The company made a concerted effort to discourage unionization through weekly captive audience meetings and intimidation.
The workers approached Local 264 in early May looking for help with problems that had grown unbearable at Costanzo's.
Kevin Schmidt, a sales route driver at Costanzo's, said:
We were being treated poorly by management who was adding more and more stops to our routes without compensation. No matter how we approached the company, they ignored us, but with the Teamsters representing us, they won’t be able to ignore us any longer.Schmidt praised the local for all the work they had done leading up to the vote, including getting a driver reinstated after the company fired him.
Tony Vaccaro, Local 264 business agent, explained:
We filed an unfair labor practice complaint after Costanzo’s fired a driver as a way, we believe, to intimidate other workers who wanted a union. Despite all of the anti-union tactics management threw at these guys, they remained united and voted for their union.They made the right decision!
