SEATTLE — Seattle-area concrete mixer drivers have voted to ratify a new contract, bringing over a year of negotiations to an end.
Teamsters Local 174 confirmed that 77% of its members voted to ratify the new contract on Sunday, more than a year after their previous contract expired.
The new agreements cover more than 225 concrete mixer drivers working at Cadman, CalPortland, Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel and Stoneway Concrete.
Teamsters says the new agreement addresses most of members’ demands, including medical coverage for active employees, pension increases and new rules “that will solve workplace issues,” but it does not include improved retiree health care benefits.
“The one piece missing from the final Agreement was an improved retirement medical plan that would have helped retired members afford medical insurance until they reached Medicare eligibility,” a statement from the union reads in part. “However, as the cost of the protracted fight continued to escalate, the Teamsters again decided to take the high road and back off from that demand.”
The new contract officially brings an end to over a year of negotiations between the union and Seattle area concrete companies and the strikes and walkouts that came with it.
Union members with Teamsters were on strike for 145 days last year. In March, striking concrete mixer drivers went back to work without an agreement in good faith, hoping the companies involved would respond in kind.
Workers also held “countless” one-day unfair-labor-practice walkouts, according to the union, including one last month that came after union members voted 170-1 to reject a contract offer from the four companies.
“Yesterday’s ratification is a victory for the Teamsters, one truly earned through blood, sweat, and tears,” said Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks on Monday. “In the end, we got significantly more than they ever wanted to give … [and] this proves once and for all that this was never about the contract. It was always about busting the union – and they failed.”
The new contract will last through 2025.