U.P.S.

35:12 - members in our union.

35:13 - That's over a third of our membership, and they have a contract coming up in 2028.

35:19 - Back in 2023, the a word was used a lot at the bargaining table.

35:25 - And I can't imagine what bargaining discussion

35:27 - is going to look like with Amazon growing the way that it is

35:30 - and with no signs of slowing.

35:34 - What that discussion at the bargaining table is going to look like in 2028.

35:38 - Let me be clear, because, you know, I didn't come to play.

35:43 - If we don't go to war with this company,

35:46 - and I'm going to say it again for the people in the back,

35:49 - if we do not go to war with this company,

35:54 - this union will not be the Teamsters,

35:57 - as you've always known it.

36:01 - But we are still mighty now,

36:05 - and Amazon is afraid of us.

36:07 - They know that we have what it takes to win

36:12 - in 2025.

36:13 - They spent over $250 million on union busting,

36:18 - keeping their employees scared and under their thumb.

36:22 - But let me ask, are you afraid of a fight?

36:27 - Or are you afraid of a fight?

36:29 - Never. Of course not.

36:31 - Because you know your power.

36:32 - You know union power.

36:34 - So, brothers, I'm asking you for those that know you've got to teach the children

36:39 - for those of you that know the blood is on your hands to do so.

36:43 - Amazon is afraid of us for sure, but they don't have to be.

36:48 - If the people who aren't afraid to fight them are not fighting.

36:52 - So that makes sense.

36:54 - They're afraid of us now.

36:56 - But if the people who are not afraid to fight

36:58 - are not fighting, they have no reason to fear us.

37:01 - So, as I stated earlier, I'm proud to be a teamster, and I'm proud

37:05 - because I know that these brothers never, ever back down from a fight.

37:11 - So for our future,

37:13 - for the future of our children, the future of our grandchildren,

37:17 - the future of our industry, and for the future of our union,

37:21 - do not back down now.

37:25 - We have to stand up and fight these guys.

37:29 - Please hear from our brothers Jeff Fritz

37:32 - and Mike Costanzo

37:35 - for more detail about what this fight can look like

37:38 - and more importantly, what we need to do to win.

37:42 - Thank you.

37:50 - Thank you, Sister Verde.

37:51 - It's always tough to go after a party speech, right?

37:55 - For those of you that don't know me, my name is Jeff Ritz.

37:59 - I've been called a lot worse.

38:02 - I'm a business agent with Teamsters.

38:03 - Local 773, and next week, I will be a 33 year U.P.S.

38:07 - employee.

38:13 - Been working with the, Amazon division for over a year now.

38:16 - And I've spoken to hundreds of Amazon workers,

38:19 - throughout Pennsylvania and most of your jurisdictions.

38:22 - My job here today is to explain

38:25 - the Amazon effect on UPS.

38:28 - I'm sure you are all dealing with some,

38:30 - if not all of these issues that are up on the screen.

38:34 - So for all you upstairs in the room or UPS business, hey, just let me see it.

38:38 - Get a little interactive here.

38:39 - Let me see a show of hands of any of you that are dealing

38:42 - with these issues right now.

38:45 - Right.

38:45 - Look at that. Look at that.

38:48 - I'll give you some examples from local 773.

38:52 - We've had a facility closure within the last year.

38:55 - We've had route cuts and fewer new full time positions.

38:59 - We have open grievances now in our supplement on both of those issues.

39:03 - UPS is just cutting jobs and refusing to post events.

39:08 - We have layoffs,

39:10 - so I've never I think I was laid off

39:13 - maybe one day after that strike in 97.

39:16 - Other than that, I'd never been laid off.

39:18 - I've never seen layoffs at UPS go this deep into the year.

39:22 - It's crazy.

39:25 - Touching on a regular workweek, schedule changes.

39:27 - I mean, we all know that,

39:29 - those of us who have been ups for a long period of time know back in the day,

39:33 - the ground operation was Monday through Friday.

39:35 - We never worked on Saturdays.

39:36 - We've been working Saturdays now for years,

39:38 - and that's because we have to keep up with the competition, right?

39:41 - We have to keep up with the Amazon. Right?

39:44 - Instead of becoming more like Amazon, Amazon needs to become more like us.

39:58 - Okay,

39:58 - let's take a look at the, the volume slide.

40:01 - The volume growth.

40:03 - You'll see UPS is in orange.

40:04 - Amazon's in blue.

40:07 - In the early years UPS dominated.

40:09 - Then Amazon emerges and now Amazon overtakes.

40:14 - This is not just growth.

40:15 - It's displacement.

40:17 - There's no question that UPS built the system.

40:21 - But look where the growth when Amazon captured it and is now leading it.

40:27 - Do you all see that gap 6.7 billion

40:31 - for Amazon and 4.4 billion for UPS.

40:36 - That's called the power gap.

40:39 - And it is now setting the direction

40:40 - of the industry.

