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Teamsters 554 Union Strike · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Gene Stothard. Peyton, Hi Locked, my
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: producer is also here. Good morning Peyton, Good morning Gen.
• 0:05
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• 0:08
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• 0:14
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• 0:17
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• 0:36
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  Speaker 1: of doing that, don't.
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  Speaker 1: Baby show comment line Chris Baker, Scott Vorheez all of us.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And you know what, when I always talk about my
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: little scooters, I drive through every day, which is on
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Underwood kind of right across from the workout place. What
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I can't even think the name about. It's about seventyeth Underwood,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Todd Smith. No much of a different one. I go
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: to us Scooters. But anyway, I drove up through the
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: drive for the through this morning and two men were
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: sitting out front and they were like, hey, Mayor, and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I had to say former mayor, and they go, we
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: listen to your show every day and if we miss it,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: we listen to the podcast. So there you go, Peyton,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: there we go. So anyway, this morning, we have two
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: great guests with us, and I'm really interested in talking
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to you guys. Chris Carson is here and he is
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the captain of the Teamsters Local five fifty four workers
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and also Paul Smith, who is a captain of Local
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: five point fifty four workers union. Right now, there are
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: forty seven workers on strike that we're going to talk about.
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  Speaker 1: But first of all, good morning, good morning, good morning. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for being here, both of you. And I told
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: them while we were getting ready for the show that
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  Speaker 1: my experience in the last twenty seven years has been
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: with a lot of negotiations, first of all, eleven years
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: with the teachers and then sixteen years with fire and
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: police and the city employees. But this is different, and
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I want you to talk about it. But let's first
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the Teamsters. You know, the
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Teamsters have a past that people I would say we're
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: afraid of. Maybe, I mean there was well, you always
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: come to think of Jimmy Hoffa, We always come to
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: think of organized crime. But the actual name is the International,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: isn't it Brotherhood of the Teamsters?
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Is that correct?
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  Speaker 1: The ibt okay, and it's AFLCIO correctes okay. And it
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: was formed I did a little research. You'll be impressed.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: It was formed in nineteen oh three, So you guys
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  Speaker 1: have been around a long time. And this was a
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: merger when it was formed in nineteen oh three by
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: members of the team Drivers International Union in the Teamsters
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: National Union. How about that. I knew that that's correct, yes, okay,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and you do still now, Okay, the past is the past.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Let's move to where you are now. You represent a
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  Speaker 1: diverse membership of blue and white collar workers, correct, correct,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: in both public and private sectors. And I found this
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: out when I was doing a little research. It totals
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  Speaker 1: about one point two five million members in twenty twenty five.
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  Speaker 1: So the Teamsters is still strong in the Teamsters. It's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: still here.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: We are still here. We're not going anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Give us an example of some of the workers
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  Speaker 1: that belong to this Teamsters or I mean, like chauffeurs.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Give it. Give me an example of many of the
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: groups you.
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  Speaker 3: Represent, warehouse work drivers. Also, there's some.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: Office facilities out there that are organized, okay, just general labor.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Okay. And this is Chris Carson with the Teamsters. And
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: again Paul Smith is here too. Paul, you just jump
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: in whenever you want here and give Okay, So give
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: me and the listeners an example before we start talking
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: about your current strike, what you as a union, what
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: you advocate for for your members of your union. Talk
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: about is it higher wages, is it shorter hours, is
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: it better pensions? Kind of go through the litany of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: things that you guys are really concerned with when you
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: negotiate contracts. It's probably all of the above, right, just
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: your labor unions.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: You know, if you need a contract CBA.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: And that's a CBA is a collective bargaining.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: Agreement, you're telling you have that behind you for your labor.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: It just better benefits, better page, just the structure of it.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: You know, it's usually a three, four or five year deal.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Just all the benefits that go with it, okay, you know,
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: just in writing.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: So it's it's mostly salary and benefits is what you
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: are bargaining with when you negotiate a labor contract.
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: Workers right, safety standards, Okay, a big thing.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, and that's Paul Smith talking right now. But you
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: do still negotiate for pensions, healthcare, retirement, widows benefits. I'm
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: assuming in there, the big things.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: That's what we work for.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right now, what I read in some information
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: is it says with Premiere Midwest Beer and Beverage, which
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: is acquired by Blazers Beer and Beverage three years ago. Blazers. Okay,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: what did I say? It's Blazers g L A Z
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  Speaker 1: E R S correct, and it said the previous thirty
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: year union contract expired in January twenty twenty six. Who
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: has a thirty year contract.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: We've been established about thirty five plus years. We're owned
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: by Premier Middist Baron Beverage. Okay, every our contracts goes
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: every three years. But it was previous owners were you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: it was like a family ran business.
