Teamsters Local 492
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Do We Really Need Unions In America?
Jan 26, 2015

What Do Unions Do For Me?

By Teamsters492.org Webmaster, Trey White

I am always amazed when I hear some say to me, “I don’t need the Union; I do my job!” That may be true, you may be the best at your job and never do anything wrong, but the Union still helps you in ways you probably are not aware of or are thankful for because they have always been there for you so you feel that’s just normal.

If you work in a Union job, you are most likely benefiting from higher wages and benefits like paid retirements, paid holidays and the big one these days; paid insurance. Even if you have to pay a little towards some of these things, you are still probably better off than your non-union counter-parts. You may not have chosen to work there because it is a Union job, but the reasons that you do work there were more than likely made possible by the very Union you don’t think you need.

The fact is; Unions raise the wages and benefits for everyone in this country, even non-union workers. The non-union competitors must keep their wages fair because if they don’t, two things will happen the non-union company does not want; first the employees will start to leave and then the remaining employees will start reaching out to Unions to organize them, we see this all the time. Companies do not want either to happen, so they try to keep their employees just happy enough to avoid it. But if there were no Unions, there would be no threat. Then wages, benefits and overall working conditions would drop.

The decline of membership in Unions coincides with the decline in middle-class income:

If you are still not convinced, read the list of benefits below that most Americans take advantage of, (even management) that would not exist if not for Unions making them happen.   

Did you know that labor unions made the following 36 things possible?

  1. Weekends off
  2. All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks
  3. Paid vacation
  4. Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
  5. Sick leave
  6. Social Security
  7. Minimum wage
  8. Civil Rights Act/Title VII - prohibits employer discrimination
  9. 8-hour work day
  10. Overtime pay
  11. Child labor laws
  12. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
  13. 40-hour work week
  14. Workers' compensation (workers' comp)
  15. Unemployment insurance
  16. Pensions
  17. Workplace safety standards and regulations
  18. Employer health care insurance
  19. Collective bargaining rights for employees
  20. Wrongful termination laws
  21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
  22. Whistleblower protection laws
  23. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) - prohibits employers from using a lie detector test on an employee
  24. Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
  25. Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises)
  26. Sexual harassment laws
  27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
  28. Holiday pay
  29. Employer dental, life, and vision insurance
  30. Privacy rights
  31. Pregnancy and parental leave
  32. Military leave
  33. The right to strike
  34. Public education for children
  35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 - requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work
  36. Laws ending sweatshops in the United States

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2023 ELECTION RESULTS FOR LOCAL UNION OFFICERS

NOVEMBER 13, 2023 TO ALL TEAMSTERS LOCAL UNION 492 MEMBERS 2023 ELECTION RESULTS FOR LOCAL UNION OFFICERS Teamsters Local Union 492 is pleased to announce the results of the election of the Officers for the Local Union for the three-year term commencing January 1, 2024.
Download: 2023_Election_Results_492.pdf

TEAMSTERS HOLD NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AT CHEDRAUI-OWNED STORES

Teamsters Leaflet Consumers Ahead of Smart & Final Negotiations Teamsters are taking part in a National Day of Action today in support of nearly 700 Chedraui/Smart & Final workers in Southern California.

UPS TEAMSTERS CONTRACT TAKES EFFECT AS FINAL SUPPLEMENT RATIFIED

Five-Year UPS Teamster National Agreement Passes Overwhelmingly, One Supplement to Be Renegotiated 8/22/2023- Today, Teamsters voted by an overwhelming 86.3 percent to ratify the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS.

Yellow Update

9/15/2023- A grievance has been filed for ALL members at Yellow in New Mexico.  The grievance covers all vacation hours earned and unused and pro rata, vacation earned from seniority date to closing. This grievance was heard at the September session of MSC. The ruling was that all vacation grievances were to be forwarded to the bankruptcy court and would be paid out through that process.

TEAMSTERS AT TFORCE FREIGHT RATIFY NATIONAL AGREEMENT

TEAMSTER LEADERS UNANIMOUSLY ENDORSE TFORCE FREIGHT TENTATIVE AGREEMENT 7/24/2023- Teamsters local leaders unanimously endorsed the new tentative agreement between the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) and TForce Freight on Monday.

UPS Tentative Agreement Reached

“WE’VE CHANGED THE GAME”: TEAMSTERS WIN HISTORIC UPS CONTRACT Deal Results in Higher Wages, More Jobs, Equal Pay, A/C, MLK Day, Part-Time Rewards 7/25/2023- Today, the Teamsters reached the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS, protecting and rewarding more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide.

Yellow/Teamster Negotiations Update 7/25/2023

As you know, Yellow Corp. determined at a board of directors meeting on July 7, 2023, that its operating companies under the NMFA would not make required health and welfare and pension contributions to six different benefit Funds. Specifically, the Central States Health and Welfare and Pension Funds; the Central Pennsylvania Funds and the Western Conference Funds.
Download: Yellow7252023.pdf


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Teamsters Local 492
4269 Balloon Park Road NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109
  505-344-1925

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