Teamsters Rally to Protect American Jobs from Mexican-Owned Grocery Chain

Leslie is joined by Lou Villalvazo, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 630, which has been fighting for working class families for more than 80 years.

They discuss a leaflet action being held on October 17th where more than 50 local unions will be taking part in at Chedraui-owned grocery stores.

Here is some more background on the issue:

· Grupo Comercial Chedraui is a Mexican company that is publicly traded on the Mexican stock exchange. The company has grown significantly and now operates three supermarket chains, and makes the majority of its revenue from the United States.

· Chedraui owns three store banners in the United States with around 375 total locations. The three banners are:
o Smart & Final, which is concentrated in Southern California but also has locations in Nevada and as far east as Phoenix.
o El Super, which is also concentrated in Southern California and has locations in Nevada, Arizona, and as far east as New Mexico and Juarez in Texas.
o Fiesta Mart, which is entirely in Texas. Most of its locations are in either Houston or the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

· Teamsters Local Union 630 won two elections at Smart & Final warehouses in the Los Angeles area just this year. The two groups at the Commerce and Riverside facilities comprise around 700 total workers. After years of suffering from low wages and poor benefits, these workers decided to join the Teamsters union to improve their workplace.

· Yet, on the heels of the election at the Commerce facility, Chedraui announced that it would be consolidating its distribution operations into a single facility in Rancho Cucamonga, right before the union election at the Riverside facility. An internal company announcement distributed to workers stated that when this move takes place, the workers will have to reapply for their jobs and will not be guaranteed jobs at the new facility, regardless of their experience or how long they have worked for the company. The company has not responded to workers’ inquiries regarding the status of their jobs at the new facility and what pay and benefits will be available.

· Local 630 members rallied in August and September to demand fair treatment by Chedraui, with a focus on protecting American jobs and living standards, and bargaining a fair contract.

· To date, the Teamsters have filed seven unfair labor practice charges against Smart & Final and Chedraui, alleging egregious violations of federal labor law, including that the planned facility relocations and termination of all employees are motivated by anti-union discrimination; that the company has interfered with workers’ right to organize by withholding a regularly scheduled cost of living adjustment and blaming it on the Union; and by holding mandatory captive audience meetings where the company CEO promised workers benefits and job security at the new facility in exchange for rejecting the Union.

· The company has been engaging in bad-faith surface bargaining, likely with the intention of running out the bargaining clock and then either attempting to decertify the Teamster bargaining units or withdrawing recognition when it transfers its operations and forces employees to reapply.

· This consumer leaflet action on 10/17 comes ahead of bargaining resuming on 10/18. The Teamsters are calling on consumers to demand that Chedraui respect its US workers, cease its violations of US labor law, honor its employees’ choice to become Teamsters, and bargain a fair contract.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Visit Teamster.org to learn more and follow them on Twitter @Teamsters and on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.