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  Speaker 5: Okay, thirty years of labor peace, without an issue, without
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: a strike, without having to hit the street.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, so thirty years, no problems at all. It was
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: it was still teamsters. They were still unionized, correct, correct,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: And then every three years you renegotiated and got a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: new contract approved every three years. And so this contract
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: now that you are striking over, it expired in January
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: twenty sixth, February first, and you made the decision in
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: February to go on strike.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: We started negotiating November eleventh.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: Actually we're sitting now with the company and we could
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: the company that bought us glasures Baron Beverage out of Dallas.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: They eleven other distributors. South Southwest is born up in
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  Speaker 4: Sioux City. They're all non union houses. Okay, you know
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  Speaker 4: they buy us out knowing you know, we're a union house,
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  Speaker 4: and we sit down November eleventh to start negotiating, and
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  Speaker 4: it was clear that their goal was to bust.
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  Speaker 3: Up the union.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: When you say bust up the union, what does that mean?
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: They slid across their contract and their proposals, and what
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: they wanted to do is basically just redline everything. What
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: I mean by that everything that we've established worked for
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: thirty five plus years. You know, you work on you
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: do a contract each day, each year. It's each contract
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: you try to get a piece by piece add to
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  Speaker 4: it right, and they just want to take that. They
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: took the contract and redline it and just everything we
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  Speaker 4: built and acquired, they just want to you know, abolish.
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  Speaker 1: So so let me ask you this so again, I said,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I've had a lot of experience with fire and police
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  Speaker 1: who are tough to negotiate with. You started negotiating in
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  Speaker 1: November and you declared an m pass in February. That
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem like a long time to me. Sometimes we've
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: negotiated over a year for firing police.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: Tell me about that in the past we negotiated with
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  Speaker 4: them was rand by Premiere we'd have we started maybe
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  Speaker 4: end of our contracts already expired in February, right, we
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: sit down of November December. Always in the past, two
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: set downs, maybe three set downs total of maybe eight
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  Speaker 4: to ten hours. We get a deal worked out.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, I mean, I'm amazed at that. That's quick.
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  Speaker 3: It was never a non issue. A couple squabbles here
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  Speaker 3: and there, but you know, a couple of hours, we
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: get it worked out and everybody's happy. It's always give
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: and take, you.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Know that, right, And that's that's what I was going
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  Speaker 1: to bring up. Labor negotiations are always give and take,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and you never get everything you want. And you usually
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: start out what my experience both sides with me, the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: city and the union, starts out pretty big, knowing you're
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: not going to get everything, and in the end you
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: meet in the middle. You meet in the middle. So
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: are you saying that you are finding your negotiations They
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: just weren't going anywhere. They weren't budging first.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: They want to start out, you know, they want to
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  Speaker 4: put their their stamp on the contract, their own contract,
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: not the previous ones.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Okay, I get it. That's fine.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: So they wanted to establish a new contract with you guys,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: and not just base it off the former yes, okay, But.
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  Speaker 4: How they did it basically was a slap in the face.
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  Speaker 4: Redline everything, Like I said that we've worked for the
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: last thirty five plus years and everything anything that benefited
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: the workers, they readlined it out and put anything that
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: would benefit the company in there. Pretty much sums it up.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Can you well? First of all, I was going to say,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: can you give me a few examples, But if you
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: have an expired contract, then by labor laws, are you
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: still can you still work under the previous contract?
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: You have to give an extension, okay, And they were
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: asking for an extension. We I sat on negotiations. We
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: asked for them to get off their concessions. Concessions, I mean,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: get off all this stuff they're trying to take away
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: from us and try to get an extension. And they
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: weren't budgeting and they were sticking to their sticking to
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: the hills that this is the ground they want to
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: die on, and so they going from there.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: They basically wanted to start up from ground zero in
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: a new contract. So what let's talk about. Give some
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: examples so I think the listeners can understand. So one
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: of the main things is your salary. So are they
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: trying to I'm gonna say salary and benefits. We'll get
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: to that, but say your salary. They're not trying to
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: lower your salary, are they Are? They just not giving
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: you the increases that you think you deserve the salary.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: They wanted to do a different pay structure totally from
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: what we've had for the last thirty five plus years.
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: By going to it, it's it's less money for it.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: So but that's all the how they want to do
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: their pay structure. That's negotiable. You try to get how
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: they want to do it, try to get more wages
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: out of it. But also it's the main things your
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: snorities snorty is the backbone of Indy Union, right right,
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: then one of the not do away with it, but
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: restructure it. Then your biggest things are you know, are
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: retirement and the elephant in the room is then insurance.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you have a salary structure, right and and
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: so it would you would anticipate in your bargaining that
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: for every year of service your salary would go up,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: you would get a cost of living rays or something
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: to that effect.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: We're all our and they just you know, would never
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: get a cost of living, wage increase, but you just
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: negotiate no wages each year, eas each year each year
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: for the three year deal.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: But the seniority, if you've been there longer, you get
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: more salary. Is that correct?