40:47 - In the next slide we're going to look at the revenue shift.

40:51 - UPS did grow but Amazon surged to six times

40:54 - the revenue of UPS, the one who controls the work.

40:58 - And the capital will control the direction of the future.

41:02 - Think about this.

41:05 - In the short time in this short

41:07 - time, Amazon went from being UPS largest customer to leading the industry.

41:12 - Think about that for a second.

41:16 - The billion dollar

41:17 - question is what's the future of UPS?

41:20 - Currently, there are roughly 340,000 upstairs,

41:23 - which make up about one third of our great union.

41:25 - With the growth of Amazon,

41:28 - combined with the layoffs, the buyouts and refusal to fill full time

41:31 - jobs at UPS, we have to open our eyes and realize that this Amazon effect

41:37 - is not just a UPS problem, it's a teamster problem.

41:42 - All right, I'm going to pass it over to my mic.

41:43 - My my brother Mike to, lay out, what we're going to

41:47 - how we're going to fight this.

41:49 - Thank you.

41:56 - First, let me just say I don't know how the hell I keep

41:59 - ended up on a stage in front of this joint council giving a speech.

42:04 - But it's an honor and a privilege to be able to speak to you all today.

42:07 - And it goes to what Sean said this morning

42:09 - and the opportunities that this organization has created.

42:12 - Every one of us.

42:13 - Thank you to Joint Council 53 and Joint Council 40

42:16 - for allowing us to speak here today.

42:19 - Most of you in this room also know that

42:21 - I worked at Amazon over the last seven months.

42:24 - I'm pleased to inform you all that I quit last week.

42:27 - Thank you for.

42:34 - What I learned, though, during this time is that

42:37 - it's too heavy of a lift for any one person.

42:39 - That's really what the push is for you all here today.

42:43 - So let's be honest.

42:44 - I want to see a show of hands.

42:45 - Everything that Jeff and Bernie just laid out to you all is absolutely true.

42:49 - But who doesn't know this in this room?

42:52 - We all know that

42:52 - Amazon is a threat to our organization, right?

42:55 - Of course we know this.

42:57 - We we know everyone in this room agrees that Amazon is a threat to our industry

43:01 - and the members we represent because the delegates in this room

43:05 - voted for Amazon

43:06 - to have its own division at the IBT at the last international convention.

43:10 - So the real conversation shouldn't be is Amazon a threat?

43:14 - It needs to be. How do we beat them?

43:16 - How do we beat a company of this size?

43:18 - And it starts with what we've been talking about all day.

43:21 - It's membership engagement.

43:23 - We have to activate our strongest resource, our members.

43:28 - Imagine if every U.P.S.

43:30 - driver and every DHL driver every day

43:33 - spoke to an Amazon driver on the road about what the union difference really is.

43:37 - That's what it's going to take.

43:39 - These workers don't know.

43:40 - We know the biggest thing that holds workers back from forming a union is fear.

43:45 - That fear comes from a lack of education on what a union really is.

43:49 - And I want to go back again to what Sean said this morning.

43:52 - We're all second, third, fourth generation Teamsters.

43:54 - We live that.

43:55 - We grew up in it.

43:56 - These workers don't know what I can tell you from working there.

43:59 - It was the saddest thing that I have ever experienced in my life.

44:02 - And I feel bad for my my daughters and my wife for that time,

44:05 - because when I would wake up on Saturday, before I went there, I was a miserable

44:09 - son of a bitch. I can promise you that.

44:11 - I was not pleasant, but I knew what I was walking into.

44:14 - But I had something that these workers don't have.

44:16 - I had the ability to not go back there.

44:18 - They don't.

44:19 - They have to work there. They rely on their paychecks.

44:22 - And let me tell you something.

44:23 - Everyone in this room relies on the work that they do.

44:25 - And we'd be lying if we said, these all probably don't have an Amazon

44:29 - package waiting at your door when you get home in the next two days.

44:32 - We all do because brick and mortar is almost done.

44:35 - If you want product, you have to almost get it from Amazon.

44:39 - These are important jobs.

44:40 - We're not looking for them jobs to go away.

44:42 - These are jobs of the future.

44:44 - We need to protect the industry standard that we have all built.

44:48 - That is what is on the line here.

44:50 - Look, I wrote a bunch of shit down.

44:52 - I'm going to be honest, I ain't even fucking reading it.

44:55 - It starts with this room.

44:57 - This room is filled with leaders.

45:00 - All right?

45:01 - We have an obligation between the leadership and the rank and file.

45:04 - To take this message back to our members.

45:06 - We have to engage.

45:09 - So look, how do we engage our members?

45:12 - Is what I want to show you here on one of the slides.

45:17 - Somewhere.

45:19 - There we go.

45:21 - Look, Amazon organizer

45:23 - reports at every general membership meeting and every joint council meeting.

45:26 - We have to give a report. So it's fresh on the minds.

