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NEW YORK – A week-long strike in the country’s largest wholesale product market ended on Saturday after workers overwhelmingly approved an agreement that includes their biggest wage increase in decades and more money for health coverage.
Employees at the Hunts Point Produce Market in New York will increase $ 1.85 per hour for three years, including an increase of 70 cents per hour in the first year, their union said. Management will also make additional contributions of 40 cents per hour for healthcare for employees.
About 1,400 members of Teamsters Local 202 walked off the track at the Bronx Market on January 17, upset about how they were being compensated as they continued to continue operations throughout the coronavirus pandemic, killing six employees caused. It was the first strike since 1986 on the market.
‘Some of us can get some safe haven by working from home or doing telework. These people can not do that, “said Danny Kane, local 202 president, in a telephone interview.
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Workers will resume work at the market on Sunday, the union said. About 97% of striking workers voted in favor of the deal, which would increase the average base pay for most workers in its third year to $ 20.42 an hour, the union said.
The market management, a cooperative of more than 30 suppliers, delivered a message.
In a previous statement, management said it was “proud that our union workers – the vast majority of whom live here in the Bronx – kept working and on the payroll with full health benefits” while many people were unemployed due to the pandemic.
Workers sought an annual increase of $ 1 per hour in pay and 60 cents for health insurance. Management initially offered a salary increase of 32 cents per hour, plus 60 cents for health insurance coverage.
A week-long strike in the country’s largest wholesale product market ended on Saturday after workers approved a deal that includes their biggest wage increase in decades and more money for health coverage. (iStock)
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Striking workers – looting around bonfires and holding signs with the words “Stop the War on Workers” – have received support from community leaders and elected officials, including U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic city in New York, who said that the workers seek ‘transformation’. change “in their lives and the lives of” every food worker across this country. “
“The help of the community groups and the politicians and other people puts us in a good position to get to the negotiating table and negotiate a fair and open agreement,” Kane said.
The Hunts Point Produce Market distributes approximately 300,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables per day to restaurants, wholesalers and grocery stores in the region and accounts for approximately 60% of the products in New York.
The market remained open during the strike, with management bringing in temporary workers and using police and private security to protect delivery trucks. Several strikers were arrested for blocking the road while picking.