Fighting “Right to Work” and Expanding Membership

For decades, union membership in the nine states of the Teamsters Southern Region had been eroding, driven by “right to work” laws that destroy worker freedom and bad trade deals that ship jobs overseas. Corporate America wanted people to believe this was part of an irreversible trend that would see organized labor slowly slip into obscurity. Rank-and-file Teamsters and organizers are correcting that false narrative by expanding our ranks at an astounding rate throughout the South.

Union activity in the region has been jolted by the member-centered approach of Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien and General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman as well as the strong contracts our members are securing every single day.

“General President O’Brien and General Secretary-Treasurer Zuckerman were elected on the promise of working relentlessly to make the Teamsters Union bigger, faster, and stronger,” said Brent Taylor, Southern Region International Vice President. “We are doing just that by tapping into an unprecedented level of rank-and-file militancy and being more strategic in our organizing efforts.”

In the last three years, hundreds of thousands of rank-and-filers have used unity, solidarity, and credible strike threats to win and ratify robust contracts that guarantee industry-leading wages, great health care, and strong retirement security. Nonunion workers nationwide –– especially in the South –– have been taking notice and are responding by joining the Teamsters at levels unseen in decades.

“What we’ve been seeing in the South is a generational shift in how people think about unions,” said Chuck Stiles, Assistant Director of the Teamsters Solid Waste and Recycling Division. “At a time when costs are only getting higher and corporations are hanging workers out to dry, people are following the path to prosperity that’s opened by becoming a Teamster.”

In the first year of the O’Brien-Zuckerman administration, Tennessee Teamsters set the tone for organizing campaigns to come with a pathbreaking victory at the American Red Cross, which would eventually extend to over 50 wins nationwide.

Since then, workers from every state in the region and from companies of all kinds have followed up with wins of their own, unionizing with the Teamsters in droves and securing lucrative contracts. That includes over 20,000 UPS workers who have joined through internal organizing as well as new members from Breakthru Beverage, Southern Glazer’s, Republic Services, UNFI, Kroger, Universal Logistics, Quest Diagnostics, First Transit, First Student, Specs Liquor, Titian Redi-Mix, and T-Force.

“This resurgence hasn’t come by accident,” said Wamon Hock, Teamsters Southern Region Organizing Coordinator. “Workers across the Southern Region are seeing the strong contracts our members are ratifying, and they’re buying in. Over the last few months especially, we’ve shown how much of an impact the ‘Teamsters difference’ is making.”

Thanks to the bold approach of the O’Brien-Zuckerman administration, worker militancy in the Southern Region is only gaining steam. In the last six months, out of all workers who have unionized through National Labor Relations Board elections in the region, more than a quarter of them have been Teamsters.

This year, the Teamsters Union is building on that energy to organize 30,000 new members. To hit the target, the Southern Region will be critical, and organizers and rank-and-filers are ready to meet the moment.

“The results we’ve delivered so far are just the start. We’re going to be increasing our membership in every division and every sector,” said Hock. “Teamsters organizers are riding the lightning and moving forward full steam ahead.”