45:29 - And we let them know that that this fight is real.

45:32 - Amazon division organizer, training, the Veo program.

45:36 - We've done this in a lot of locals,

45:38 - and the point of that program is just getting our members comfortable

45:41 - enough to be able to speak to Amazon workers on an everyday basis.

45:45 - We've done this program in a lot of different ways.

45:46 - And look, we're looking for feedback.

45:48 - If we've done it in your local and it didn't go well, tell us.

45:52 - I'll be honest with you, I didn't like the way we were doing it out of my local.

45:55 - It was fucking boring. That's just the truth.

45:58 - So we changed it up and we got out of it what we were looking for.

46:01 - Even after that day, our workers were still getting contacts.

46:05 - Weeks even to this day.

46:06 - I've got a text this morning

46:07 - when they're in a grocery store, when they're on a truck, wherever.

46:10 - That is the point.

46:12 - You have to know how to have an effective organizing conversation.

46:15 - And then there's a new program that we would like to start as well.

46:18 - It's called the UPS driver or Driver Organizing Academy.

46:21 - And it's specific, to UPS drivers.

46:24 - It's the most direct comparison in the same line of work.

46:28 - If these drivers know how to speak to the Amazon workers

46:31 - and let them know that this is an industry fight, that's what we have to do.

46:35 - And look, we've seen this work in the Inland Empire out in California,

46:38 - so we know it works, but they've made it an industry problem.

46:42 - Okay.

46:44 - So the ask would be to do these things here.

46:48 - And if you want to learn more information, please see Liana in the back.

46:51 - She has a sign up sheet.

46:53 - Just write your name,

46:54 - your local phone number, and we will get in contact with you all.

46:58 - But really greatly appreciate the time.

47:02 - Thank you.

47:02 - I'll be honest, I forget Jeff wants to say.

47:08 - All right.

47:08 - Thanks, Mike.

47:10 - So I my jurisdiction is basically the whole state of Pennsylvania.

47:15 - My brother Mike handles the metro Philly area.

47:17 - Okay, so, look, if any of you.

47:19 - I'm going to be here for the next few days.

47:22 - Stop me. Talk to me.

47:23 - If any of you need help. I'm an agent.

47:26 - I know how busy each and every one of you are.

47:28 - Right.

47:29 - But we have to get into to get into this together.

47:33 - We have to get in this fight together.

47:35 - I am willing to travel anywhere.

47:36 - I've been to Pittsburgh, I've been up to New York.

47:39 - I've been down to Philly.

47:40 - I've been to Lancaster.

47:41 - I've been in the wine sport doing this.

47:43 - I will go anywhere in the state to help anybody out. All right.

47:46 - Just want to give a couple examples of the the things I've done in the past year.

47:49 - I want to thank local 30, Gino and Art.

47:53 - I know they've

47:54 - had meetings with a bunch of Amazon workers in their local.

47:57 - I was actually part of that, through zoom.

48:00 - Also, local 926,

48:02 - you know, and Jimmy, they've been speaking to Amazon drivers

48:05 - out in the Pittsburgh area now for about over a year.

48:09 - We actually met with,

48:11 - Congressman, Chris Lucio out there.

48:14 - And, and, Dino and Jimmy were there and a bunch of Amazon drivers,

48:19 - we had a great half hour meeting out there with the congressman.

48:23 - But these are things we need to do, right?

48:25 - Also, local 764 tion.

48:28 - Eric, and local 771, Adam and RJ.

48:32 - Right now, my two hottest facilities are in their jurisdictions.

48:36 - And thanks to Dennis, we've had multiple, Amazon video trainings in our local.

48:41 - We invited,

48:43 - anyone from the, the seven cities within our supplement to those trainings.

48:48 - And it's no coincidence that local 771

48:51 - and 764 sent volunteers to get trained in that program.

48:55 - And now their their Amazons and their jurisdictions are hot.

48:58 - Because we go out there on the road, we train the volunteers,

49:02 - we go out there on the road doing street outreach.

49:05 - We talk to Amazon drivers out there on the road and it pays off.

49:09 - It pays off. But we have to get involved.

49:12 - We have to get involved.

49:14 - Right?

49:14 - Are we just going to sit here and do nothing

49:17 - and just let UPS jobs wither away?

49:22 - So we're

49:25 - holding a video training in our local this coming Sunday.

49:28 - I already have a bunch of people that are RSVP from, local 773,

49:33 - but if anybody's interested in sending volunteers, let me know.

49:36 - I'll get them on the list. We'll get them trained.

49:38 - And like I said, I will come out to that.

49:41 - Out to your local help facilitate the street outreach to get this done.

49:45 - Okay. We need to get this done.

49:48 - I don't want to Jesse.

49:49 - And shout out to my brothers and sisters,

49:51 - to California, to New York, because we have, what, 13 locations now?

49:55 - I want Pennsylvania to be the next one on the map.

