When our “Green Sheet” expired at the end of 2008, Local 784 put on a drive to get our long term employers to negotiate and sign real contracts. As a starting point, we looked at the old Green Sheet and added the contract clauses and mechanics that guarantee that employers will always use Local 784 workers and the language to protect those workers. The new contract became our Standard Agreement. As expected some employers signed off on the Standard while others wanted to meet and negotiate. Using the Standard as a jumping off point, we got contracts with other employers.

Some employers were more difficult – and some are still problematic. Local 784 workers signed authorization cards, and we used those cards to file a petition for recognition with the National Labor Relations Board and got a contract with SMG/Oracle Arena. We also used authorization cards to get other employers to meet with us. Some of those meetings produced contracts and with other employers negotiations are ongoing.

It’s a process that can be very difficult – a lesson we learned when Local 784 members participated in bannering at Wells Fargo bank on behalf of sister locals in Columbus Ohio, New Orleans and Knoxville Tennessee. Those bannering efforts across the country resulted in contracts with the George Fern Company for those locals after years of the employer’s stalling. While we have not encountered that level of resistance, some of our long term employers have been putting us off for months.

In San Jose we encountered a different challenge. With the demise of AMT, we found ourselves negotiating with Team San Jose. Those negotiations have been ongoing since the beginning of the year. Since Local 784 workers had never worked for Team San Jose before there was no bargaining or employment history which was not the case with our Green Sheet employers who had been paying our rates and benefits for years. The negotiations have been difficult and we received assistance from the International in reaching a tentative deal. We are in the process of working out the details of the contract and will bring it back to the membership for final approval.

Our efforts continue with both long time employers as well as organizing employers who have not used a union workforce from Local 784. Some will sign the Standard and others will require negotiations. Keep updated on our efforts in the Local 784 newsletter and in reports at the General Meetings.