More than 260 US Foods delivery drivers represented by Teamsters Local 282 have unanimously voted to authorize a strike, setting up a potential showdown that could disrupt deliveries to restaurants, hospitals and schools across the New York tri-state area. The drivers are pushing for a new contract with higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions, according to a union release issued Tuesday.
“More than 260 members of Teamsters Local 282 have voted unanimously to authorize a strike at US Foods,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in its announcement. The union says the drivers are demanding “a fair contract with higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions,” and warns that a strike would mean “impacting hundreds of deliveries at local restaurants, hospitals, and schools around the New York tri-state area.” As SupplyChainBrain reports, US Foods is one of the largest food service distributors in the country, operating as a wholesale supplier that sources fresh, frozen and dry foods from thousands of suppliers.
A Fight the Union Says Extends Beyond New York
Tom Erickson, director of the Teamsters warehouse division, said the labor dispute is not contained to the five boroughs or their suburbs. Erickson said the fight extends well beyond New York and that the Teamsters are prepared to act nationally if necessary, according to SupplyChainBrain. The union says it represents more than 5,000 US Foods workers nationwide, per Erickson — though in a separate statement regarding Arizona, the union put that figure at 5,500 workers, and the dossier does not reconcile the two numbers.
The New York vote is not an isolated flashpoint. The union says Teamsters at Local 2 and Local 190 are in similar contract disputes with US Foods and could pursue their own strike action, while a report from Yahoo News notes that two other unions around the country are in comparable disputes with the company and could launch strike actions at any moment. SupplyChainBrain separately reports that the Teamsters are in similar labor disputes with US Foods employers in Montana and Arizona.
Arizona Dispute Adds to the Pressure
The Arizona situation has become its own flashpoint. Teamsters Local 104 has accused US Foods of running what it called a dirty, illegal and hostile anti-union campaign against Arizona workers, a characterization the union leveled in a statement last month. The local also claimed the company suspended a union supporter for encouraging colleagues to back the Teamsters and filed an objection alleging that US Foods intimidated Arizona workers, according to SupplyChainBrain. An Arizona unionization vote on October 22 went 19-14 against organizing, SupplyChainBrain reports.
The Arizona friction has also spilled into picket lines. Teamsters Local 104 members working at a US Foods facility in Phoenix launched unfair labor practice pickets while negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, according to Teamsters Local 117, which said the action charged “the nation’s second-largest foodservice provider with bargaining in bad faith and discriminating against its union workforce.” More than 200 Phoenix warehouse workers, drivers and mechanics had been working without a contract for months, the local said, adding that negotiations had already dragged through 18 bargaining sessions without an agreement. “After 18 bargaining sessions, it appears this company is unwilling to reach an agreement,” a Local 104 representative said.
A Pattern Playing Out at Other US Foods Locals
The New York authorization fits a broader pattern the Teamsters have been building this year. More than 400 US Foods Teamsters in Minnesota, represented by Local 120, previously voted unanimously to authorize a strike if the company would not offer what the union called a fair, reasonable and timely contract, according to a post from the union on X. Not every standoff has ended in a strike threat, however — the union also announced that 70 US Foods warehouse workers in Cleveland, represented by Teamsters Local 507, voted unanimously in August to ratify their first Teamsters contract, securing a 17 percent wage increase and fully employer-paid Teamsters health coverage.
For now, the New York vote is an authorization, not a strike notice, and no date for a walkout has been set. What happens next in the tri-state area will likely hinge on whether US Foods and Local 282 can reach terms on wages, benefits and working conditions before the union decides to act on the mandate its members just gave it.
