Airgas Teamsters Overwhelmingly Ratify New Agreement
Local 710 Secures Improved Wages, Health and Welfare Benefits
Airgas Members
Sixteen Teamsters Local 710 members at Airgas overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year agreement on Sunday, Feb. 28.
All members will receive a $500 signing bonus in addition to the contract’s other strong provisions, including:
- Wage increases of two-and-a-half to three percent
- Movement into the Chicago Truck Drivers Union (CTDU) PPO health insurance plan
- 100 percent employer-paid coverage of employees’ health care benefits for the first two years of the agreement
Local 710’s Airgas union steward and our bargaining committee did a great job getting all the facts laid out for this contract. Because of their determination, the membership will be able to see a raise on top of their bonus, and they will be saving money on health insurance.
Demetrius Morton, Local 710 Business
Agent and Bargaining Chairman
With employer-paid coverage, Teamsters will save approximately $4,500 per year in individual health care contributions. Health insurance benefits will officially transfer into the CTDU plan on April 1, 2016. Members may continue to use benefits from their current plans through March 31, 2016.
The savings our members will see through the health and welfare benefits that Local 710 has secured is truly fantastic.
Affordable healthcare is a tough fight for anyone in the working class, and our members at Airgas show that it is attainable by standing together at the bargaining table.
John T. Coli
Trustee of Local 710
The new agreement is retroactive to April 1, 2015 and will remain in effect until March 31, 2019.
Local 710 represents warehouse workers and drivers working out of the Airgas plant in Riverdale, Ill.
Teamsters Local 710 is an affiliate of Teamsters Joint Council 25, America’s premier labor union for Chicago, Illinois and northwest Indiana.