Strike forces US Foods into Keystone Kops routine

 

Standing tall together in Buffalo.

Whoa! US Foods management was so confused by the Teamsters' rolling strike that it partially shut down operations at two New Jersey warehouses in Bridgeport and Swedesboro this morning. Those two warehouses were not picketed, though close to a thousand Teamsters have been honoring picket lines at US Foods facilities around the country.

Here's a post from the USfoods Workers Facebook page that explains what happened:

The company was apparently so frightened that a single custodian from rural Illinois would descend on Philadelphia this A.M., that according to one Teamster member there was a whole "lot of turmoil and disruption to the business at both Bridgeport and swedesboro this morning. They cut 18,000 cases from delivery at Bridgeport and 24 routes from swedesboro." But here's the rub: the Streator, IL strikers were nowhere near New Jersey. We'd apologize to all the hard working folks at US Foods Swedesboro and Bridgeport for the disruption, but the company brought it on itself.

Memo to fast-buck artists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Clayton, Dubilier &Rice, plunderers of US Foods for the past four years: Breaking the law has consequences. (The company retaliated against employees for engaging in union activity.)

And here's a P.S.: There's more of us than there are of you. Standing together makes us strong.

As @ShannanZ tweets:

Back to Old School. This is a Teamster family and you wont find any scabs here. This is what Solidarity looks like. @USFoodsWorkers

The New York Times reported on the strike, no doubt to the dismay of KKR and CD&R:

A small strike that began on Sunday at a US Foods plant in Streator, Ill., has spread to other cities in recent days, causing disruptions at the food distribution giant, which is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

A pair of sanitation workers in Streator affiliated with the Teamsters union went on strike after the company refused to bargain in good faith, the union said. On Monday morning, drivers and warehouse employees at the plant, which employs about 100 workers, elected not to cross a picket line at US Foods, but they later went back to work in the afternoon.

“We believe the illegal conduct of US Foods in Streator is part of a broader war the company is waging against its workers,” the Teamsters said in a statement posted on a Web site that was created expressly for the dispute.

Yesterday's Teamsters news release explains further:

After striking US Foods workers extended picket lines from Streator, Ill. to St. Louis, Mo. and Buffalo, N.Y. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, the picket lines were extended again last night and early this morning to Fishers, Ind., Plymouth, Minn., and Fife, Wash.

More than 830 Teamster-represented warehouse workers and drivers have now honored the picket lines at the US Foods locations in Illinois, Missouri, New York, Indiana and Minnesota. In Fife, Wash., the union gave notice that it intends to honor the picket lines starting Friday morning.

A picket line was also set up overnight in a blizzard at the Englewood, Colo., facility. Teamsters will honor that picket line on Friday as well.

Photos of the picket lines can be viewed here.

For more information, go to the website: http://www.usfoodsworkers.org/. Or you can post messages of support to the Teamsters Facebook page (trolls, you will be banned). Follow the action on Twitter at @USFoodsWorkers.