Hunts Point workers went on strike and won



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A strike that has begun Sunday Jan. 17 ended around noon today, when 1,400 Hunts Point Produce Market Workers, members of Teamsters Local 202, overwhelmingly ratified a three-year contract. The majority of New York City’s produce passes through Hunts Point, making it a critical bottleneck, a fact that has increased the pressure on workers for a speedy settlement.

Having persisted in the face of aggressive police and freezing temperatures, the union declared victory. As the City reportsLocal 202 president Dan Kane called the contract “the biggest deal we’ve ever signed.” This morning, around 97% of strikers voted in favor of ratifying the contract.

The contract includes an immediate increase of 70 cents per hour, followed by a 50 cent increase in 2022. For workers who currently earn $ 18.57 an hour, as well as drivers, 2023 will see an increase of 65 cents an hour. Warehouse workers who currently earn $ 20.70 will receive a bonus of $ 1,300 in 2023 instead of 65 cents. Workers have also succeeded in fighting management’s efforts to force workers to pay additional contributions to family health care benefits.

The mantra for the whole week was: we want a raise of $ 1 an hour. The final contract totals an increase of $ 1.85 per hour over the three years of the contract, which does not match the demand for an immediate $ 1 per hour increase, but goes well beyond the 32 cents per hour and increased employee contributions to health care. the fees proposed by management last weekend, a counter-proposal from the workers described as “disrespectful”, which led them to strike.

So ended a long week on the Bronx strike line which included arrests Monday evening, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to show up several evenings to support workers and serve pizza (she wasn’t the only politician joining the picket line: over a dozen local elected officials and political candidates made appearances), and lots of music and dance, all under the watchful eyes of Scabby the Rat.

But when one workplace action ends, others continue. Some 400 metallurgists from NLMK Pennsylvania are stuck without work after starting a strike in August 2020. The Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) is currently conduct a membership vote on whether to take workplace action on Monday in response to the city’s insistence on the need for teachers to return to teaching in person. The teachers in Bellevue, Washington are rebel against similar demands, while teachers just outside Pittsburgh, Pa. prepare to go on strike on February 1 if no agreement with their district is reached by the end of the month. About 200 Teamsters are striking at The Marathon Petroleum refinery in St Paul Park and workers at Borgers USA, which supplies parts for General Motors factories, were striking for several days in Norwalk, Ohio. Ski patrollers are “Not on strike, just practicing” at Vail Resorts.

Some of these workplace actions involve fewer workers than the strike by Teamsters Local 202, which with 1,400 workers was the first major work stoppage of 2021, but every time people take collective action in the working and winning, the confidence of the working class is growing, and not only among those who have taken action. Indeed, the Hunts Point strike saw hundreds people strengthening the picket line in support – other union workers, residents of the Bronx and New Yorkers who had just heard of the strike and wanted to support it. Every time that happens, no matter how big a hit, it has a ripple effect.

A similar dynamic is unfolding at other workplace action sites across the country. Add in the context of a devastating and isolating pandemic and these displays of the courage to fight collectively for a better life become all the more important.



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