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In the news.....
Saginaw's Robinson leads Michigan's 40,000 Teamsters
Published: Monday, February 07, 2011, 9:47 AM Updated: Monday,
February 07, 2011, 7:52 PM
By Kathryn Lynch-Morin | The Saginaw
News
Jeff Schrier | The Saginaw NewsSaginaw
native David Robinson has been elected president of the Executive Board of
Michigan Teamsters Joint Council #43.
ZILWAUKEE — Though David Robinson has been a Teamster for nearly 40 years,
the newly elected president of the Teamsters Joint Council 43 in Michigan says
he isn’t afraid of change.
And Robinson, secretary-treasurer for Local 486 in Saginaw and also vice
president of the Central Region International Brotherhood of Teamsters, hopes
to leave things better than he found them when his term is up in three years,
even if that means shaking things up a bit.
Robinson represents about 40,000 Michigan workers, including those in the
package industry, the public sector, nurses and contractors. He said he and
the rest of the elected executive council are developing plans and setting
priorities that will help enhance the union’s representation statewide.
Robinson said he knows the council has to reach younger generations if it is
going to grow and thrive. One way is to include younger people on the
executive board, as many members would stay on the board well after
retirement.
“I felt there was a stigma of older guys holding on, like a dynasty,” Robinson
said
Membership has slipped by about 20,000 since the late ’90s, when there were
more than 60,000 Teamsters in Michigan.
Another major priority, Robinson said, is doing away with divisive union
politics of the past.
A group called Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education is
spearheaded by the Michigan Teamsters Joint Council and supports the best
candidate for the job, not a particular party.
“I’m not a party person. I support who I think is going to do the best for the
working person,” Robinson said. “You can’t pick one party to make everyone’s
life better.”
William H. Black, executive director for Teamsters Joint Council 43, said
Robinson will be a part of bringing the Teamsters into the 21st century
through the use of social media to interact and engage with people who want to
organize.
“At the end of the day, we want to grow our membership,” Black said. “We have
got to better communicate with the people who want to organize, and this is
the progressive administration to do so.”
Black said Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43 already has a presence on
Facebook, and there are plans to get Robinson, 62, doing regular updates on
Twitter in the future.
“You’ve already got me using a BlackBerry,” Robinson said to Black on a recent
conference call.
The two Teamsters officials plan to talk and work with Gov. Rick Snyder, who
didn’t push a Right-to-Work or anti-union agenda during his campaign.
“We have to make unions part of the solution, not part of the problem, and
Robinson is looking to help move the state and the economy forward,” Black
said.
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