Some 350 production and maintenance workers at Fieldbrook Foods in Dunkirk will be working under a new contract as the company has reached an agreement on a three-year collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 264.
The new contract provides significant increases to wages and benefits and was approved by a wide margin, according to a release from Teamsters Local 264. Union members Norm Conway, Dan George, Mike Mullen and Tom Nasca served on the local bargaining committee.
"I am very proud of the accomplishments that all the committee members and I made at the bargaining table," Nasca said. "There are many very proud Teamsters in Dunkirk as a result of our new contract."
Teamster Angelo Rivera works at the Dunkirk facility.
"I am very happy with the new contract and am especially pleased that the Teamsters leadership provided a Spanish-speaking translator to be certain that all in our group could understand what was going on," Rivera stated. "In the past, many members who do not speak English tended to avoid participating in union affairs. I believe this will not be the case in the future."
Mary Holl is president of the nearly 5,000-member union which represents western New York workers in both the private and public sectors.
"The crew did a tremendous job of working together and it shows that great rustlers can be had when solidarity is shown," she said.
Fieldbrook Foods provides more than 1,500 varieties of ice cream and novelty desserts to more than 30,000 retail and food service outlets and is the largest ice cream manufacturing plant east of the Mississippi River.