Local 710 Golden State Foods Warehouse Workers Ratify New Contract
Teamsters Secure Quality of Life Improvements Important to Membership
The Teamsters Local 710 Bargaining Committee answers questions about the new contract while members vote.
By a 2-to-1 margin, Teamsters Local 710 warehouse workers at Golden State Foods have ratified a new five-year contract. The agreement, which expires Dec. 31, 2020, is retroactive to Jan. 1.
The membership nearly unanimously rejected the company’s first offer on Feb. 3. The Local 710 Bargaining Committee returned to the table to stand strong on several quality of life issues that the membership called extremely important.
The Teamsters were successful in removing Golden State’s use of third party, non-guaranteed employees. With ratification of the new contract, all members working in the warehouse will be Local 710 seniority roster employees — allowing for six workers to automatically be placed into seniority positions.
The use of subcontracting in what should be a union workplace is an issue that’s pervasive across the entire country. The members at Golden State Foods made it clear to their employer that they want all employees to be Local 710 seniority members.
To be successful in that plight is a huge win not only for their own bargaining unit, but for the labor movement as a whole.
John T. Coli
Trustee of Local 710
Members will also see wage increases of 65 cents per hour the first year and 50 cents per hour each of the remaining four years of the contract, plus performance pay increases in the first four years. Local 710 also secured increases to members’ health, welfare and pension plans.
The Teamsters successfully blocked numerous company proposals that would have given management more control in the contract. For instance, Golden State proposed changes to the bidding process but Local 710 forced their eventual withdrawal, maintaining that 80 percent of all workweek bids must include weekend days off.
“The Bargaining Committee was phenomenal throughout the entire negotiating process,” said Chuck DeCola, Local 710 Business Agent and Bargaining Chairman. “It was through persistence that we were able to make very compelling changes to the quality of life issues. The Committee kept me informed of what was going on in the warehouse at all times, and we worked together as a team to achieve the strongest contract our members have seen in years.”
Bargaining Committee Member and Union Steward Bret Duesdieker also was extremely pleased with the outcome of these negotiations. “This was truly the best negotiating committee I’ve had the privilege of working with in my 36 years here,” he said. “The contract we fought for and won is the best I’ve seen in all my time at Golden State Foods.”
Local 710 represents 76 Teamsters in the company’s warehouse in McCook, Ill. Members handle the distribution of McDonald’s products to nearly 470 Chicagoland area restaurants. Drivers working out of the same facility are represented by Local 710 as well.
Teamsters Local 710 is an affiliate of Teamsters Joint Council 25, America’s premier labor union for Chicago, Illinois and northwest Indiana.