49:57 - So I need we need your help to get it done.

50:01 - So let's get this shit done.

50:10 - Don't.

50:11 - Last thing I'm just going to say is if you haven't if you haven't filed

50:14 - that already, follow.

50:15 - This is a great podcast that, Randy Corrigan started out in California

50:20 - and you're hearing directly from Amazon workers that have gone public

50:23 - and demanded union recognition with the Teamsters.

50:25 - So it's a good thing to share.

50:27 - If you run into a driver, that's the best thing that you can get to them.

50:30 - But thank you all for your time.

50:31 - We greatly appreciate. The.

51:02 - Nice presentation.

51:03 - Very nice.

51:07 - Daniel Wells,

51:09 - what up?

51:10 - Daniel?

51:12 - The investigator and training office for compliance standards

51:15 - and investigations, international Brotherhood of teamsters.

51:18 - You're just a guy that you know that

51:21 - works.

51:56 - Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.

51:59 - I want to thank the conference leadership for the opportunity for,

52:02 - speaking this afternoon.

52:05 - I work at the IBT in DC.

52:07 - We've been on a worldwide tour, so there's a lot of familiar faces in this group.

52:11 - Some of you may have heard

52:12 - someone, from my office speak at one of the division conferences.

52:17 - We love coming out and talk to talking to all the membership.

52:20 - I would much rather meet one of you in a bar

52:24 - and have a beer with you than be walking

52:26 - through the front door of your local, and that's what we're here to prevent.

52:30 - So just this brief presentation, this is a brief presentation.

52:33 - Again, some of you have heard this before.

52:35 - If you haven't heard this presentation before, and you may be in a role where

52:41 - you're a new officer or your BF

52:43 - is a new officer, you can share something with them.

52:47 - You'll hear the general president regularly talk about becoming

52:50 - bigger, faster, and stronger as an organization.

52:54 - If we start our toe, even at the local level,

52:58 - we're not going to be able to become bigger, faster and stronger.

53:01 - The press loves juicy stories, and some of these juicy stories

53:05 - start with these little, little things that blow up.

53:07 - So I want to prevent these things from happening

53:10 - that the IBT wants to prevent these things from happening.

53:13 - So we want to open the door to change.

53:15 - And what we really want to do is avoid internal investigations altogether.

53:20 - Our office is full of teamster members.

53:23 - Everyone in this room is familiar with the consent decree from 1989.

53:27 - We as an organization are trying to get out from underneath that consent decree.

53:31 - Okay.

53:32 - The IIO is an independent organization.

53:35 - What do they do?

53:36 - They utilize teamster funds in their investigations.

53:39 - We, I'm sure, could come up with much better use of funds

53:44 - than some of those investigations.

53:45 - If we can police ourselves and limit these things, those funds are going to be

53:49 - spent in a much better, much better way.

53:52 - So again, the original intent of the IEO was to eliminate corruption

53:57 - within the organization.

53:58 - And those days are long. In the past.

54:01 - So just a quick

54:03 - snippet into some of the financials that I always expanded.

54:07 - This is just a quick less than a year, $3.5

54:11 - million worth of union funds in investigations.

54:15 - So I'd ask all of you real quick, I'm going to blast through this.

54:18 - I know you have

54:19 - a lot of things on your agenda today, but what do you think the number one

54:23 - factor for IBT scrutiny might be?

54:25 - You think it's workplace violence, harassment,

54:29 - financial misconduct or abuse of power.

54:33 - Finally, I hear I hear the rumblings financial misconduct that that is it.

54:37 - A lot of times, financial misconduct comes hand in hand with, abuse of power.

54:42 - But that failure to uphold your fiduciary

54:45 - responsibility, that is the number one cause.

54:49 - Our office works hand-in-hand with the auditors.

54:52 - And I'm going to talk to you a little bit about that right now.

54:55 - The Office of Compliance Standards Investigations was,

54:58 - built out in

54:59 - 2022, and it was established by the general president's office.

55:04 - Again, it's designed to handle investigations

55:07 - within the organization in-house.

55:09 - A lot of times,

55:11 - the auditors will send us information.

55:14 - And this this presentation will be very heavy on financials.

55:19 - But sometimes around election season,

55:22 - we may get emails that are non financial related.

55:26 - Someone's got a beef with somebody on a particular slate.

55:28 - And our office may be in charge of going out to find the facts.

55:33 - I like nothing more than doing an investigation.

55:36 - And at the end of it, writing the words not sustained meaning.

55:40 - It was total bullshit.

55:41 - Someone had a beef and you all, you can all use your imaginations,

55:46 - but those are the type of things that we run into.

55:48 - We are reactive.

55:50 - You will not see me or anybody in our office outside of, your local,

55:55 - you know, hiding in a trash can, looking to see what time you get there.

55:59 - Who's coming?

56:00 - She little eyes peeking out of the the trash can.

56:03 - That's not how these things work.

