Your Joint Council 28 Staff

From left to right: Michael Beranbaum (Collective Bargaining/Organizing Director), Diana McDowell (Executive Secretary), Heather Weiner (Political Action Director), John Williams (Joint Council President)

Our Mission

With unwavering integrity, Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28 empowers and supports our Local Unions and their membership across Washington, Alaska, and Northern Idaho. Through organizing, education, and political action we will expand the rights, wages, and benefits of working families. Moving forward, united as one.

A Message From JC28 President, John Williams

“Just Do It”

I’m not stealing this from Nike, it’s the other way around.  My use of the term “Just Do It” goes back to when I was Arnie Weinmeister’s assistant at Local 117. Sometimes some of the Business Representatives and I would be talking about the best way to deal with a problem.  After considering how to best tackle things, we’d be wondering if we had the best solution and I’d say let’s just do it.  A Union is better to act than to over think about what to do.

Well, I haven’t just done it here.  It’s taken me a month to write this for the Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28 web page.  I’m on the plane back from Alaska where I had a great meeting with Local 959’s Executive Board and membership. My trip was to figure out how we can help the statewide Local Union from Alaska.

By the end of April, I will have met with every Local that invites me, and in May I’m going to roll out budget and staffing proposals to the Joint Council No. 28 Executive Board and the other Secretary-Treasurers of the Locals in Joint Council.  We won’t have everything in place by June 1 but should have a good start. One of our goals is to “amp up” the way Joint Council No. 28 helps Locals in communication with and about Teamster members, and to outreach to the communities in which we work.  Keeping this website fresh, working with the public media, there’s a mind boggling number of ways to send and get messages.

If you have taken the time to read this, maybe you have some ideas – how about an e-mail to john@jc28.org, or maybe you want to call or stop by your Teamster building in Tukwila, or at one of your Local Union offices.  Whatever, we need you, let’s get rolling, “Just Do It”!