Union Approves New 3-Year Contract With Hunts Point Market

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Union workers employed at Hunts Point Market, the nation's largest wholesale produce market in New York, have overwhelmingly approved a new contract.

Officials with Teamsters Local 202, which represents 1,300 members, said 97 percent of those who voted Wednesday were in favor of the three-year deal that was reached on Saturday.

The deal includes hourly raises between 50 and 60 cents in each of the next three years and prevents most union workers from the $20 weekly healthcare contribution the market wanted.

The initial contract deadline had been Jan. 9 and a strike loomed after negotiations broke down. But the union agreed to put off any strike action at the South Bronx facility until this past Sunday to let a federal mediator get involved.

Hunts Point supplies 60 percent of the produce in the New York metro area.

Reaching a contract agreement averted a strike that could have forced New York restaurants, grocery stores and homes to find alternatives for fresh fruit and vegetables.

The last strike at Hunts Point Market was in 1986.

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