56:05 - It's generally

56:05 - going to be a serious violation of the Constitution or your local bylaws.

56:09 - High percentage of these things are financial.

56:11 - And again, we work very closely with the auditors.

56:14 - A lot of the cases that we go out on you, your local is is audited.

56:19 - The auditors spend, you know, 2 or 3 months going through everything

56:24 - and they come up with this long laundry list

56:27 - that set up all sorts of red flags.

56:30 - Then we might go out to find out some answers as to what's going on.

56:33 - We want to prevent some of the things that they find from going on.

56:37 - So again, circumstances for all of you

56:39 - to consider if you may be in a role where it comes to being a trustee, being,

56:43 - you know, a secretary, treasurer, it always comes down to money.

56:48 - How big the money just don't show me

56:51 - the buyers, okay?

56:54 - The money,

56:57 - the famous Tom cruise line.

56:58 - But that's that's the that's the truth financials.

57:02 - So again, some of you on the fire in the room,

57:04 - I'm not going to read off any slides, but

57:06 - I would just hope if you were in a role where financials are in

57:09 - play within your local joint council, be familiar with article ten.

57:14 - Everything is highlighted.

57:16 - Receipts, contracts, anything to do with finances is highlighted in article ten.

57:21 - Be familiar with it.

57:23 - Circumstances to consider when making large purchases.

57:26 - When you're entering into service agreements,

57:28 - ensure the appropriate approvals are made and documented.

57:32 - Some of the things that we see, we go out.

57:34 - Big purchase was made.

57:36 - Someone had a gripe about it.

57:37 - We find out while the purchase was made and then down the line,

57:41 - the approvals were never made. Okay.

57:43 - And then they go and try to change the whole sequence of how

57:47 - things played out, and it ends up being a mess for everybody.

57:52 - You want to regularly monitor QuickBooks

57:53 - banking records, ensure double signatures on checks, little things.

57:57 - We just, we were just out at a local and multiple checks being cashed

58:02 - by the principal officer, missing that second second signature.

58:06 - And again, if your local has been audited, the auditors come out.

58:11 - They send a long list of things to do.

58:13 - And then you send the long list back saying,

58:16 - we did this, we did this, we did this, we did this, we did this.

58:20 - And then they might come back again and find out

58:22 - that CDs were never done.

58:26 - And that always ends up sending up red flags.

58:30 - So financial responsibility, if elected officials again,

58:33 - we want to maintain transparency in all of your,

58:37 - transactions.

58:38 - You want to maintain the trust and integrity of your membership.

58:41 - You want your membership to know that the money that's being

58:44 - spent is being spent in an appropriate manner.

58:47 - You want to think about if you're in a role for making

58:50 - these purchases, your local board, think about the

58:55 - members.

58:56 - Is it benefiting them? All right.

58:58 - You want to ensure those funds are used effectively.

59:01 - And again, you want to regularly, proactively

59:05 - review and communicate clearly.

59:07 - All right.

59:08 - Communication is the biggest thing talking to one another.

59:11 - All right.

59:11 - Not being in an information silo within your local or your joint council.

59:16 - You never want to have that

59:19 - envelope or folder flopped on your desk.

59:23 - You open it up and you say, what the f?

59:26 - How long has this been going on? Right.

59:28 - Because no one was talking.

59:30 - You didn't know anything about it, and now you're trying to douse the fire

59:33 - with water.

59:34 - So communication huge thing.

59:38 - Trusteeship.

59:39 - The General Executive Board has the ability to come in

59:42 - and slap a, you know, label on your front door

59:45 - and take your local over if your financial house is out of order.

59:49 - So we they suck.

59:52 - You don't we don't like going out on them.

59:54 - We want to eliminate them in advance.

59:57 - So again financials,

59:58 - 906 we want to think about how we can put ourselves

01:00 - 01.741 in a position,

01:00 - 04.767 position or advantage to eliminate these type of things from happening.

01:00 - 07.413 You don't want to ignore those potential warning signs.

01:00 - 09.806 If you hear a little rumbling, something going on,

01:00 - 12.551 communicate, dig in,

01:00 - 15.979 see what the problem might be, and maybe you can nip it in the bud.

01:00 - 19.024 We don't want anyone, like I just said,

01:00 - 22.051 to have situational awareness in your role.

01:00 - 26.222 You don't want that envelope or folder getting placed on your desk and you say,

01:00 - 27.633 what the hell is going on?

01:00 - 28.801 You've had your head in the sand

01:00 - 31.828 for the last eight months, ten months, however long that's been.

01:00 - 35.098 You don't want to be this person right here.

01:00 - 41.304 It's way better in slow motion.

01:00 - 48.420 In your particular role,

01:00 - 51.190 I we none of us want that to happen to you.

01:00 - 52.458 Okay.

01:00 - 56.762 So when it comes to minutes, a lot of the things that we see sloppy

01:00 - 01.724 minutes, information missing in minutes, completely motions that are missing.

