UNFI food distribution center workers end walkout at suburban Minneapolis center
Updated: 5:07 p.m.
More than 700 workers at a United Natural Foods Inc. distribution center in Hopkins are returning to work after a two-day walkout.
The action was to show solidarity with striking Teamsters at a UNFI distribution center in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Tom Erickson, president of Teamsters Local 120, which covers Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Iowa, said Wednesday that the picket line ended when UNFI asked the Indiana union to return to the bargaining table. He said they’re working on getting union members back to work.
If it had continued, the walkout could have affected grocery stores in Minnesota served by the food distributor, including Cub Foods and Whole Foods.
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“It would have had a huge impact,” Erickson said.
Drivers, warehouse and maintenance workers in Teamsters Local 414 in Fort Wayne went on strike on Dec. 12. In a news release, the union said they were protesting the company’s “violations of federal laws that protect workers’ rights.”
In a statement, UNFI said it was disappointed that Teamsters Local 120, which it said is working under a four-year contract, decided to initiate an “illegal labor disruption” at the Hopkins facility to support the Fort Wayne strike.
UNFI said Wednesday afternoon that it is “committed to return to the bargaining table in Fort Wayne and work in good faith with Teamsters Local 414 to reach a new labor agreement.”
“We’re happy that our valued associates at all three facilities will be able to return to work and no longer experience the unnecessary instability they’ve experienced during the early holiday season,” the company said.
Erickson said he’s pleased that the company agreed to return to negotiations. But he said he still has concerns about UNFI’s management decisions and what he views as anti-union actions in other states.
“They continue to struggle and, in our opinion, make poor choices in how they’re running this business — not specifically here, but throughout the country,” he said.
Last year, UNFI acquired Eden Prairie-based Supervalu in a $2.9 billion deal.