492 Movie Teamsters Reach(lift) For The Sky!

Teamsters Local 492 held forklift classes on November 15th and 16th. These classes were first come, first serve and filled up fast. There were a total of 40 attendees that were certified or re-certified over the 2 day period, which maxed out the class size limits for 2 instructors. (OSHA will only allow 10 people per instructor per day when they are certifying skills on an actual Forklift.) The “safety” (non-skill) certification classes that were previously offered, often had many more people in attendance, but these “Safety-Only” classes do not have Forklifts to test skills on and only give you a safety certification. However, the certification that was given this weekend was for the operation of forklifts including Class 4 & 5 and also a Reach Lift (petti-bone Class 7), which was also on site. (See All The Pics Here!) 

Local 492 is holding these “Hands-on” forklift classes because more production companies, like Netflix, are requiring this type of certification and we want our 492 Teamsters to be able to get that next job. Hopefully, we will be having more of these classes in the near future and we are also looking into having an all-day Petti-bone (Class 7) class for those in the Movie Industry that need such certification. Local 492 served a delicious free lunch, catered by Sadie’s and we also gave the attendees a free Teamster Local 492 “Forklift Certified” T-Shirt along with their New Teamster 492 Forklift Certification Card. 

A special thanks to 492 Film Dept. Business Agent Melissa Malcom and BA Trey White for taking the time to set up these classes and for donating their weekend again for the members of this great Local!!! Thank you to Leon at United Rentals for supplying the lifts at cost and to Brothers Bill Botos and Dan Morrison from Teamsters Local 631 for teaching the class. 

492 BA Malcom Union Panelist at Film & TV Career Connection

Today, Nov 09, 2019, Teamsters Local 492 Film Department Business Agent Melissa A. Malcom served as a Union Panelist for the Film & Television Career Connection at the South Broadway Cultural Center which was sponsored by the ONE Albuquerque Film Office.

There were about 500 people that attended the event where they received firsthand information from the Albuquerque Film Office, City Leaders, Film and TV Production and Industry Professionals, Film Unions, and Film Education Programs about career opportunities, education, skills, internships, jobs, and networking in the NM Film and Television Industry.  

Sister Malcom first explained that Teamsters in the Film Industry are the drivers of all of the equipment used in productions along with other transportation related jobs like Dispatchers and Mechanics. She also spoke about how all of the animals on set are handled/trained by Teamsters Wranglers. She then explained the CDL requirements needed to work as a Teamster Driver and answered questions about the difference between our waiting list and our overflow list. The waiting list is simply an electronic free-to-sign-up form to let Local 492 know you want to be contacted by the 492 Film Dept. if there is ever a spot open on our overflow “Exhausted” list. The overflow “Exhausted” list is the actual list of qualified Drivers and Wranglers that have turned in all of the required paperwork and have made themselves available through our Electronic Call Board each day. Producers can choose from these available "Exhausted List" Teamsters after the lists of our long term tenured Teamsters have been exhausted.

NM Film BA Malcom then announced the record setting year the NM Film Teamsters had in 2019.  "The number of Teamsters working and the amount of hours they worked this year is the highest in NM 492’s history, which allowed Local 492 to add more New Mexico residents onto our overflow list," she said. Melissa stated we are expecting 2020 to be another busy year.

Melissa also gave the audience some helpful tips and advice on being a successful Teamster which included answering your phone and saying YES when called for work, doing your job and doing it well, and also being friendly and professional.

Teamsters Local 492 would like to thank Sister Malcom for volunteering another of her weekends representing our great Union. Melissa is a great Teamster ambassador and always says YES to our industry and community leaders when asked to serve on these volunteer community outreach & educational programs. Thank you Melissa!!!

The New Administrations Attack on Workers’ Rights

Under the current administration, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has systematically rolled back workers’ rights to form unions and engage in collective bargaining with their employers, to the detriment of workers, their communities, and the economy. The current national board has issued a series of significant decisions weakening worker protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA/Act). Further, the current national board has engaged in an unprecedented number of rulemakings aimed at overturning existing worker protections. Finally, the current NLRB general counsel (GC) has advanced policies that leave fewer workers protected by the NLRA and has advocated for changes in the law that roll back workers’ rights.

