Safeway.com Delivery Drivers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 174

Nearly 70 Safeway.com delivery drivers have voted to join Teamsters Local Union No. 174, marking a historic victory for the first group of drivers in the nation to join a union.

Spearheaded by Local 174 organizer Meaza Ogbe and Safeway.com delivery driver Dan Oliver, the organizing drive took place over several months and concluded yesterday at the National Labor Relations Board.

"This is huge for us,” says Oliver, organizing committee member. “Everyone at this company was a union member except for us, and it was clear from our compensation, benefits and the way we were treated at work that not being union was hurting us. All of that is going to change now."

The organizing victory comes at a critical moment in the home grocery delivery industry, following Seattle-based Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods.

"This is not just a big win for these Safeway.com drivers, but this is a foot in the door for other organizing opportunities in this same industry in the future," says Local 174 secretary-treasurer Rick Hicks. "Home grocery delivery is a growing industry, and from this day forward it is going to be an industry that includes the Teamsters Union."

Teamsters Local 174 currently represents Safeway distribution center drivers who operate out of facilities in Auburn, Wash., and Bellevue, Wash., delivering groceries to stores across the state, along with dispatchers and employees at the Recycle Center in Auburn.

Safeway and the union now must negotiate a first contract for the drivers, whose job is to deliver customers’ grocery orders from Safeway stores directly to their homes on a strict timeline to preserve the groceries’ freshness.

"Safeway drivers and warehousemen in our Local just ratified the richest contract in their history, while these Safeway.com drivers are struggling just to get enough hours to qualify to buy company health insurance," says Carl Gasca, Local 174 senior business agent. Gasca is the business agent for the Safeway distribution center drivers and will be the business agent for the newly-organized group as well. "Now that we are all standing together, I know that we can get a better deal and a better life for these home delivery drivers."

Founded in 1909, Teamsters Local 174 represents 7,200 working men and women in the Seattle area.