What is Rebuild 695?
Rebuild 695 is a group of working Teamsters in Local 695 who work together to change the direction of our union. We want our union to be open and democratic and to fight for the members. That means giving members information about what is happening in the union, with negotiations and decisions that will affect working Teamsters.
We are running a slate for leadership of the union in 2022. We ran a slate for Local office in the 2019 election, the first contested race since 1998.
What kind of policies are you proposing?
Our priorities are 1) a democratic union run by members; 2) ensuring that the union staff & leadership are transparent, responsive, and communicative; and 3) getting the union in fighting shape to defend our contracts and win more for our members.
Concretely that means a few things. First, we are for elected stewards and bargaining committees. The Rebuild695 slate is not going to walk in and tell you what your business is or pick people we like. In 2020, we proposed bylaws changes so that every bargaining committee would be elected by workers at the worksite, that there would be regular steward elections, and that proposed contracts would have a MINIMUM time for workers to review before voting, with full contract language. These are things to ensure that the members are running the union – it is a policy the leadership can enact.
We will produce regular updates about the worksites and the union’s business so that members know what is happening. The union needs to be a trusted source of information, and reliable so that people can depend on hearing from the union what is happening where you work and how it affects you. After the 2019 election, 695 finally put up a website because our campaign pointed out we didn’t even have that bare minimum available to members.
Lastly, our stance is that the union is not a junior partner to management. The biggest gains the union has made is when members have been organized and mobilized and pushed to get what we deserve. “Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has and it never will.” This is something a leadership can support, but requires an active membership. Our policy would be to support member initiatives, to prioritize working conditions at our shops, and to build collective solutions rather than act as a kind of insurance company.
Are you getting rid of the union or our contract?
NO! We are Teamsters fighting to change our union into a democratic union with member participation, so that our union represents us like they should. We are not decertifying the union or any contracts. We want to enforce our contracts, protect seniority and defend our members.
What happened with the last election?
Ballots were counted October 25th, 2019. Rebuild received approximately 46% of the 1005 votes. Full results are detailed here, including the election report.
When’s the next election?
Local officer elections are every three years. The current term will end in 2022.
Are you guys just Metro people?
No. We have slate members and supporters across Teamsters Local 695 — this isn’t “just a Metro thing”. We got just under half the vote in 2019, so clearly its not limited to any one worksite. The most important thing is that we can offer an alternative right now, for this election. We want every Teamster involved, and every Teamster we talk to at each worksite says that they’re having similar experiences with no communication, no meetings, no regular votes for stewards, contracts getting worse, etc. We want to REBUILD 695 so that our union is run by members and that Teamsters at each workplace is involved in the decisions that affect us.
REBUILD Teamsters Local 695 