Local 853 Secretary-Treasurer Rome Aloise speaks with great pride when he talks about the Gillig Corporation  organizing drive he spearheaded in 1976 as an upstart organizer. As a result of Rome’s tireless efforts and the support of Bay Area Teamsters, the courageous Gillig workers won their first contract following a successful 30-day strike.

From 1976 to 2006, Rome Aloise negotiated all Teamster contracts with Gillig. In 2007, Local 853 Business Representative Bo Morgan assumed the negotiating duties.

Gillig Corporation currently has 500 Teamsters working at their Hayward facility along with approximately 100 members from Painters Local 1176.

The United States Department of Transportation’s (DOT) official blog, Fast Lane (April 09, 2010) singled out Gillig Corporation as an example of the impact of DOT Recovery Act grants on America’s transit system and interviewed Rome in the process.

Follow this link to the White House for the full article:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/09/american-busmaker-gillig-and-its-workers-a-stimulus-success-story

To add a little historical perspective here is an article from 1977.

Gillig Bros. strike in fourth day

HAYWARD - A strike .of 190 to 200 maintenance and production workers at Gillig Bros., 25600 Clawiter Road, continued into its forth day today.

Picket lines went up around the bus manufacturing plant early Monday after talks between Teamsters Union Local 853 and the firm broke off.

According to Gillig Executive Vice President Bass Dyer, talks ended at 2:30 a.m. Monday with the union and the company apart on "issues related to economics."

Dyer said there were no talks yesterday and that none are scheduled.

Teamsters organizer Rome Aloise said the union and the company are "about 20 percent apart" on the salary issue. He declined to state the dollar amount involved.

"We are ready to resume negotiations as soon as the company takes a realistic approach to the cost of living in this area," he said.

Negotiations between Gillig and the Teamsters have been going on since Jan. 31, according to Aloise.

The Daily Review
Hayward, California
Thursday, April 7, 1977