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: No, we're all the same, all the same.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: Any any teamsters you know you're working at whatever filled
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: its side, it's you're all paid the same, okay.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: There's no snorty list for that, okay. And then you
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: also are under a pension system.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Correct, retirement system?
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: YEA call it retirement.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Use me. Every morning, I clear my throat till eleven
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: o'clock till I go off the air, and then I'm
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: fine all day. So you do have a retirement system.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: It's not really called a pension system.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: We had a pension about seven years ago. Years ago,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: we got out from it. That's kind of a bittersweet
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: subject to me. But I went to a four to
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: one k, which is good four one K okay.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: And you know that that's one thing that I really
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: wanted to ask you about, because I was going to
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: ask you these like the public employees like the fire
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and police, they are still under a pension system. But
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: you know, if I tell you how much they put
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: in and the city puts in. To me, it's pretty lopsided.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: But once you once you negotiate it, it's got to
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: stay in the contract until you negotiate something different. So
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: just let me give you an example. With police, the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: city puts in thirty four percent, and police puts in
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the the employee er puts in thirty four percent, the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: employee puts in sixteen And with the pension with fire,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the employee er, the city puts in thirty three percent,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the employee puts in seventeen percent. But that's a lot
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: of money that goes into the pension every year. The
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: total amount for the city is forty one million a
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: year for police and twenty seven million for fire. So
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to put it in perspective because I
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: think a lot of people understand fire and police. So
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you don't have a type of pension system like that
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: where the employee and the employer match, but you have
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: a four to oh one and the four to oh
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: one the employee and the employer both put in money, correct,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: and you're trying to negotiate the amount.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: Okay, they want to go to their four oh one k,
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: which is less than ours. So it's basically going to
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: their four one k is more money in their pocket.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: But the amount of money, and Paul, please jump in anytime.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: The amount of money that you all put in into
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: your four oh one per paycheck? Is that something you're negotiating.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Do they want you to put in more or less?
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: Just it's part of the match before, okay, like a
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: match right now, and they want to how they want
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: to structure. It's it's less money going into it.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, So I mean most of your concern let me
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: just ask you this. It's it's got to be the
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: bottom line is what you take home in that paycheck.
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: It's your That's what really matters.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: It's your salary. It's how much you're putting into your retirement,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: how much they're putting into your retirement. And then another
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: big elephant in the room. It's always healthcare.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: That's the elephant in the room.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, And you know I always that's what we're on
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the streets for. Okay, Well I always I will always
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: go back and tell you about fire and police because
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: So.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Then I want you to to talk about what your
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: healthcare that you're negotiating or you're trying to negotiate. So
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: with the City of Omaha, wait till you hear this.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Every year for health care, we budget about ninety million
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: for healthcare. And that's fire, police, civilians, it's everybody. So
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: healthcare is a huge expense. So tell me about the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: healthcare benefits that you've had in the past and what
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: you're trying to negotiate now, Paul, you want to you
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: want to talk a bit about it or I feel
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: like we're ignoring you over there.
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I just chime in when Chris. Chris doesn't have
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: anything left to say, you.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Want to talk about the healthcare.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: Then I got a little bit of a potty mouse.
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: So I try not to talk that much.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Not on the radio. We'll beep yat though.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: We're with the Central States.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Pension and Insurance, and it's just it's what we've had
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: for thirty five plus years.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Is that what most teamsters have?
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: There's different, there's different Like there's a miscan conference out there. Conference.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: We're in the Central States ones. I've been a team
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: stress with five five four for thirty five years now.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: I've had this insurance for thirty five.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Years, same healthcare insurance, same coverage.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: Correct and I mean it goes. It's different like like
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: say the freight business. You know UPS, you know Central States,
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: you know UPS. You know they have like a better
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: coverage than we do, but still Central States, still good insurance.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: You know, I'm blessed and grateful for you know, we've.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: You know, we we've a year.
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: You know, we sit there every three years, sit down
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: for a contract that you know we want to you know,
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: this is this is the main thing to us as.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: We negotiated through the years, we have took a lot
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: lesson raises to keep phenomenal insurance.
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: Yes, yes, for that reason.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: Okay, I've given this company probably the best eighteen years
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: of my life.
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: Again, there's been so many.
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: Sacrifices that have made decades and generations before us. It's
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: not our ground to even give back. Okay, they bought
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: us because we're a profitable business. They bought us. We've
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: won many Gold Cup Beer awards.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Can you, I mean, can you? Can you start your
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: own company?
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: I mean there's no way I could as a father
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: of a thirteen and nine year old.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know how that goes. I know how that goes.
