Workers Seek Improved Compensation After Company Reports Record Profits

 More than 180 Teamsters at Aramark Uniform Services are preparing to strike in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and South Dakota.

The drivers and plant workers made record-setting profits for Aramark the past three years. They are seeking a market adjustment that will raise their wages and improve working conditions.

Teamsters Local 238 Business Agent and Aramark Bargaining Unit Chair Dave Miller said that the company isn’t taking bargaining seriously and that the workers feel disrespected.

“The behavior and reactions of the company’s negotiating committee toward our membership is unfortunate and arrogant,” Miller said. “It won’t be tolerated any longer. The level of disrespect is going to result in a strike, because the workers have had enough and are united. We are one.”

The company is facing multiple charges of unfair labor practices related to violating members’ concerted activity rights. Miller said this and recent conditions faced by the workers are a driving force at the bargaining table.

“The union’s proposals are reflective of our membership’s work over the past three years, which included a global pandemic and record inflation,” Miller said. “We take these proposals very seriously and expect the company to as well.”

Aramark, one of the largest uniform service providers in the Midwest, posted fourth-quarter profits last year that were 111 percent of pre-COVID levels in 2019. It also generated $790 million in new business in 2022, which is 50 percent more than the prior fiscal year, and an all-time high for the company.

The workers, who are represented by Teamsters Locals 90, 120, 238, and 554, could go on strike as soon as January 27.