Mixer Drivers Ratify Contract, Securing Respect and Fairness in Workplace
May 7, 2009
Mixer truck drivers who work at AJO Concrete Construction Inc. in Baltimore, and are members of Local 311, recently ratified their first agreement with the company. The contract contains strong language providing for job security, seniority and overtime rules for the eighteen drivers in the bargaining unit.
“We had a lot of favoritism, and not a lot of job security before we became Teamsters, so this contract gives us rules and regulations that both we and the company have to abide by,” said Ken “Shahid” Washington, who has worked at AJO for three years.
According to Kenneth Kelm, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 311, until the AJO unit voted to join the Teamsters, the local hadn’t had a concrete company organized in Baltimore in more than ten years.
“Hopefully, this is the start of a wave of organizing in this industry,” Kelm said.