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: This is this is not the time.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: So the healthcare benefits are the things that have really
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: caused the impass, you believe, amongst a few other.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Things, it's the whole retirement and Okay, back in the
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: you know, like I said that, the insurances and their insurances.
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: You know, just it's inferiors. Just you know, they say,
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: you know, they don't love and other distribtorships. You know,
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: they preach where a family were the same, but we're
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: not the same.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: We have a CBA.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a collective bargaining agreement.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: I said from the beginning, let's get them on one.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: And you're legally you are legally responsible to hold up.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: You're contractually obligated if you have a collective bargaining agreement
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: to uphold that agreement. But now your agreement has expired
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and you haven't extended it. Is that correct?
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Correct?
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Let me read you a statement and I want you
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: to comment on it, Okay, without using profanity, Paul. But
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: here's a statement from Premiere Beer and Beverage, and they say, quote,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: we have engaged in good faith negotiation negotiations. While some
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: bargaining rounds can be challenging, we respectfully disagree with the
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: union's criticism, which we believe ignores the major decline in
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: beer industry has experienced. Oh, I didn't know that. We
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: are committed to doing what it takes to continue providing
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: customers with the service they deserve, and we hope to
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: resolve the work stoppage as soon as possible, because no
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: one wins in a strike.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Comment on that define bargaining in good faith?
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what I was just going to ask you,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: even before I read this, I was going to say,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: do you fair feel like they have been bargaining in
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: good faith with you all?
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: When they slid across the proposal, across the table and
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: everything that we've built for the last thirty five plus
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: years and gouted redline everything out. That's not bargaining in
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: good faith. Okay, that's a slight.
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: It does not cost a penny to lie in the
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: United States of America.
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: It doesn't cost him anything to well to lie.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Well, you got that right. However, I mean, I'm not
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: siding with one side or another here, but I will
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: just ask you have they offered and have you offered?
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Let's get back at the table.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: We recently sit down, We did get some negotiating done,
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: come to terms on some agreements. Nothing, you know, it
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: kept us at the table negotiating, but left it. As
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: you know, the elephant in the room is the retirement
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: still on there. But insurance, that's the biggest thing.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: And that was two weeks ago and they had not
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: reached out and negotiated since week two before that.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: But your goal, I mean, you are the captains with
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the group that is decided to strike. Is your goal
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: is to get a contract, right, that's absolutely I mean,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you don't like this being there at five am striking
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: or whatever time you start. You don't like this.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: No, our goal is to give everybody back to work.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And so I mean, do you feel like you can
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: you can reach out to them and say we're ready
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to talk. Let's get back to the table here are
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's your goal. That's got to be.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: We have to meet in the middle, okay. True on
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: common grounds okay.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: And because of this strike, there are restaurants, some restaurants
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: here in Dundee, some bars that are not using the liquor. Right,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: the beer that is usually distributed from this company. Is
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: that correct?
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: Absolutely correct? Right up to the street from her Underwood bar.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: You know, I just want to come out and support
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: of this at a completely boycott in the company. We've
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: had a handful of other bars that followed suit and
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: to this day strow boycott in the company and supporting
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: the workers local owners.
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: Yes, no chains, but.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: What is what is in this statement? Could you comment
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: about it that that they they were accusing you, the Teamsters,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: of ignoring major declines in the beer industry. Has there
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: been major declines in the beer I don't know.
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: How do we get those numbers? Can they show us
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: those numbers?
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: See I'm just asking so you're not aware of that.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: They have said that no business has declined, but I
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: still drink beer.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: I do think some of their business has declined since February.
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: I mean we were.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: There for the CWS.
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: Me and him used to get the orders ready for
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: the CWS.
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: We used to watch them go down the mat and
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: there were times where they would take six pallets of
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: one and three pallets in the other I saw only
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: saw them take one and one and that.
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: Was through four days. Okay, that is exponentially less.
• 22:01
  Speaker 7: So.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Some of the beers that are distributed with premier beer
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: and beverage, Miller Cores, Passlue, Ribbon.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Blue Moon, That's my favorite. Mikeella, there's there's useless ones.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: Miller Cores, Chris Carson, and Paul Smith with us here,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: captain of the Teamsters Local five fly for Workers Union strike. Yes,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: forty seven workers are on strike. And one thing that
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: was that I have heard about is the outsourcing of
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Nebraska workers, taking it out of Nebraska, out of the
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: city of Omaha.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about that.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, we get the streets February second, five am. You
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: know that put a brinch in their plan of getting
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: the beer out. The week one they brought on other
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: people from other facilities to come up and do the jobs.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: Week two they hired a company called Helfmaster. They specialize
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: in strike lines. They're on the strike lines with us
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: twenty four to seven watching us videoing us. We go out,
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: follow trucks in the morning's invatory picking, you know, invatory picketing.
