Potential Hunts Point strike on hold until Sunday afternoon
Potential Hunts Point strike on hold until Sunday afternoon
Teamsters Local 202 was set to go on strike at Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx, NY, shortly after midnight Jan. 16, but workers are holding off until Sunday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m., while a federal mediator gets involved with contract negotiations, according to an Associated Press report.
The AP article noted that a walkout could mean that restaurants, grocery stores and homes within about a 50-mile radius of the produce hub located in the Bronx, NY, would have to scramble for fresh fruits and vegetables. The market’s management said measures are in place to keep the massive building open, but the union hopes that won't be necessary.
"We are ready, willing and able to meet with the federal mediator and the businesses to try and settle this contract," Local 202 President Daniel Kane Jr. said in a statement.
The article also stated that Kane said the needs of the workers, who earn between $37,000 and $50,000 a year, haven't changed. He said union members are asking for a raise of $5 a day, or about $1,000 a year, on a three-year contract.
A Hunts Point Produce Cooperative spokesman, Robert Leonard, said the two sides "were just pennies per hour apart from their last offer on wages for the majority of the new contract period." But he said the union chose instead "to make their arguments in the press."
Negotiations broke down earlier this week when the union rejected the proposed salary raises it said aren't keeping up with the cost of living. Management offered $16 a week for the first year, followed by $22 the second and third years.
"These businesses have never done better, but they are refusing to pay a fair wage to the people who do the work," Kane said. "These workers feed New York. They should be able to put food on the table, too."
Workers also are fighting proposed increases in health care costs.
The last strike at the Hunts Point Market was in 1986.