Workers at the Sysco Louisville Warehouse voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying their first contract on Saturday, April 6th. Less than two years ago, there were no organized Sysco workers in Louisville. After last year’s drivers’ contract and this warehouse ratification, Sysco Louisville has over 200 Teamster members, and is nearly wall-to-wall unionized.
Negotiations came to a head on March 27th when Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman joined Local 89 President Avral Thompson, Business Agent Trey McCutcheon and the rank-and-file negotiating committee to inform Sysco management that we intended to be done with negotiations by the end of the following day.
At 4pm on March 28th, with no agreement in place, Teamsters Local 89 walked out of negotiations. Knowing that members had already voted unanimously to authorize a strike, Sysco management relented in a matter of hours and agreed to the last of Local 89’s major proposals.
“Sysco knew we were ready to strike them when we walked away from negotiations and that’s why they gave in and agreed to our demands,” said President Thompson. “Our committee and our members held strong and built a credible strike threat, and the International was ready to go all-in to support us. That’s how Teamsters get it done."
The first contract includes substantial wage increases, with some members seeing as much as a 29% bump in pay. In addition, the agreement contains better protection language around safety, weekly pay, contract language on policies and procedures, holidays, and more. The new agreement covers both warehouse and finance workers.
Teamsters Local 89 would like to thank our dedicated rank-and-file negotiating committee members David Wimsatt and Amanda Jackoby for their expertise and the tireless hours they put into winning the best contract possible for their co-workers.
From President Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer Cooper and everyone at Teamsters Local 89 – congratulations to our new Sysco Warehouse members on your first contract, and welcome to our Local 89 family!
