UNFI warehouse workers in Texas ratify first union contract

What new minimum standard did this deal set for Texas retail warehouse jobs? For 300 UNFI workers in Lancaster, the answer is a first Teamsters contract that delivers a 23 percent wage increase, Teamsters health care, a defined-benefit pension plan and strong job protections.

Teamsters Local 745 members ratified the agreement on May 11 in Lancaster, