Sister and brother Teamsters,

This week we will be receiving ballots for the election of officers for our union, Teamsters Local 695. This will be the first election of officers since 1998 – that is because information about our union and how to participate is regularly hidden from the members. Only one sitting officer, President Dave Brugger, was elected and all officers since that time (including Wayne Schultz) have been appointed and brought on through acclamation.

We are proud of the campaign that we have run. We have reached out to as many members as we are able to talk about the union and to hear from fellow workers about what their experiences have been. We have put forward ideas, a vision and a plan for how our union can and should be. We’ve made information open to members to empower the rank and file. Where we have criticized, we have talked about actions and behaviors, not attacks on the personal character of our opponents.

The Schultz Slate, on the other hand, has been obsessed with discrediting rank and file Teamsters, attacking each of us personally, and using the boss’s tactics to stay in office. They have offered no plans for addressing the problems of our union, and instead said that there are no problems! They have made claims that we will “clean house”, which we have never said.

They do this because they have no answers, all they have is fear. They try to scare the hell out of people with lies and empty accusations, and bully members so that no one sees that beneath it all they have nothing to offer. Their argument for keeping them in office is because they are already there. This is how they run the union: keeping information from members, appointing their own people to keep control, and then forcing members to accept what they’ve done – they give us 24 hours to read a contract before forcing a vote, because they know that if you look at what they have to offer it is junk.

Strong unions are built on a strong membership. The Rebuild 695 Slate is our effort to give name to the problems that Teamsters in this Local have, and to offer that there is another way. We want a democratic union, run by members for the members. The Schultz Slate’s appeal is for protecting themselves.

Solidarity. VOTE REBUILD 695!