Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrated a wage increase for Teamsters workers at a Bronx produce market, following a week-long strike that was set to end Sunday.
“Our food produce workers wanted a $1 raise after risking their lives in COVID. They were denied, asked to pay more for healthcare, & told ‘you’re lucky to even have a job,’” she tweeted Saturday afternoon of the Hunts Point Produce Market workers. “So they went on strike. Community supported them. Now they’re getting a $1.85 raise and $0 out of pocket.”
Ocasio-Cortez spent Inauguration Day picketing with the 1,400 Local 202 members who staff the market — which supplies 60 percent of the region’s produce.
Ninety-seven percent of union members officially voted Saturday morning on a new contract that will boost their hourly wages by $1.85 over the course of three years, Local 202 President Danny Kane Jr. said.
The first crew was set to return to work at 2 a.m. Sunday.
“It’s not often that workers take their fate in their hands and decide to put their hands together to fight for a better tomorrow. These workers did that,” said Kane Jr. while celebrating the wage increase with a champagne toast outside the union’s Bronx headquarters, flanked by state Assemblywoman Anada Septimno and City Councilman Rafael Salamanca.