Campaign EP 01-2

Welcome, everybody, to the Teamster Power 767 Campaign Podcast. This is a new podcast solely dedicated to the Teamster Power slate running for local 767 office in November of 2024. Regardless of the outcome, we intend to continue the Reality Check Podcast dedicated to the education of the members locally and across the country. Our goal, in or out of office, is to educate as many Teamsters as possible. Hey, everybody. I've got Jeff Shenfield here who's running for President and Principal Officer of Local 767 under the Teamster Power slate, joined by George Vargas, who's running for Vice President. We're just going to do a little interview today and see what they have planned for our future. I've been thinking about this for a long time. I've been speaking to George for a while. Even before the slate was together, we were talking about different things. We had some ideas that kind of crossed over. Like anything else, this current administration, we give them a chance. I think you help them in any way you can, and that's what we do. We saw some things that we wanted better for, for the members. There are so many things involved with getting a slate together and being there for the members. I think for me, I think more than anything else, first and foremost is knowing that your local has your back. Right, George? Right. Yeah, that's very important. Yeah. When you're out there and you're as a steward, a member, you're making decisions, you're doing things, you want to know that the guys in office are going to back you. I think that's extremely important because then it just makes it where people are stronger and whatnot, but there's so much more. That's just the start. You want to have the local have your back. Where I think it starts with is the members. Right, the members. Members is very important. I think our membership is very weak, unfortunately. It's not the membership's fault. I think it's a leadership problem that we've had for quite some time. Yeah, I agree. I definitely agree. That's been one of the biggest problems that I believe we've had as a local. Local 767 has had a problem because our membership isn't being taken care of. Yeah. I think we, as a slate, have a huge plan to empower our membership. Absolutely. We have a plan to empower the membership. It starts with the development of our membership. Always. It's going to start by developing strong stewards. I think they don't have the support that they need. Yeah, that goes back to it. It's about the support. They don't have the support. They don't have the backing from our local. Yep. As our slate wants to do is develop strong stewards so they can help develop strong members. Oh, yeah. That's going to empower everybody. Always. When we feel empowered, we're going to be able to make changes. Because right now, nobody's got our back. We're not empowered. No, not at all. Right? Yeah. Once we develop all that and empower the membership, we're going to reinforce it as a slate. Our business agents are going to have our stewards back, our members back. We're going to be reinforcing the contract. Yeah. We're not going to be letting things slide like right now. We're not going to be letting that thing just, oh, we can't do nothing and blame it on the language. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, and like anything else, whatever the contract was going to be, we still have to have people to enforce it. And I think that, you know, you're absolutely right. It comes to you empower people. And they're empowered to stand up for themselves. You develop them. You educate them. You make sure they have that knowledge, right? Yeah. You know, whether it's having weekly classes, you know, for everybody. Not just for stewards. Having weekly classes. Do it weekly. And on Zoom, obviously. Come in person. Make it accessible. Absolutely. Everything's going to be accessible. We know that. Everything will be accessible. And, you know, whoever wants to listen in and learn, that's the way it's going to work. Not just people who are going to be stewards. And some weeks there won't be people who are going to be stewards. So members need to, you know, come on. And there's the education. And you keep reinforcing it. And, you know, it's a process. And you keep – everything is about repetition, right? I mean, like anything else. You know things. You repeat it. You're going to get it. It's going to come that much easier. Yeah. But it's going to – it takes a lot. But that's – you have to be willing to do that. But that's – I know from speaking to you and knowing you that that's the way it's going to be. Because that's the way it has to be. Right. There's no way of going – there's no other way of going about it. We're going to develop a different culture of our union. And I want to tell you that. That's important because when we first spoke, that's it. We have to change the culture. It won't happen overnight. You have to change the culture, the mindset of people. Right. Okay? And, you know, we voiced our opinion on things. But we voiced it with facts. Right. We didn't just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because there are things that we're – you know, and the things we've said, it's basically a lot of it, you know, to help the administration too. To make them better, to help the members. It's about the members. It's not about the administration. We're trying to help out the membership. Yes. And you have to trust your membership, you know. And I don't see this much where they take out stewards, you know, that's – you know, to walk the buildings. It shouldn't just be the stewards. It should be regular members also. Let them be part of the process. See what goes on when we walk the buildings. Right. You know? And, you know, as BA, I was in the building three, four times a week. You know our BA's are going to – we've talked about this. Right. They're going to be in the buildings a couple times a week. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, and with a purpose. Not just for photoshoots. Exactly. Sorry. Yeah. No, you're right. No, you're right. I mean, you have to be. You know, going in 5.36 in the morning, maybe you'll hit the part-timers. Then you'll hit package. Then you hit feed. You hit everyone. You don't just show up at 8.30, 9 o'clock. Yeah. And stay out of the gate until everybody's gone. Yeah. You've got to speak with the people. And, you know, and it works. You're in the building. You're speaking with people. You're answering their questions. Right? So, you get less phone calls because you're answering it head-on. Plus, you're nipping a lot of things in the bud that the company wants to do. You're like, uh-uh. That's not going to work. I believe these last past administrations have had the issue with that, or the fear that education is power. And it is power. Yeah. But they're using it the wrong way. 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