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Imagine opening up the paper before going to work in the morning, and seeing your job boldly advertised in a half-page color ad by your employers! To add insult to injury, your job will apparently provide your replacement with ‘excellent wages and benefits’!
This is exactly what happened recently to the workers at U.S. Foodservice in Swedesboro, New Jersey. The company advertised the jobs because of the “possibility of a strike” by the Teamsters-represented workers.
Whether or not these workers, who voted unanimously to authorize a strike, will indeed go on strike remains to be seen, but the actions of the company clearly demonstrate bad-faith bargaining and a blatant maneuver to try and instill fear in the work force. The actions of this company underscore the need for replacement worker legislation that will protect workers from such dirty tactics.
It’s not as if this is anything new with this company. There are 250 U.S. Foodservice workers in Phoenix who are trying to organize with the Teamsters right now, and the NLRB has filed a complaint with over 100 different anti-union measures by the company. Two workers from this facility will tell their story at the 2009 Teamsters Organizers Conference. Before this, on March 19, U.S. Foodservice workers and their supporters will hold a Solidarity Day, wearing stickers that say: “Solidarity Equals Strength – Justice at U.S. Foodservice Arizona.”
According to the U.S. Foodservice web site, “Through acquisition and organic growth, we’ve steadily built upon our greatest asset – our people. They are our equity…they are our prized inventory.”
This is not the case, as anyone who reads the paper now knows.
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