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: Follow a truck to a gas station, a grocery store
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: and throw up a pick of science. Because you have
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: scabs doing our work.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask you about that term.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: You're still using curity security and follow us.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: Peyton get back to Yes, they've the first month they
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: brought other people to do our work. Warehousing, driving, getting
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: the beer out, and merchandising. Since then, they've hired people,
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: They've had numerous job fairs, you know, hangled a carrot
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: in front of them for hiring bonus, significant hiring bonus,
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: and since then they've had a huge turnover. You know
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: this this, this isn't easy work, you know, lugging beer around,
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: you know, throwing a couple of kegs on a two wheeler,
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: going upstairs and going downstairs, working twelve thirteen hour days
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: when it's you know, how does hell outside in.
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: Our contract and it's a mandatory twelve hour day. They
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: can keep us for twelve hours every day if they
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: want to.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Okay, this isn't easy work.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: And people are finding this out and you know, or
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: they're leaving also, you know, they can't find you know,
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: Class A CDL drivers, Class A CEDAL drivers, tractor trailers, domination,
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: so they've started buying box trucks for people to do
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: the jobs they can't. You know, you've got a Class
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: A license for what they want to pay you and
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: the benefits they want to give you. People are not leaving,
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: not or not or leaving, they're not staying.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: So they still they still are operating.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: They're still getting the beer out. Less bears going out.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: I could say that, and no one's no one's across
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: that pick up lie Geene.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I'll let you wrap up after this question real quick,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: just a final few minutes here.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: I have some other questions I want to ask.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, this is these are these are people coming outside
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: of Nebraska, you know the word that are on strike
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: right now, live in Nebraska. They paid taxes in Nebraska,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: in the community right here. I mean you have to
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: imagine that that that has a big effect on the
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: community beyond just the workers, but everybody else as well.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: They're outsourcing these They're bringing people in who are not
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: paying taxes here, aren't spending money here.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: I've gone to talk to bar owners and stuff and say, hey,
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: you know, induce myself. You know, I'm I'm local. We
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: live in Bellevue. You know I spend money here. I
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: paid taxes here. You got your drivers commarreed to live
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: in your Beers that don't live here, not paying taxes
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: here and not spending any money here.
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: They only have one person from Texas in that building
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: on a day to day basis, one person.
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: Everyone else before this was all Amah. Most of us born.
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: And raised at least in the area, unfortunately from Council Bluss.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: But it is what it is, and I think that's
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: important for people to know. Chris Carson and Paul Smith,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: both captains with the Teamsters Local five point fifty four,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: are here talking about their strike that is going on
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: right now. Now I'm going to switch gears really just
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: for a few minutes that we have left here. Tell
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: me this, Give me your opinion of this. Why is
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: it that labor unions when they come out and support
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: political candidates, they seem to automatically go to Democrats and
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: not Republicans. And let me tell you, I've dealt with
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: it myself. Give me an answer with that, because are
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: you guys supporting from are supporting.
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: Dan everyone that has came out to our strike line?
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: And Chris, correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't seen
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: one Republican elected official.
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: Or candidate I in my time there.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: I may have missed one or two, But correct me
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: if I'm right right.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Do you think they're there to support you? Are they
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: looking for a photo op?
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: There's you you feel a little bit, You get a
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: feel one way or another, and you know I've been
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: wrong people.
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: I've been right about my read on people.
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: You know, every person's not so some are ingenuous, but
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: some definitely come across as very genuine and multiple show
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: ups again and again and again, and you have to
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: just take them at face value.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Well, I know Dan Osborne came out and said, I'm
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: with you guys. Are you supporting Dan Osborne?
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: Then I will be at the astro today tonight we
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: have a rally.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Does your group have to decide? I mean, do you
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: interview and then make a decision of what candidate are
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: you just automatically.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: That's from the local who they want to endorse it.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: But it is true that most unions, even the Arts
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and Trades Union, I found, the steel Workers and all
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: of those, they tend to automatically go because I'm a Republican,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: they automatically go to the Democrat. They don't even want
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: to talk to you because they think Democrats are more
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: supportive of labor unions. And that's not necessarily the case.
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: And I will say that I know Pete Ricketts knows
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: where that building is because he came and got a
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: check from them back when it was premier and it
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: was better. And I know Don Bacon's on his way out,
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: but he also knows where that building is because he
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: came and got a check from them. And it's been
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: nothing but crickets. We ain't seen those guys at all.
