The Summit Logistics warehouse in nearby Tracy, California, distributes groceries and produce to Safeway stores in northern California, Nevada, and Hawaii.

As part of the settlement, the company agreed to dismiss all replacement workers once strikers return to work. It had hired and housed 1,600 replacement workers in an attempt to break the union.

Under the new contract warehouse workers will receive raises totaling $3.10 an hour over the next six years; the pay for new hires will go from $11 to $13.50 an hour. Drivers will receive a raise of almost 16 percent. A labor/management committee will be established to review drivers' pay periodically. Workers also won modest gains in health and pension benefits.

The two main demands of the strike, however, remain unresolved. These are lowering the production standards for warehouse workers and basing drivers' pay on hours worked instead of deliveries made.

Strikers also expressed concern that the 29 union members suspended during the strike on charges such as rock-throwing must have their cases reviewed individually to determine if the company will take them back.

"One thing I've learned is you can say strike and go through the motions, but to win a strike you need serious backbone," warehouse worker Ben Richer, 29, told the Militant at the contract ratification meeting held December 1 in Stockton.

Many workers interviewed expressed the feeling that a future strike is inevitable. "When we go back in, I'm going to be sure to educate my people," said Julio Rangel, a shop steward in the warehouse. "I'm going to tell them to start saving right now because next time its not going to be a strike, it's going to be a war." Rangel said, "If you want a better life you have to fight for it. It's the fight that gets you better pay and benefits--that earns you the right to hold your head up--and builds the union. No one can do that for you.''

Warehouse worker Tony Cordova, 26, anticipated that the bosses' harassment and intimidation will continue. "But we're much stronger now," he added. "I stood up for what I believe in. We all stood together and I think that will continue once we're back on the job. And we're in better shape. I know people from all the other departments now."

Richer expressed a similar sentiment. "We've put 'Brother' back into the 'Brotherhood' [of Teamsters]. I'm proud to be a Teamster."  
 
 
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