UNFI warehouse workers in Connecticut vote in Teamsters

Grocery distributor United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) warehouse workers in Connecticut have voted to join Teamsters Local 493.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said late Thursday that 185 UNFI selectors, loaders, lift operators and other warehouse personnel voted for union representation to secure higher wages, improved health care benefits and a pension. Providence, Rhode Island-based UNFI operates a 317,000-square-foot distribution center in Dayville, Connecticut.

Once the election is certified, Teamsters will initiate proposal meetings and start the collective bargaining process for the workers’ first contract, according to Bevan Sweet, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 493, based in Uncasville, Connecticut.

“They deserved better. We look forward to getting to the table and getting them dignity and respect,” Sweet said in a statement. “The drivers and clerical workers were already members, so the warehouse workers were the last piece of the puzzle. We have more leverage at the table now than ever before.”

Nana Kumah, a UNFI second-shift loader who served on the worker-led organizing committee, noted that the now-unionized workers “fought hard to give ourselves a voice on the job.”

The Connecticut UNFI warehouse workers join more than 3,500 Teamsters members at UNFI locations nationwide.

“UNFI workers in Connecticut came together to take on their employer and demand respect. This determined group was fearless and never wavered in their campaign to win strong representation,” Tom Erickson, director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division, stated on Thursday. “Today’s victory was all about raising the bar and improving standards.”

Teamsters had added other UNFI warehouse staff to its ranks earlier this year. In February, 220 workers at the wholesaler’s 469,000-square-foot Rocklin, California, distribution center voted to join Teamsters Local 150, based in Sacramento. The warehouse employees at the Rocklin facility had begun organizing after drivers at the DC gained representation with Local 150 in April 2022.

North America’s largest publicly traded grocery distributor, UNFI operates 56 distribution centers and supplies more than 30,000 retailers in the United States and Canada, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice providers.

This year, Teamsters also expanded its grocery retail representation. In May, 300 associates at the Riverside, California, DC of warehouse-style grocer Smart & Final voted to join Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles. That followed a February vote by 300 warehouse employees at Smart & Final’s Commerce, California, DC to join Local 630.

In late November, Teamsters also ratified a new national contract with The Kroger Co. Approval of the five-year master agreement, covering more than 1,500 Kroger workers nationwide, marked a first for the union, as the national negotiating committee included rank-and-file members who work in the industry.

The nationwide agreement with Kroger came a month after Teamsters landed a new master contract with warehouse club giant Costco Wholesale. The pact covers more than 18,000 Costco workers coast to coast.