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: All right, all three, because every day, every day an
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: EMO has been sent to Don Bacon and Pete Ricks
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: about what's going on. And it's, like Paul said, it's
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: been crickets.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, I know how that is. Well, Chris Carson Paul Smith,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: both captains of the Teamsters Local five to five four.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: You know what, I really wish you luck. I hope
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: you come to an agreement soon because it's affecting your lives,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: it's affecting the companies. But you know, I mean, the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: goal has got to be we want a fair labor contract.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: We want to negotiating good faith, and we want to
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: get this done right correct, and the benefits and the
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: benefits have to be fair. I mean all we all
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: know that. That's what your goal is. That's what you.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Want I mean fair, Yes, I mean absolutely, that's what
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: we're fighting for.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Is there any restriction on the Let me just ask
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: you this and then we do have to wrap up.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Is there any restriction on the amount of time that
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: a local union can go on strike. I mean, is
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: there a limit or can you be on strike for
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: you go.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: On strike, we're on UO peach charges for unfair labor
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: practice charges. That's what we're on the strike for. We
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: hit the streets. At that point, you have a year
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: to be on the streets.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, I didn't know that. So you can strike
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: up to a year and then you have to come
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: to some sort.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: Of a agreement.
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: At at that point the company, you know, you come
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: back to work or we're off this in ority of listen,
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: thank you. Basically, I just want to say one more thing.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: It's simple. I've said this from day one. Either the
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: working men and women of Nebraska matters or we don't.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Absolutely no, I agree with you on that one. And
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: you know, I think everybody deserves fair wages, fair benefits.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: People are working really really hard, costs are going up.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: You got to take care of your families. I know
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: you said you have teens, Paul, I mean that makes
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: a big difference. So I really you know, and I
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: will tell you this, there was one time that the
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Teamsters got involved with one of our civilian unions and
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I always found the Teamsters very reasonable and good to
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: work with. I really have that was my past experience.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: We're great people.
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: We live in the real world.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, we don't.
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: Have visions of illusion and grandeur.
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: Man.
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: We show up every day.
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: You know what's like through COVID. We showed up every day.
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: We were essential. We kept that company's name.
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: Again.
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: If Glazier's so proud of who they are, just put
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: their name on the front of the building. Why's it
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: got to be the name I helped build. Just put
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: your name on the front.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Glazers, understand, understand? All right, Thank you both for being
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: here today. I appreciate it. Wish you a lot of
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: luck at getting this contract negotiated so you could get
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: back to normal lives again.
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: We appreciate you having us on there. We want to
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: give a shout out to all the brothers and sisters
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: on that pick line.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: We love you. We're digging our hills in. We're not
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: going anywhere and uh Teamster's local five to five four baby.
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: Thank everyone for the support they've given us.
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: Everyone, whether you showed up with water, showed up with
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: a snow anything, just showed up and held a sign.
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: It means a lot to real people.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Showed up with a beer. All right, thanks both of
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you guys for being here. They really appreciate it.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: Peyton, thank you.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: News Radio eleven ten KFAB. This is the kfa B
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: comment Line with your host of the show, Jean Stouth.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: My name is Peyton Highlock, and definitely the heat is on.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Holy cow, it's been human outside here in Omar. You know, Peyton,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: I've said before, I love hot weather. I love Arizona weather,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: but this humidity that we have here in the heartland
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: is oppressive. But anyway, I'd rather have this than ice
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: and snow any day. We just had Chris Carson and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Paul Smith with Local five five four with the teamsters
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: who are on strike right now. But I have to
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: just to recap a little bit. I wanted them to
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: talk about what their issues were, why they are on strike,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: but for everyone to understand why these unions exist and
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: what their options are when they come to an impass.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: They can go on strike, the teamsters can fire, and police,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: for example, cannot, and what the process is in the
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: state in Nebraska. And I've been involved with many labor
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: contract negotiations. It's collective bargaining agreements is if you do
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: reach an impass, and I tell you sometime with Fire
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: and Police, we've negotiated over a year. But with Fire
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: and Police, if their contract expires, you are contractually obligated
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: to stay with the current contract until you come to
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: an agreement. But the process in the state of Nebraska
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: is if you reach an impass, you go to the
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Court of Industrial Relations, which is in Lincoln, and it's
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: basically like a judge and a jury that you present
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: each side and they will come up with their recommendations
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: of what you're going to give them to solve this impasse.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: I'll look at Union Pacific too. Of course, almost all
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: of Union Pacific, they are mostly under they're mostly unionized
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: with the Union Pacific. This is just to give you
