230 Jobs Saved in Jessup

Teamsters Local 730 and C&S Wholesale Grocers have successfully negotiated an agreement that will save approximately 230 jobs in the dry goods distribution facility in Jessup. C&S purchased the dry goods business from Giant in March. There was some speculation that C&S would shutter the HoCo facility and move the operation to Pennsylvania. In this article in Food Logistics, Ritchie Brooks, the president of the union local went as far to say, “We know Giant and Royal Ahold are planning to outsource these jobs to a non-union out-of-state supplier, C&S Grocers.”

Only it didn’t turn out that way.

Of course the headlines in the loco press were all about 200 jobs being eliminated as part of the deal. The lead in this article by Andrea K. Walker in The Sun, declared that almost half of the workers at the Jessup facility “will lose their jobs under a new contract negotiated with the union local, labor leaders said Monday.”

That’s certainly a better outcome than all of the jobs being lost.

To their credit, the Teamsters recognized that automated warehousing systems have reduced the need for as many employees as they used to have.

"They have that machine that just does the work cheaper, and we couldn't compete, so that is why some of the workers are leaving," Brooks said. "We made the best of a bad situation. Everybody will have an opportunity to have a job or take the money and leave."

I give the union kudos for recognizing this trend and making the best deal that they could for their members and keeping those jobs in Maryland.