September 25, 2023

Strike averted for group of drivers who join Teamster family with strong Agreement

Nearly eleven months after voting to join Teamsters Local 174 and after voting to authorize a strike, a group of 50 drivers at Corliss Resources returned to work today with the protections of a strong Teamster contract. The contract secures major improvements to every aspect of the group’s working conditions – including wage increases, full family Teamster healthcare coverage paid by the Employer, Teamster pension, and work rules to protect them from favoritism and abuse. The contract ratified almost unanimously.

Concrete mixer drivers at companies throughout the Puget Sound area are predominantly Teamsters Local 174 members, with Corliss as one of the largest nonunion outliers until their decision to join the Teamsters in November 2022. The decision to join the Teamsters came after major multinational company Heidelberg Cement – parent company of Teamster-represented Cadman – purchased Corliss in January of 2022, which took the company out of the hands of local ownership. Negotiations were slow and contentious, but became far more urgent after a strike vote in June – and the reality of their Teamsters sisters and brothers at Cadman honoring a Corliss picket line at their facilities. The remarkable contract victory came from the solidarity of the new group, the leadership of their rank-and-file bargaining committee who carried the same courage and resolve as hardened, decades-long Teamsters, and the solidarity of all the other concrete mixer drivers in the Local Union who pledged their support.

“This new contract will improve the lives of Corliss drivers dramatically and is a testament to what happens when Teamsters stand together and remain ‘Rock Solid,’” said Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks, referencing the slogan used by concrete mixer drivers at Local 174 for years. “This group was nonunion a year ago, paying huge healthcare premiums and living at the mercy of management’s whims. Now their pay, benefits, and working conditions are within reach of the contract covering other Local 174 mixer drivers. These massive improvements are exceptional for a first contract and were only possible because this group stayed united throughout.”

Founded in 1909, Teamsters Local 174 represents 8,400 working men and women in the Seattle area. “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamstersLocal174.