01:01 - 05.228 So again if it's your role to document things properly,

01:01 - 07.339 make sure that they're done properly.

01:01 - 11.810 If it's your role to review things, please take the extra time.

01:01 - 13.679 Make us bigger, faster, stronger.

01:01 - 16.339 As an organization by doing the little things.

01:01 - 20.719 Quick question I'd ask all of you.

01:01 - 24.514 When was the last time any of you proactively reviewed the Constitution,

01:01 - 28.551 especially when it comes to your particular role in your local union?

01:01 - 31.597 Within the last week,

01:01 - 32.798 month?

01:01 - 35.825 Six months, year?

01:01 - 38.303 It's it's a long

01:01 - 40.239 it's a long 200 plus pages.

01:01 - 42.775 I wouldn't expect anybody to know it from front to back.

01:01 - 45.444 But take a few minutes.

01:01 - 48.571 If your role has something to do with pages

01:01 - 53.919 213 to 217, take a look at them.

01:01 - 54.987 Just be familiar with them.

01:01 - 57.322 Okay, so you're not caught off guard occasionally.

01:01 - 00.325 Review article 19, section seven.

01:02 - 03.362 Just know what the grounds are for charges

01:02 - 06.389 against members or officers or subordinate bodies.

01:02 - 09.368 Why would you want to know any of those things,

01:02 - 13.796 so that you can stay on the right path and steer clear of those things, that's why.

01:02 - 16.432 So just a few pages. Take a peek at them.

01:02 - 22.081 We all, as an organization, want to seek out best practices.

01:02 - 23.649 We want to seek out best practices.

01:02 - 26.919 As a parent, you ask other parents you want to seek out

01:02 - 30.489 best practices as an athlete, you ask an athlete.

01:02 - 34.417 So as a union official, seek out best practices.

01:02 - 37.820 Use this great room full of resources.

01:02 - 38.498 All right.

01:02 - 44.026 Sometimes the, you know, same old, same old isn't the best approach

01:02 - 49.132 you roll into a new, position as the principal officer.

01:02 - 53.836 And the previous principal officer had been there for 26 years.

01:02 - 57.683 And you see all the files stacked up behind his desk, and the admin

01:02 - 59.885 assistant is only in two days a week.

01:02 - 02.855 And you ask a couple of questions.

01:03 - 03.523 Ask the board.

01:03 - 06.158 Yeah, that's how Charlie always did it.

01:03 - 06.926 All right.

01:03 - 08.393 I guess that's how I'll do it.

01:03 - 11.654 Well, maybe Charlie's had it up for years,

01:03 - 15.591 and then Charlie's living down in Boca Raton now.

01:03 - 18.761 And who's going to come knocking on your door when it's all screwed up?

01:03 - 19.239 Right?

01:03 - 22.141 So maybe the same old, same old isn't the best.

01:03 - 23.609 This is how I was taught to do it.

01:03 - 25.277 This is how they've always done it here.

01:03 - 26.879 This is how the last person did it.

01:03 - 29.172 We want to try to get out of that mindset.

01:03 - 31.550 You don't want to rock the boat again.

01:03 - 34.520 A lot of folks, you feel uncomfortable asking questions.

01:03 - 35.488 You feel uncomfortable

01:03 - 39.015 picking up the phone and sounding, oh, this might be a dumb question.

01:03 - 42.761 Just rock the boat if you need to, to make sure

01:03 - 45.788 that the boat's on on the right path.

01:03 - 48.200 Contemplating important decisions,

01:03 - 51.227 financial decisions, administrative decisions,

01:03 - 54.006 operational decisions, all these things that are coming across

01:03 - 57.843 all of your desks on a daily and weekly basis.

01:03 - 00.779 Responses to union mandates. Just think about it.

01:04 - 03.749 Who is your source of guidance?

01:04 - 05.417 What should your source of guidance be?

01:04 - 08.253 There's a long there's a whole long list, right?

01:04 - 09.922 Just a few things to think about.

01:04 - 11.623 Who you might use, what you might use.

01:04 - 13.792 The Constitution,

01:04 - 15.384 your local bylaws and policies,

01:04 - 18.463 senior leadership.

01:04 - 21.166 If you're down below, you need to ask that seasoned person

01:04 - 24.627 that you just know Bill, Ryan, Joe, Christine.

01:04 - 26.205 They're always spot on.

01:04 - 28.073 You trust their their judgment.

01:04 - 30.108 Pick up the phone, call them.

01:04 - 30.710 Look at that.

01:04 - 33.445 Secretary general Secretary treasurer is manual.

01:04 - 35.013 Super helpful.

01:04 - 38.941 Be familiar with federal and state laws if that's in your purview.

01:04 - 41.787 And the last one is the most important in my eyes.

01:04 - 43.021 Common sense.

01:04 - 47.049 Just when you're you're making that important decision, take a second

01:04 - 50.229 and think about whether utilizing common sense

01:04 - 53.689 as an individual or collectively as a board.

