99 Cents Stores Avoid Strike

Teamster truck drivers Sunday ratified their first contract with City of Commerce-based 99 Cents Only Stores, averting a strike that union leaders had threatened to call that night.

Paul Kenny, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 630, said the 65 drivers won raises of about 10% over the five-year deal, along with protections that limit the retailer’s ability to contract out their jobs.

One of the toughest issues was union security, but company executives agreed Sunday morning to require all drivers to be dues-paying members of the Teamsters, he said.

Company executives could not be reached for comment. Last week, executives said they planned to present a sweetened offer to the drivers after they had voted to authorize a strike.

Kenny said the drivers approached his union more than a year ago and voted to join last January. The drivers are the first of the company’s employees to join a union, but others are being targeted.

In a coordinated campaign, the Teamsters union is contacting workers at four distribution centers while the United Food and Commercial Workers union is wooing clerks and stockers at more than 200 retail stores.

Kenny failed to win the company’s promise to remain neutral in those organizing drives and said executives vowed to adamantly oppose any future organizing. However, he said the campaigns would continue. In fact, UFCW and Teamster organizers handed out leaflets at warehouses and retail stores Saturday.

“They didn’t want me to go after the warehouse, but I said it’s too late,” Kenny said. “The door’s open now, and we’ve got one foot inside.”