Member Profile: James Zoes says, “Our Union’s Got Your Back”

Longtime Local 1000 member James Zoes works to collect California taxes … from Houston, Texas.

Local 1000 represents workers in more than 1,400 worksites in California, Texas, New York, Chicago and Hawaii, and Zoes is one of the many.

He is a Business Taxes Specialist I for California Department of Taxes and Fees Administration (CDTFA), Houston, and the Vice Chair of our Unit 1 Bargaining Team.

He also joined the CDTFA Joint Committee that’s working to protect and preserve the rights and working conditions of members during the restructure of the Board of Equalization and the establishment of CDTFA.

“We have been holding worksite meetings across the state and in Houston so we get a ground-level view of how the reorganization is unfolding,” said Zoes. “Some of our members at BOE and CDTFA are unsure of their new job responsibilities, and in some cases, they are receiving information from supervisors that’s contrary to what’s being discussed at the table.”

 “I want to show the members we represent that your union’s got your back,” said Zoes. “This is an opportunity to demonstrate how we work together and become stronger together.”

James Zoes sees his work with the Joint Committee as an opportunity to apply what he’s learned in more than two decades as a state worker. He’s proud to support his fellow members and says, “I choose to be part of a union because there’s no other way to get representation and job security.”