Teamster Food Service Drivers Took Their Strike Nationwide and Won

Striking union drivers at a major US Foods distribution center in Bensenville, Illinois, used rolling picket-line extensions to take a local dispute national and defeat the company’s efforts to roll back retirement and health care benefits. Pickets extended all the way from New Jersey to Spokane, Washington (pictured). Photo: Teamsters Local 705

https://labornotes.org/2024/02/teamster-food-service-drivers-took-their-strike-nationwide-and-won

February 06, 2024 / Scott Jenkins

While most Chicagoans were bracing for a major snowstorm, 130 truck drivers who deliver food from warehouses to cafeterias and kitchens spent the first weekend in January preparing for another kind of storm: a strike.

US Foods had stalled negotiations over wages, health care, and safety provisions. At 12:01 a.m. on Monday, January 8, Teamsters Local 705 picket lines went up at the Bensenville, Illinois, facility.

Over the next three weeks, Teamsters extended the Bensenville line nationwide. Rolling pickets hit more than two dozen US Foods distribution centers and drop yards from Los Angeles to Indiana to New Jersey, paralyzing its operations in some of the nation’s highest-volume markets.

On January 25, the company buckled. Local 705 announced a new five-year agreement that includes $7 an hour wage increases (with $3 coming in the first year), increases to health and welfare contributions, and new safety language requiring clearance gaps on fully loaded trailers. US Foods also retracted a proposal that would have made it easier to fire drivers for traffic accidents. Members ratified the deal with a 93-27 vote on February 3.

FULL story at link above.