Picketing continues; AWG not planning to bargain

Union members are still picketing, temporary workers are still working and Associated Wholesale Grocers continues its work delivering groceries to retailers.

Since April 2, when AWG outsourced its warehouse and trucking operations in Springfield, the company's former employees, members of Teamsters Local 245, have been protesting and picketing at AWG and area stores.

Teamsters Local 245 leader Jim Kabell, who himself faces allegations of damaging groceries in a Monett grocery store, said he is still hopeful that the union can place enough financial pressure on the grocery wholesaler to get it to return to the bargaining table to cut a deal with both the workers 245 represents, and those represented by another local in Kansas City.

"I think our boycott efforts have been very successful so far. And we plan to expand even more. We've got other local unions who are prepared to join us in this effort," Kabell said.

Kabell is also hopeful that the company will have to return to the table following a National Labor Relations Board investigation. The union has already begun giving evidence to the board, and it will continue to do so, finishing within a couple of weeks.

"We think the board will find irrefutable evidence of bad-faith bargaining," Kabell said.

The company has made at least one effort to conduct effects bargaining with the union, making an offer to union drivers, said Steve Dillard, AWG vice president. The company offered to allow drivers to purchase AWG trucks for $100 a month for 24 months. Kabell said the union rejected the offer.

"The company offered 160 to 180 trucks to about 380 drivers. That was not enough to cover everyone," Kabell said.

Dillard said the 180 trucks, which the company still owns, were enough for the number of drivers AWG thought would accept the offer.

The company continues to say that the negotiations failed, that the bargaining is now over and AWG is now out of the warehousing and trucking business.

"We're out of that business as of April 2. The negotiations concluded," Dillard said.

Martin Street of Elite Logistics, the company that has taken over operations of the AWG Springfield warehouse, said temporary workers are still in place in Springfield, but the company offered 93 people permanent jobs April 11. Four or five of those are former Teamsters, Street said.

The company still needs another 300 or more permanent workers, but response to its advertisements and job hotline has been good, Street said. Elite has made an offer to the former AWG employees that they can start with the company at a rate of pay comparable to what they were paid previously. Street said that offer was somewhat time sensitive.

"In six months, if we've got former AWG employees coming forward and wanting to start at that rate, then we're going to have to refuse, because we'll have at that point several workers who will have been with us for several months and will be experienced workers themselves," Street said.

Dillard said the company stands by its decision to outsource, which he said is designed to save its member stores money.