Tentative Agreement Reached for Sysco NM

September 4, 2019 -  Your Teamster Negotiating Committee met a final time with Sysco NM today to see if the previous Tentative Agreement could be improved upon to justify a second vote and avoid a strike. Your Union Committee has unanimously recommended this Tentative Agreement as well as the IBT & Local Union 492. The New T/A will expire on April 25, 2025 and now includes a signing bonus of $500 for every fulltime employee (even those on DIP/WHIP) if ratified by September 15th, 2019.

The new wage & pension increases include record setting large increase upfront in the first year of .90¢ for Drivers and .70¢ for whse and additional .10¢ into the pension in 2025.   

The company has also made a verbal commitment to correct loading issues regarding not giving drivers enough space around the back of the door and the freezer door so drivers can safely unload at their first stop.

To ensure everyone’s voice is heard before a 9/14/19 strike, your Union will be at your facility so that you can cast your secret ballot in person. For those of you that are out of town, your Union representative will also be visiting the facilities across the state of NM to give everyone a chance to vote. We will notify your stewards about the dates and times of these visits which will be in the upcoming week (September 8th thru Sept 13th).  The ballots will be counted on September 13th, 2019.

All of the other improvements and changes from the previous July T/A are still intact. As you may already know, we made a lot of headway getting some of the biggest issues addressed that you, the members, told us you had with your contract.  Some of the bigger issues resolved include;

• Several improvements to the vacation language, including: (1) An increase to 2 weeks’ vacation after only 6 months seniority, (2) a 5th week for those with 25 years or more, (3) The option to cash out all weeks of vacation, (4) the Company will now cash out all unused vacation upon voluntary quit, retire, resign or layoff, (5) Paid vacation will now show as “time worked” when calculating overtime hours.
• Part-time employee’s improvements include preventing future overuse of using part-timers and terminating part-timers at will.
• The Union gave the Company the ability to post driver bids as single day (They are not forced to do so but now once again have the ability)
• The Company must now notify the Union before changing WHIP or DIP
• Increased the meal allowance for overnight drivers
• Added new language to the grievance procedure we hope will help better resolve issues that come up in the future.
• Added language to stop the abuse of supervisors working, including requirement to exhaust all those wanting overtime.
• Paid Holidays and Paid Vacations will now be included as “time worked” when calculating overtime hours.    

Some of the smaller issues resolved include:

• Multiple issues resolved regarding posting bids
• Posting overtime sheets
• Driver protection if bid is abolished
• Restructured night differential in the whse
• Extra break for whse employees working long hours

Your Union Committee was able to get the largest increase that Sysco NM employees have ever seen and it was front loaded. Front loading means that the increase is compounded every year with the next increase and so on. The IBT, Local Union 492 and your Union Committee are unanimously recommending this Tentative Agreement! Call your Business Agent Tracy McCarty at 505-344-1925 Ex 18 with any questions.