01:04 - 59.504 Pick up that phone and call your your BFF that you really trust and know.

01:04 - 02.040 We'll put you on the right path

01:05 - 03.009 as an organization.

01:05 - 07.103 Again, we want to limit potential pitfalls through advanced training,

01:05 - 11.116 open communication, and self-awareness.

01:05 - 13.051 Self-awareness is a big one.

01:05 - 15.811 Understanding what's going on in your own environment.

01:05 - 17.757 Because some of the

01:05 - 22.628 things that we go out and see again start off small and boy,

01:05 - 26.722 do they escalate quickly when the the files start piling up.

01:05 - 31.627 Boy, that escalated quickly.

01:05 - 35.107 So just real quick, just just one

01:05 - 38.134 sense of a quick review,

01:05 - 40.679 a case that we were involved in

01:05 - 43.706 where the the local

01:05 - 47.276 leadership discovered something that was left up.

01:05 - 51.123 And instead of saying, hey, let's, let's figure out

01:05 - 54.383 what to do with this on our own, let's not make any ways we'll handle this. No.

01:05 - 56.662 What did they do? They picked up the phone.

01:05 - 00.432 They called the auditor's office at the IBT, said, this is what we have.

01:06 - 02.668 This is what we've uncovered.

01:06 - 07.239 And that early intervention that smart leadership decision

01:06 - 10.967 to do that, seeking out the IBT assistance,

01:06 - 14.971 that open communication saved the entire leadership.

01:06 - 18.007 Our auditors lend a helping hand.

01:06 - 19.419 We were

01:06 - 23.212 involved, and that entire leadership body is still in place

01:06 - 25.958 because of the smart decisions that they made.

01:06 - 28.760 Picking up the phone and asking questions, how can we fix this?

01:06 - 31.787 This is what we've we've discovered this on our own

01:06 - 33.365 and it's saved leadership's position.

01:06 - 38.804 So I'd ask you all important, important decisions that you may be contemplating.

01:06 - 41.831 Just on the side of caution even when it comes to,

01:06 - 45.711 you know, all those receipts you're standing in front of the, the vendor

01:06 - 48.738 or the the, you know, waiter or waitress

01:06 - 52.174 and you have your local union card,

01:06 - 54.753 maybe you're not sure if you should use it or not.

01:06 - 57.780 Well, you'll never go wrong if you're not sure

01:06 - 00.859 if you pull out the adult, the delta, you know, you purple Delta gold

01:07 - 04.529 card, you personal one and use that for the 56 bucks.

01:07 - 07.323 It will save you all sorts of headaches down the line.

01:07 - 10.736 Last slide

01:07 - 15.531 I met a bunch of folks in this room, across the country at TLS.

01:07 - 18.543 Rena Hatch, Dennis Howard, down the end.

01:07 - 23.949 They go around the country and put on fantastic training sessions for folks.

01:07 - 26.976 If you see those come across, your locals feed

01:07 - 29.621 and you think it's going to put you in a position of advantage,

01:07 - 32.648 you take it, take it, you will be in a better spot.

01:07 - 35.527 So take those Teach Leadership Academy classes,

01:07 - 38.997 pick up the phone, call the auditors, ask them for assistance.

01:07 - 41.466 The auditors will tell you, please call.

01:07 - 42.601 Call us.

01:07 - 46.662 We don't want to come out and do the three month audit, which we could prevent

01:07 - 49.975 and again pick up the phone and call our office

01:07 - 52.210 and we will help to put you on the right path.

01:07 - 53.234 Hopefully

01:07 - 54.680 that's it.

01:07 - 56.748 I hope you enjoy the rest of the conference.

01:07 - 00.852 I want to thank you for your time today, and I hope to see you, in a bar somewhere,

01:08 - 04.380 tipping back and having a good story, how we we put you on the right path.

01:08 - 07.716 Thanks, everybody.

01:08 - 23.575 You. Speaking for someone who's

01:08 - 29.071 seen quite a bit of the I o in my day and the IRB in their day,

01:08 - 34.410 I can tell you that a good piece of advice is to listen to what that man just said.

01:08 - 37.789 Because most of our wounds are self-inflicted.

01:08 - 40.058 We just don't realize it. Sometimes.

01:08 - 43.085 So an ounce of prevention

01:08 - 44.863 saves the world.

01:08 - 46.865 Rena hatch, you're up.

01:08 - 47.166 Come on.

01:08 - 50.192 Up, up.

01:09 - 03.748 Good afternoon everybody.

01:09 - 05.617 Thank you so much, President Hamilton.

01:09 - 09.387 Thank you to this esteemed board for allowing us to have just a couple minutes

01:09 - 15.384 to talk about something that is the heart and soul of our union strength.

01:09 - 17.829 And I had a speech prepared.

