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A Bronx Diner Becomes a Teamsters Battleground

 The pro-union sign atop the Celeste Diner in Hunts Point. The union leased the space to support its drive to draft workers at Baldor Specialty Foods nearby. Since then, business from Baldor has slowed at the Bronx diner.

 Entrance to Baldor Specialty Foods, on Barry Street in Hunts Point. The company, which supplies produce to restaurants and corporate cafeterias, is fighting against efforts by Teamsters Local 202 to organize its drivers.

Business is down at the Celeste Diner, but not because of what’s on the menu. The tacos, eggs and sandwiches are as tasty as ever. The place might be quieter now, because of what’s on top of it: signs urging truckers at a nearby company to join the Teamsters in an election scheduled for May 21.

This year, union organizers waging a campaign against Baldor Specialty Foods in Hunts Point, paid $250 a month to perch the bilingual signs declaring “It’s Your Time to Organize — Yes We Can” on the corner diner, right where Baldor’s drivers are sure to see them as they go out to deliver produce to restaurants in the metropolitan region.

The signs were the union’s response to Baldor’s own signs outside its headquarters a block away declaring the produce company “Proud to Be Union Free.”

Celino Linares, the diner’s manager, said soon after the signs went up over the diner, Baldor managers tried pressuring him to remove them. He did not. Now, Mr. Linares said, no orders come from Baldor’s office workers or drivers. It has cost the diner, he said, about $200 a day in lost orders.

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Bronx Baldor Drivers to Vote on Teamster Representation May 21 

About 150 Drivers for Baldor Specialty Foods Are Fighting for Representation

Drivers from Baldor Specialty Foods in the Bronx will vote on union representation May 21. In an effort to improve their working conditions and secure their families’ futures, approximately 150 Baldor drivers are fighting to join Teamsters Local 202.

Baldor driver Frovisher Burgos said, “I am fighting for the union because I want improvements in my working conditions, but most of all I want respect on the job.”

Baldor management campaigned aggressively to dissuade drivers from supporting the union. Workers report Baldor subjected them to retaliatory job assignments, harassment, surveillance and mandatory captive audience meetings.

Baldor driver and union supporter Maximiliano Paniagua said, “Ever since I came forward as a union supporter the company has treated me differently. I used to receive truck routes with 12 or 13 stops, now I get 19.

“Although I am fearful that I will lose my job because of my union support, I will continue to fight for myself, my family and my co-workers at Baldor,” Paniagua said.

The Baldor drivers and Local 202 are not alone in their struggle for justice. Congressman Jose E. Serrano has publicly affirmed his support of the workers.

“Strong unions are the first and best hope for working people in America,” Serrano said. They are “essential to rebuilding our nation’s middle class.”

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.

SOURCE: PRNewsWire.com Read more..

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