Voices for Power 📢 Shop Stewards show their collective strength

Power, purpose, and solidarity - rank-and-file leaders gather for our annual Shop Steward Seminar and Appreciation Day.

Under the banner, Voices for Power, Teamsters Shop Stewards showed their collective strength on Saturday for our annual Shop Steward Seminar and Appreciation Day.

Hundreds of rank-and-file leaders from across the state came together for training, solidarity, and to share their experiences of how to keep our Union effective and strong.

Shop Stewards are using their voices to build Union power in the workplace.

Teamsters Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer Paul Dascher kicked off the event by sharing recent organizing victories and contract wins and thanking our Stewards for their hard work and sacrifice.

Local 117 Secretary-Treasurer Paul Dascher vows to protect the rights of ALL members.

"We are a Union that defends the rights of all members - we don't leave out workers from our movement," Secretary-Treasurer Dascher said. "This includes our immigrant brothers and sisters who ICE is unjustly targeting in ways that divide families and harm our economy."

Our keynote speaker was Tom Erickson, Director of the IBT Warehouse Division and a Central Region International VP. Erickson, who started his Teamsters career in a SuperValu warehouse in Minnesota, also spoke about the need to stop the attacks on working-class immigrant communities.

IBT VP Tom Erickson spoke about the fight to protect immigrant workers on the streets of Minneapolis and across the country.

In the breakout sessions, Shop Stewards brainstormed ways to harness and cultivate Union power at work.

"Union power means equality for my co-workers, us supporting each other, and having each other's backs," said Dominic Fields, a Shop Steward at Sysco.

Jacque Crenshaw of WCCW talked about Union power as feeling safe and secure in the workplace.

"For me, Union power is when members' voices are heard and there are protections in place at work so everyone can feel safe," said Jacque Crenshaw, a dental hygienist at the Washington State Corrections Center for Women.

Shout out and a ton of gratitude to our amazing plenary panelists, Angella Coker (DOC), Zach Rasmussen (Darigold), and Matt Lim (Waste Management) as well as our many excellent workshop presenters. As usual, our political team rocked the house with a fun, interactive Teamsters in Politics trivia game. Study up y'all and we'll see you again next year!