Teamster Women With Local 52 Go to Women’s Conference

For the first time in its history, Local 52 in Brook Park, Ohio, sent a delegation of two women to the 2009 Teamsters Women’s Conference in Las Vegas. It was a prime opportunity for Dollie Boggs and Susan Duncan, both workers at Frito-Lay, to network with fellow Teamsters, gain knowledge from the speakers and workshops, and bring back all they’ve learned at the conference to their coworkers at home.

“I really think that in our union we have strong women. Many of the women we work with have to be strong because they’re raising kids alone or taking care of their families and working,” said Duncan, a 27-year Teamster.

According to Boggs, a 15-year Teamster production worker, about half the work force at her Frito-Lay facility is female, so the information she returns with from the Women’s Conference will be particularly useful to her coworkers.

“I came for general awareness and knowledge that I can take to the plant and use, as far as being a shop steward,” Boggs said.

The benefits of Teamster membership are evident in the contract recently ratified by the 300 production workers at Frito-Lay in Wooster, which has been a Teamster-represented facility for 44 years.

“We have a contract that can’t be changed. Being Teamsters means we feel more security in our jobs,” Duncan said.

Great Contract

Given that they have a Teamster contract, Boggs and Duncan already have pay equal to the men in their plant doing the same job, which is not true for many nonunion workers. As part of their Teamster contract, the members already had five weeks vacation after 25 years, and being that it is a 24/7 operation, vacation pay after 15 years is based on all hours worked—including overtime. In their latest contract, which was ratified by an overwhelming 156-3 vote, the workers gained substantial wage increases; enhanced bereavement leave; a tool allowance for maintenance workers and increases in uniform allowances, as well as many other enhanced policies and protections.

“Having been on the negotiation committee, I know there were a lot of proposals the company made that we were able to negotiate over to get what we needed on the job. This is a great contract,” Boggs said.

This year’s Women’s Conference brought together nearly 1,000 Teamster women. Like all of those women, Boggs and Duncan gained practical information and a sense of camaraderie from the event that they won’t soon forget.

“It’s been great meeting all these women here,” Boggs said. “It reminds you that, as Teamsters, you have a voice and someone to stand behind you and back you up.”