HYANNIS – More than 300 local truck drivers for Sysco wholesale food distribution have recently gone on strike, seeking better pay and benefits. Sysco has reportedly replaced the striking Teamsters with non-union drivers.

“Workers around the country are rising up at Sysco to demand what they deserve. The Teamsters are done letting this company take advantage of its workers. Our members are essential, united, and fighting back. This is only the beginning,” said Tom Erickson, Director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division in a Facebook post.

“Sysco said in a statement that the Massachusetts drivers make about $110,000 annually on average, and that it has offered a wage increase of 25% over the life of the contract. The Houston-based company also said it is offering more health care options at lower costs compared to the current plan,” according to a WCVB Boston report.

The HN video contains the following: It shows me climbing into the cab with a Sysco replacement truck driver, here from West Texas – he wanted to show me some cellphone footage of them trying to leave the warehouse in Plympton. Minutes earlier I had been alerted when the driver and his partner (also from West Texas) called Barnstable Police while making a delivery to a restaurant in Hyannis. According to the call remarks, a pickup truck with four unknown men inside had followed them onto the Cape, and all the way into Hyannis. The HN video then shows the replacement driver’s previous cellphone video of them being surrounded by striking Teamsters up in Plympton. According to the replacement drivers, the local police were making them stop their truck to be harassed by the strikers. The alleged practice of municipal police officers aiding strikers has been reportedly stopped after the Governor got involved yesterday because of some type of alleged accident, this according to one of the replacement truckers (developing). The replacement drivers told HN they were stopped by local police who appeared to be working with the striking Teamsters… (developing). The video then contains some of the Barnstable Police dispatch audio with still photographs and video of the truckers unloading the truck at two different Hyannis delivery points. The video also shows stills of Barnstable Police officers stopping the pickup truck with the four men across the street from one of the restaurants. The men in the pickup reportedly told cops they were not intending to do anything criminal. The replacement drivers thought otherwise.

The big question locally is whether or not the ongoing strike will cause certain food shortages here on the Cape… [DEVELOPING]

[HN VIDEO – PRESS PLAY]

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