Wielding bullhorns, carrying picket signs and chanting slogans, more than 100
Teamsters union members converged on the Long Island City headquarters of gourmet grocery deliverer FreshDirect to demand better wages and protest the termination of two union sympathizers.

According to the Teamsters union officials leading the September 28 protest, warehouse workers Loreto Gomez and Lonnie Powell were fired earlier that month after they complained of poor working conditions and participated in a Teamsters’ organizing campaign inside the food warehouse and distribution center on Vernon Boulevard.

“I walked to work with a union T-Shirt on and they fired me soon
afterwards” said Lonnie Powell, one of the two union workers released
after encouraging their co-workers to unionize.
The fired workers cited standard shifts in excess of 12 hours, forced

overtime, low pay and unaffordable benefit plans as their reason for
organizing fellow employees at FreshDirect.

In response to the firing of the two workers, Jim Moore Senior Vice
President of Business Development at Fresh Direct, said that both workers
were actually fired for cause — one for a well-documented history of
absenteeism and another for being intoxicated at work.

“These terminations were in no way connected to FreshDirect’s stance on
unionization,” he said. “One employee in question came to work
inebriated and the other had attendance issues and was fired only after
thorough coaching and progressive discipline failed.”

But while officially terminated on the grounds of attendance, Powell said that frequent documented trips to visit his sick mother were overlooked
by management until his association with the teamsters became apparent.

“I had the full support of management until I mentioned the union” said
Powell, who was initially informed of his termination by co-workers at the
plant. “I didn’t even receive an official reason until coming in to pick up
my last check a week later”

Teamsters officials say they were originally approached by FreshDirect
workers over the summer with complaints over substandard pay and working conditions. However in order to act on their behalf they would require a “good chunk” of the plant’s 800 workers to elect to join the union, they said.

This debate has been further inflamed in recent weeks by FreshDirect’s
warning to employees that joining the Teamsters would lead to high union
fees and increased demands that would slow company growth. And while Powell
estimates a “majority of people” support his cause, other plant employees
were more skeptical.

“I think the majority of people would keep quiet because management has
used scare tactics,” said Richard Howard, who works as a package sealer
inside “The immigrant workers who don’t speak good English are afraid of
losing their jobs if they speak up”

Complicating this situation for the Teamsters is the presence of another
union vying to represent plant employees. Moore says FreshDirect has
supported the participation of 500 of its employees in the United Food and
Commercial Workers’ Union since November of 2006.

While plant employees have remained without representation, both Howard
and Powell confirm employees received notices in the mail from management about their right to unionize with local 348.

With FreshDirect management and the teamsters seemingly locked at an
impasse, it remains to be seen which union will ultimately win favor with
workers. But despite the unwillingness of either side to negotiate at
present, protesters and employees agree unionization is only a matter of
time.

“Unionization will happen eventually, so we are out here to make sure our
fellow workers get a fair shake,” said Frank Vaccaro, a teamster
representing local 812. “The other union is meeting with plant officials as
we speak and its like the decision has been made for them”