Teamsters Local 610 drivers approve new contract with Schnucks, averting strike

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief

St. Louis – Teamsters Local 610 members overwhelmingly approved a new contract with Schnucks June 19, averting a possible strike. The new contract includes improved wages and health care benefits.

Local 610 Principal Officer Dan Thacker said drivers overwhelmingly approved the new contract by 81 percent.

“We got a drastically better health care plan out of it, which was the main sticking point,” Thacker said.

Local 610 represents 129 drivers at Schnucks.

RAISES FOR DRIVERS
Thacker said drivers will get a $1.75 per hour raise in the first year of the contract and $1.10 in each the second and third years.

Second tier drivers will also move up the pay scale faster, he said

After four months of negotiations, drivers were ready to strike after having rejected the previous two contract offers.

Both sides returned to the bargaining table June 17 and hammered out the new pact. Afterward, Local 610 announced it was calling off the strike and “fully recommending” the new contract.

Drivers had been alerting customers to the potential strike by hand-billing at several Schnucks stores across the region.

“They were ready to do it if that’s what it took, but naturally nobody wants a strike,” Thacker said. “It’s not good for anyone.”

Thacker thanked Schnucks customers for their support while drivers were hand-billing and  urged them to continue shopping at Schnucks.

“Schnucks does a lot of good things for our community so I would just ask them to continue shopping there and support our economy.”