The current national board and GC have routinely betrayed the statute they are responsible for administering and enforcing and elevated corporate interests above those of YOU, working men and women of America. Click Here to Read an article that highlights of the most egregious actions of the current national board and GC and evaluates the impact on working people. It is critical that Congress hold this “new” NLRB accountable and that policymakers prioritize legislative reforms that will restore the original promise of our nation’s labor law—to encourage and promote the formation of unions and the practice of collective bargaining. Click Here to Read More

Record Attendance at Local 492 Union Stewards Seminar

Today, October 27th 2019, Teamsters Local 492 conducted a Stewards Seminar for all the current stewards and alternate stewards. The stewards that attended learned key skills to enable them to perform their duties as stewards. Steward Instructor Iliana Flores of the IBT training department was there to teach the Stewards about the 7 rules of just cause, Weingarten Rights, Maintenance of Standards, how to identify if a certain practice at work can be considered a “Past Practice.” Managements Rights, how to decide when to file (or not), how to properly fill out a grievance, which includes putting on the grievance form the who, what, where, when, and why. Sister Flores also spoke She also taught the stewards how to speak to management and resolve issues.

Union Labor Lawyer Shane Youtz spoke about the rights Stewards have in the work place and tools they can use to get their job done. Mr. Youtz also spoke about how to use the NLRB to make sure the company is behaving properly. NM State Representative Liz Thomson spoke to the Stewards about how she gets advice from Unions before voting on any legislation that involves workers. NM Representative Joy Garrett spoke to the stewards about her time in the union, thanked and encouraged the Stewards for the work they do for Unions and spoke about labor issues in NM.

After Lunch, Film Department Business Agent Melissa Malcom took the 15 Movie Stewards to a separate meeting room to teach them Movie Specific issues which included Black Book vs 492 MOA, 492 Jurisdiction & Equipment, How To Handle Violations, Steward & Captain Responsibilities, See Something-Say Something, Using The ECB, 30 Mile Zone, Holiday Pay, Meal Penalties and Meal Money, just to name a few. She then answered questions from A to Z. 

We set a record for participation at this Stewards seminar by more than doubling the amount of Steward Attendees compared to the 2009 and 2014 seminars. There were 56 Stewards at the event which included 15 from UPS, 15 from the Movie Industry, 10 from ABF, 4 from YRC, 3 from Jacobs, 2 from AmeriPride, 2 from Sysco, and 1 from ATF, Creamland, NCRTD, Penske, and TeamOne. We had stewards travel from cities as far away as Las Cruces, Silver City, Taos, and Farmington. We want to thank all of the Stewards that sacrificed their Sunday to advance their skills in order to help the members of local 492! Please make sure you go out of your way this week to personally thank them for what they do. Click here to view photos of the event.

To view past 492 steward seminars click 2009, 2010 or 2014.

October 2, 2019 - Today, the 492 Teamster members working for NCRTD voted 31-3 in favor of ratifying the 2019 agreement. Congratulations and thank you to all that voted.  We were also able to organize 14 new members today for this public sector unit.

Local 492 B/A’s Trey White, Tracy McCarty and Melissa Malcom and the NCRTD Teamster Negotiating Committee obtained a Tentative Agreement with NCRTD (Blue Bus) on September 26th, 2019 which included a record wage increase of about $1.00 (6.6%) in the first year, which is more than double the increase this group has EVER seen!  This was a long, drawn out process that started in May of 2019.  After a lot of back and forth, the Local 492 Negotiating Committee reached a great deal that will greatly benefit the NCRTD members. We then had a 2.5 hour meeting on Sunday, September 29, 2019 in Espanola where we went over the details of the Tentative Agreement and answered questions.

Three years ago, negotiations took an unfortunate turn over safety partitions for drivers. This year, we were able to finally secure terms that included any new busses purchased after ratification will have partitions installed behind the driver seat for their protection. We also made a lot of headway getting some of the other big issues addressed that the members told us they had with their contract which includes:

• A record 6.6% increase for CDL Positions; Driver II, CSR II, Driver III/Lead and CSR III in the first year! That’s about a $1 raise for most drivers, and even more for the higher grades. A total wage increase of 11.6% by July 2021. (Previous couple of years were 2.7% raises) 
• Health & Welfare increases for year FY2021 will be paid by the District
• Increase in pension rate paid by the District
• New Performance and Promotion language to allow for higher rates paid beyond the contract minimums
• Increased Longevity Award
• $15 per month laundry allowance and new uniforms each year, if needed
• Cleared up several issues regarding bidding
• Warning notice improvements & progressive discipline was introduced
• Made the grievance procedure more efficient and added mediation
• Partitions to keep drivers safe on all new buses
• Added safety clause regarding driving defective equipment
• Air conditioners must be repaired within 4 days
• No outside bus washing during inclement weather
• Higher pay when temporarily reclassified to higher rated job
• Several Cell phone issues cleared up
• District will not force you to use annual leave to make up for short work weeks
• Ability to cash out up to 40 hours of vacation
• New process to improve vacation bidding
• Now only one Probation period (even if promoted/demoted)