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: another example. Here in Omaha, they do not have a
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: pension plan, but they have railroad retirement plans that are
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: sort of like Social Security, but they get higher payments
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: and they do have four oh one programs. But you know,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: like with the railroads, they, like I said, most of
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: them are unionized. They can strike under certain conditions, but
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: generally with Union Pacific, the federal government gets involved due
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: to the critical nature of rail services, So the Department
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: of Transportation gets involved because they don't want rail services
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: to stop. I mean that would be catastrophic. So labor
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: unions have a strong voice. And you know, with again
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: and my experiences mostly with fire and police, you cannot negotiate.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I mean you cannot take anything out of a contract
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: without negotiating it. So once they have an agreement on
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: what their pensions are, if you're going to change it,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: both sides have to agree. And once you set what
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: their salary is and their incremental increases and their salary, say,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: if you do a five year contract, you have to
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: honor that, and if you don't, you're going to get sued.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: So I want to know what people think about what
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: our conversation was with the teamsters. And also the question
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: always arises. I bring up fire and police a lot,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: but is there still a place for public employee unions.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Do you all agree that fire and police should be
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: unionized or do you think that they should be offered
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: a some sort of a retirement plan or a four
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: to h one K type of a retirement plan and
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: not be on a pension system. What's your thoughts about that,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: because again we can't change it because they would the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: other side would have to agree, and I don't think
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: that they will agree to do away with their pension.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: But many, many people will ask me, we don't need
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: public employee or retirement systems anymore. Pension systems, So what's
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: your thoughts about that? And an interesting conversation, because unions
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: are very powerful. Another union that is very powerful are
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: the teachers. And you know we have the NSCA, the
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Nebraska Education Association, very powerful group of teachers that are
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: very influential on a lot of political races. But at
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: the same time, they don't like to be called a union,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: but they are. They act exactly like a union. You
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: negotiate their contracts, you bargain their contracts, and you come
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: up with agreements. So what's your thoughts.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: We want to hear from you. Four zero two five
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: five eight, eleven ten. You can also send an email
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: to comment at kfab dot com or the radio talkback
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: MIC is always a good option on the iHeartRadio app.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Now we're gonna go to the phone lines real quick.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: John has something to interject here. John, thank you so
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: much for calling News Radio eleven ten KFAB. You are
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: alive with Jean's author.
• 36:12
  Speaker 8: Yeah, thanks Peyton. Good morning, Jeane, Good morning. So one
• 36:17
  Speaker 8: of those forty six striking workers that they refer to
• 36:21
  Speaker 8: is my son, So I am I'm kind of in
• 36:27
  Speaker 8: this in talking to my son. The biggest sticking point
• 36:33
  Speaker 8: in these negotiations is the healthcare benefits. You know that
• 36:39
  Speaker 8: this is the thing that Glazer just won't butg on.
• 36:45
  Speaker 8: From what I've been told, they they want to put
• 36:48
  Speaker 8: these workers on their own healthcare program, their corporate healthcare program,
• 36:56
  Speaker 8: and it's a from what I understand, it's just not
• 37:01
  Speaker 8: very good insurance. It's high deductible, there are lots of
• 37:07
  Speaker 8: things that it does not cover, and it's just you know,
• 37:11
  Speaker 8: my son has a wife and a four year old boy,
• 37:16
  Speaker 8: and you know it's just inferior insurance. That's what's holding
• 37:20
  Speaker 8: the whole thing up, and this outfit won't budge on it.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate your comments. And healthcare is usually a
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: major sticking point in all negotiations, you know, I will,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: I will just go back to my experience because when
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: I first became mayor, we were negotiating over twenty different
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: healthcare programs with city employees. There were so many different
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: healthcare programs that we were offering. It was ridiculous to
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: try to negotiate those and figure out how you're going
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: to pay for it. My goal was to get every
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: city employee onto one healthcare plan, and by the time
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: I left off, we had achieved that. Except for fire.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Fire has their own healthcare plan. It's like a trust
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: fund that they we put in the money for the
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: healthcare program. The city does. That's negotiated, but they manage
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: the whole thing. The city has nothing to do with it.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: If there's a complaint, we don't hear about it. They
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: wanted this, that's what they negotiated, and they're sticking with it.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: Everybody else is pretty much with the City of Omaha
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: now on the same healthcare plan. But I brought this
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: up before, but I'll mention it again. It's expensive. The
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: City of Omaha, and this year twenty twenty six has
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: budgeted over ninety million dollars for health care for our employees.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: And that's fire, police and all the civilians. And so
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: it's very, very expensive. And I would assume what the
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: company is doing here in this matter is trying to
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: get something less expensive, because it is expensive. But I
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: can really see how the employees would not want to
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: give up good benefits to save money.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: Get one phone call in here, Doug. You're live on
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: news radio eleven ten KFAB with Jean's author.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning, ma'am.
• 39:09
  Speaker 7: Well, I will say this just where I start. I've
• 39:12
  Speaker 7: never been a union member. I've been employeed since I
• 39:15
  Speaker 7: was like fifteen years old and I'm sixty seven now.
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: But I always thought that the unions have their place.
• 39:24
  Speaker 7: They and the companies have their place. They both need
• 39:27
  Speaker 7: to work together because they got to think about their customers.
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: The company has to make a certain amount of profit.
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: The people need to make money. So that's where I'm saying,
• 39:37
  Speaker 7: they both need to talk in good faith. But here's
• 39:40
  Speaker 7: the thing. When let's talk about since you brought up
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: teachers union, let's talk about the teacher union in California.
