BOLINGBROOK, IL – Teamsters Local 710 Delivery Drivers at Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits continued through the fourth round of negotiations today.

While the first few rounds of bargaining moved more slowly than the Union had hoped, negotiations picked up this afternoon as both the company and the Union made significant movement with regard to non-economic issues and began digging further into economic proposals.

“Our committee is working hard to come to a tentative agreement that we can confidently bring back to the membership,” said Del Schaefer, President of Local 710 and SGWS Business Agent. “We have all been frustrated by the lack of movement from the company, but both sides made significant progress today, and we’re finally moving in the right direction on many proposals.”

The Local 710 bargaining committee continues to stand firm on the key issues brought forth by the membership and are committed to working towards a contract that includes addressing 5-by-8 workweeks, decreasing the use of temporary drivers, increasing depot drivers, and bringing downstate wages in line with Bolingbrook and Rockford.

“The downstate guys work just as hard as we do and are doing the same job, so it’s really important for us to bridge that gap,” said Dan Dougherty, Bolingbrook Steward.

The parties have agreed to resume negotiations on April 6 and are negotiating a contract extension agreement with retroactivity. Local 710’s intention is to keep the extension as short as possible to reach a tentative agreement.

Teamsters Local 710 represents more than 12,500 members across the Midwest and is an affiliate of Teamsters Joint Council 25, America’s premier labor union for Chicago, Illinois and northwest Indiana.

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