Flav-O-Rich Workers Join RWDSU in Tennessee (11/5/07)

(left to right) Terry Jaremko, president of the Tennessee District Council, Terry Bryant, Flav-O-Rich employee, Wayne Smith, president of Local 323, Marty Shaffer, Flav-O-Rich employee and RWDSU organizer Joseph Dorismond.

Workers employed at a Flav-O-Rich depot in Kingsport, Tennessee, have voted to become part of RWDSU Local 323, joining workers at four other Flav-O-Rich depots in Tennessee and Georgia. The workers voted for the union because of the clear differences between their treatment and the treatment of the Flav-O-Rich workers who were already RWDSU members.

"I feel great about joining the RWDSU," said new member Terry Bryant. "I will be able to make hundreds of dollars more a week with a contract like the ones at the other RWDSU Flav-O-Rich depots."

Flav-O-Rich workers in Kingsport saw the higher pay, better benefits and additional holidays that their brothers and sisters at the RWDSU shops were receiving, and voted unanimously to join the RWDSU, according to RWDSU Tennessee District Council President Terry Jaremko.
"They wanted their fair piece of the pie," Jaremko said.

According to three-year Flav-O-Rich employee Marty Shaffer, the RWDSU will improve the lives of the workers at the depot.
"Because of the RWDSU, workers will stay longer, have better job security, and make more money," Shaffer said.

RWDSU members at the Flav-O-Rich depots are route drivers who distribute Flav-O-Rich dairy products like milk and ice cream.