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: I know it's not Nebraska, but it's in California. What
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: is their main goal to impeach Donald Trump? It's not
• 39:54
  Speaker 7: to teach children, and that is what their job is.
• 39:58
  Speaker 7: That's what they negotiated. They didn't negotiate who the president is.
• 40:03
  Speaker 7: And yet they don't care. In my opinion, okay, don't
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: they don't care? Look at our greed or even in
• 40:10
  Speaker 7: the state of Nebraska, the reading level, the math level,
• 40:14
  Speaker 7: the science level is below par. And if they can't
• 40:18
  Speaker 7: get to a certain percentage that needs to be in
• 40:20
  Speaker 7: the contract. If it's not, then those teachers you need
• 40:23
  Speaker 7: to lose money.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
• 40:25
  Speaker 7: You don't negotiate that in the thing. I don't mind
• 40:29
  Speaker 7: them getting paid. They need to be paid, they need
• 40:32
  Speaker 7: other stuff. But when there's a negotiation and they accept it,
• 40:37
  Speaker 7: they got to understand that the kids come first and
• 40:41
  Speaker 7: those kids need to get educated.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: I absolutely agree with you, and thank you for bringing
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: that point up. But we talked about this yesterday too.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, personally, I do not feel like these teachers'
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: unions should get involved in political races because of just
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: exactly what you said. Their goal should be to educate
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: these students. And I gave the example yesterday that the OEA,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: the Omaha Education Association OPS teachers got together in twenty
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: seventeen my race to be re elected mayor and endorse
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: the mayoral candidate. They never did it before, they haven't
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: done it since. And it's like, folks, concentrate on what
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: you teachers should be doing, and that's educating these students
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: not get in all of these political races because I'll
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: tell you when OEA got involved and they endorse my opponent,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: which I knew they were going to do, I had
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: tons of teachers calling me saying I'm going to drop
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: out of the OEA because I don't agree, and I'm
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: paying dues to them who made a decision, and now
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: they're supporting a candidate that I don't agree with that candidate.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: So teachers, I agree, And the n SEA, the Nebraska
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: State Education Association, is out there endorsing and they are
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: very strong, powerful and influential, and so I agree with
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: you hundred percent on that. I used to have a
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: little bit of a joke though, because I would say,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: with our fire and police unions, if the union president
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: wasn't fighting with the mayor, what good I mean, then
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: they didn't have a purpose. It was like they were
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: always trying to fight with the mayor to show their
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: members that they were sticking up for them. But it
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: does put the mayor in a different predicament because the
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: mayor is sticking up for the taxpayers. But the mayor
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: also has these fire and police as their employees, and
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: you want them to have good benefits. You want them
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: to be competitive, You want to have people applying to
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: work for your city, and so all of it puts
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: everybody in quite a predicament. So negotiating a labor contract
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: is no fun. Let me tell you that. Now you
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: know switching gears. I have to bring something up that
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: we talked about yesterday also, and we had some callers
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: call in and say, why do these candidates say things
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: during campaigns? Lies, make promises that they can never deliver on.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: And then we spend a little bit of time talking
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: about Mayor Ewing announced that he will join Bloomberg Philanthropies
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: for a Youth Climate Action Fund to get the youth
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: involved in Omaha about coming up with strategies for Omaha's
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: to build Omaha's resilience to climate change. And we were saying,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: what the heck is going on here with that? Just yesterday,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: Congressional District candidate Denise Powell put up on her Facebook
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: a post and it says rising costs or hurting Nebraska families.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: Denise Powell is champing solutions to lower energy cost and
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: to move our economy forward. I mean, when I first
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: read it, I could not believe it. Then I looked
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: at some comments. I'm going to read you a few
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: comments right here. I'm going to do one after another.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Ha ha ha. Hard passed the next one right, the
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: next one. Explain exactly how you're gonna do that, so
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: a fifth grader can understand. The next person, No way,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: next person, not with Denise Powell. Next person, how are
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: you going to lower prices? Next person? Democrats never say
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: or how they will do something. This lady is a lunatic.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Most of the far left Democrats glad to follow demn
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: neighbors are realizing the same thing. And somebody else's never
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: trust a communist Democrat. The comments were terrible, and all
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: of a sudden the comments were deleted, and so the
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: post is still up there if you want to read it.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: But it just makes my point. People are promising things
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: in these elections and they have no idea how they're
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: going to deliver it or really what they're talking about.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: But that is it for us today. Boy, time flies
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: when you're having fun. But thank you for spending this
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: hour with us, and thanks for listening. We'd love for
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: you to join us again tomorrow. Mayor Rusty Hike, the
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: mayor of Bellevue, will be with us tomorrow. And I
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: am Jean Stothard. And this is eleven ten kfa b