Atlanta Teamsters Ratify Sysco Contract, First Ever In Georgia

After Lengthy Battle, Teamsters Local 528 Members Ratify First Agreement

News provided by

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Sep 14, 2015, 03:53 ET

ATLANTA, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamsters Local 528 members, whose fight to win union representation has lasted more than 18 months, ratified a first contract that provides strong union protections for more than 400 workers at Sysco's Atlanta facility on Saturday.

"This has been an uphill struggle, but these workers stood together through it all to negotiate a strong first contract that will protect them for years to come," said Maurice Cobb, Teamsters Local 528 President. "These members not only told Sysco, 'It's our work, we'll fight for it.' They showed them."

The three-and-a-half year contract provides traditional union protections -- significant economic gains, job security, seniority, job bidding and protection from wrongful discipline or termination. But it also addresses key issues for Atlanta workers who organized their union after seeing smaller paychecks and rising health care costs:

The new agreement:

Moves workers from the company's expensive, catastrophic health insurance into an affordable, stable and useable Taft-Hartley plan;
Establishes a labor management committee to allow workers to address labor standards, incentive pay programs; and other issues; and
Prevents management's unilateral changes to pay or benefits plans.

"We're now moving into a new relationship with Sysco not only in Atlanta, but across the country," said Steven P. Vairma, Teamster International Vice President and Warehouse Division Director. "We want to show Sysco that it's in everyone's best interest to work together to make working families and this company stronger. Atlanta is a perfect place to begin."

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:
Galen Munroe (202) 624-6904
[email protected]

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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters