PHILADELPHIA — Some 35 truck drivers, members of Teamsters Local 500, have been on strike, picketing 24 hours a day, at Quaker Valley Foods here since Aug. 5. The company distributes meat, deli and specialty foods along the East Coast.
The drivers’ contract expired Aug. 1. The 35 inside workers in the warehouse — packers, clerks and others — have a different contract expiration date, but are honoring the drivers’ picket line.
“This is a single-issue strike. It’s about getting a pension and with it retirement security,” Teamsters Local 500 President Doug Edwards told the Militant. We want the company to set it up and administer the plan, he said, but “it would be fully funded by the members. The company rejected it.” The bosses have agreed on every other issue in the proposed contract, including a 50% wage increase over five years.
The strike is solid and getting support, including help picketing as well as food and drink donations from the labor movement, especially from many Teamsters locals in the area.
Shop steward Juan Lafuente, who has worked at the plant for 12 years, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that with all the news coverage on the threat of Social Security running out he is worried about providing for the future. “All we ask for is a pension,” he said.