AWG, Teamsers Failed to Reach Agreement

More than 12-hundred union workers in Springfield and Kansas City are out of work today after talks between the union and Associated Wholesale Grocers broke down last night. Teamsters leader Jim Kabell says the grocery store distributor has negotiated in bad faith since February…while AWG’s Doug Carolan says the union never took the company’s concerns about lowering costs seriously. The company has beefed up security at its warehouse operations in Springfield and Kansas City in anticipation of a strike. AWG is outsourcing its warehouse and trucking divisions…and many replacement workers already have arrived to begin work.