01:09 - 21.299 But then as I was sitting here and I was listening to Sam Gardner, bird

01:09 - 24.994 and Mike and birdie and Jeff Fultz and Dan Wells,

01:09 - 29.541 I thought about there is one common thread our small

01:09 - 32.568 but mighty team of educators

01:09 - 35.671 are here to help and support you.

01:09 - 40.543 Our team of educators are solely exist

01:09 - 43.646 to support and strengthen our membership.

01:09 - 48.460 I was at a training yesterday and it was so meaningful a steward came up to me.

01:09 - 50.462 It was the first time that I had been there

01:09 - 53.589 in the almost four years I've been here, and he said,

01:09 - 57.259 I have been winging it this whole time.

01:09 - 01.931 I've been a steward for ten years and I never was properly trained.

01:10 - 04.476 That is so heartwarming.

01:10 - 07.503 And Dennis and I please reach out to us directly.

01:10 - 10.282 We love this, I hate to say,

01:10 - 14.877 but we have the best job in the entire teamster union.

01:10 - 18.781 We are here to support you, strengthen your membership.

01:10 - 21.092 Let us help you with that.

01:10 - 23.528 We are great at event planning.

01:10 - 28.090 We know our staff and we love to give tools and support for you.

01:10 - 30.235 So please reach out.

01:10 - 32.737 We're a small but mighty team and we're growing.

01:10 - 36.065 We just added on a trainer that came from teamster organizing.

01:10 - 41.203 She has 15 years experience and we are offering so many programs.

01:10 - 44.840 It is my honor to say that we are now in the second year.

01:10 - 47.252 We've paired with the University of Illinois.

01:10 - 51.180 Our Women and Power program is absolutely incredible,

01:10 - 56.118 and I want to give a shout out to Jessica from local eight at Penn State.

01:10 - 59.088 She is has been absolutely.

01:11 - 05.537 Absolutely amazing.

01:11 - 08.840 Her and her 19, coworkers

01:11 - 12.901 that are just working towards women's leadership in our union.

01:11 - 16.138 And we are just so proud every month that I get on

01:11 - 20.376 and I meet with these women, it is inspiring, it is empowering,

01:11 - 24.856 and we feel like we can go out and help every one of our local unions

01:11 - 27.325 in accomplishing whatever you want, working

01:11 - 31.053 with our principal officers to say, how can we build that support?

01:11 - 34.599 We're also working on another program that really caters

01:11 - 38.236 to our, general president and general secretary treasurer.

01:11 - 41.563 Their heart and soul is also younger teamster workers.

01:11 - 46.044 So anyone under 2535, we are working on futures programs.

01:11 - 47.979 We would love to help you build that.

01:11 - 50.982 So let us call us help and we'll help,

01:11 - 53.885 set up a committee for you again.

01:11 - 55.820 Women's committees and caucuses.

01:11 - 58.123 We're there to help you as well on that.

01:11 - 01.726 And under the direction and leadership of General President O'Brien and General.

01:12 - 05.563 Secretary Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, they value education,

01:12 - 09.291 and they are allotting resources to help us support you.

01:12 - 11.536 So please call us, utilize us.

01:12 - 14.563 We are there to help build our entire union up.

01:12 - 18.901 And remember that knowledge sparks solidarity.

01:12 - 23.172 And when your members have a training and they network with each other

01:12 - 26.318 and they hear from you, they get to ask questions.

01:12 - 29.254 They walk away feeling so inspired.

01:12 - 30.889 They want to do well for you.

01:12 - 32.590 They want to do well for their families.

01:12 - 34.225 They want to do well for our union.

01:12 - 36.428 And there's going to be no stopping us.

01:12 - 38.129 But we have to stick together.

01:12 - 40.799 So let us help you and collaborate.

01:12 - 42.091 Thank you so much, everybody.

01:12 - 00.919 For. Thank

01:13 - 03.946 you Rena.

01:13 - 07.616 That will conclude our meeting for today.

01:13 - 11.229 However, we will be meeting at nine a am here tomorrow.

01:13 - 15.624 And also I would ask that Joint Council 53 remain behind.

01:13 - 20.429 We're going to have, Joint Council 53 meeting immediately after this.

01:13 - 24.500 Can I have a motion to adjourn for the day?

01:13 - 28.704 Second, all in favor signify by saying I,

01:13 - 32.050 Anyways.

01:13 - 33.518 Oh. Let me remind you

01:13 - 36.945 that the cocktail party will begin tonight at 6 p.m..

01:13 - 39.758 Right down there.

01:13 - 42.193 So it's open to everybody.

01:13 - 47.198 And I'm sure we'll have a lot of, friends and visitors come in from the Harrisburg.

01:13 - 50.626 So maybe you'll get to meet your area reps.

01:13 - 52.170 A lot of them will be here.

01:13 - 54.372 But thank you again for a very productive day.

01:13 - 56.064 And, be safe.

01:14 - 24.293 And. I. Did.