Teamsters at work after rejecting Wegmans contract
- About 900 Wegmans workers who are members of Teamsters Local 118 are affected by the contract rejection
- A union statement described the contract rejection as %22overwhelming.%22
Truck drivers, warehouse workers and other Wegmans Food Markets employees were at work as scheduled Tuesday following a Teamsters union vote Monday rejecting a company contract offer.
About 900 Wegmans workers, members of Teamsters Local 118, are affected by the contract rejection, which was also an authorization for a strike. Wegmans spokesperson Jo Natale said that employees who are Teamsters Local 118 members came to their jobs as required Tuesday morning.
The Teamsters said Monday after the vote that they have "requested the participation of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to settle the outstanding contract." However, a spokesperson for the federal mediation service said Tuesday that the agency has been closed as a result of the partial government shutdown.
No one from the union returned calls on Tuesday. A union statement described the contract rejection as "overwhelming" but no vote breakdown was made available.
Wegmans said that, in the event of a strike, the company is "prepared to mobilize a comprehensive plan to ensure that stores remain open without interruption."
TTOBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com