Produce logistics company Target Interstate Systems has been part of the Hunts Point Terminal Market since 1981 and understands what it takes to form strong relationships with major shippers and receivers in the produce industry.

The produce world is still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the dedicated professionals at Maurice A. Auerbach Inc. continue to face some big challenges that they’ve been dealing with for a year now.

NORTH BERGEN, NJ -- Anthony Serafino breezed through his company’s busy warehouse on a Monday morning in January, effortlessly shifting gears between speaking about EXP Group’s bustling business and directing workers who were busy building out an 8,600-square-foot expansion to the facility.

“This expansion will bring us to 62,000 square feet of warehouse space, and we just recently added 2,400 square feet of office space, so we are poised for growth,” he said.

The Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx is famous for being open 365 days a year, with its 30-plus family-owned merchants handling more than 210 million packages of produce annually. But on Feb. 1, the market was forced to close due to a State of Emergency in New York issued because of the heavy snowfall, which brought nearly two feet of snow to the area.

The employers at the Hunts Point Produce Market have reached an agreement with Teamsters Local 202 on a new three-year contract covering 1,400 workers at the Market.  The agreement represents an over 10 percent increase in wages and benefits over the course of the contract, with an average 3.4 percent increase in each year of the agreement.

Teamsters Local 202 members approved their new union contract with the largest raises in the history of its bargaining unit — more than 97 percent of workers voted in favor.