Brothers & Sisters,
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gino Arilotta & I have been a Teamster for over 45 years. I retired in 1992 from TNT Red Star in Rochester, N.Y. as a trailer driver and steward. In the hope of continuing my relationship with my Local and with my fellow Teamsters, I formed a Teamsters Retiree Chapter in 1993 which has proven to be successful. We give assistance to our Local whenever it is needed. We volunteer services to our community. We support political policies that prove to be in the best interest of everyone. The Chapter provides the retirees with a place to meet, eat and socialize with each other while affording them the opportunity to express their concerns before the membership. Issues that concern the members are discussed and remedies are sought. We continually strive to improve our benefits. Whenever a just cause is needed, whether it involves national or local issues, petitions are drawn up.

I have built this website in the hopes of reaching out to Teamsters across the state so that we can communicate with each other and work together towards solving the many inequities of the Teamster retirees. By coordinating our efforts, we can be a much larger force and accomplish many tasks easier and sooner.

I along with many Teamster retirees, have been campaigning to gain the right to vote for some time. Although we did not succeed in this past convention, our members are continuing with this endeavor in spite of the opposition by some of the active members who really do not understand what exactly the retirees hope to gain by seeking the right to vote. The answer is simple. Retirees want accountability by the Fund Trustees in matters that concern current retirees ( and the key word here is ““current””) and there is a very slight possibility of it being accomplished unless we, as retirees are granted a voice. I have been working on a Teamster Retiree Coalition for the State of New York and encourage Teamster Retiree Chapters across the country to start such a coalition to represent their state. Since there are many Funds which provide benefits that vary from one Fund to the other, problems of retirees can be dealt with on a local level while coordinating their efforts with the coalitions from each state and surfacing with the situations that can be addressed on a national scale. It’’s a struggle but let’’s not give up. Working together, we can be an enormous power. There are approximately 1.4 million active Teamsters, however there are also almost 500 thousand Teamster retirees.

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MESSAGE BOARD

Presently, I am working on a campaign for two important proposals.
First, to grant the Teamster retiree the right to vote in the general elections
and secondly , the creation of a Teamster retiree Caucus.
If these two items get passed, it will mean so much to each of us retirees.
We will then have some power with which we can use in ways to better ourselves.
We are the forerunners of this great Teamsters Union and that fact shouldn't be forgotten.
We retirees need to be recognized and to be treated fairly. It has been long overdue.
I implore each of you to contact your Union Locals and speak with the officers asking them
to present these issues at this year's Teamster convention.
In Union, Gino Arilotta