Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Woot! Another Teamster organizing victory in Illinois!

Welcome to the Teamster family!
Please give a warm welcome to our 500 new brothers and sisters in the Chicago area who just voted by a 5-to-1 margin to become members of Teamsters Local 727. They are paratransit drivers and garage attendants for Cook DuPage Transportation (CDT).

The drivers transport disabled and elderly passengers throughout Cook and DuPage counties.

Walter Buckhalter, a Chicago native who has been a CDT driver for seven years, said the workers had been getting walked over before they joined the Teamsters. Now, he said, they feel like family.
The Teamsters were the best thing that could have happened to us, Already, everyone feels much better about themselves, and that’s a great start no matter where you are.
I’m proud. It was a group effort, and we did it.
Robert Hills, a nine-year CDT driver, said,
Everybody came together, and we are going to stick together,
John Coli Jr., president of Local 727, said,
These workers provide an extremely valuable service to our communities, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They stood together to make their voices heard, and the union vows to stand with them every step of the way as we fight to secure a strong, fair Teamster contract.
CDT dispatchers and customer service representatives will have the chance to vote for Teamster representation on June 2.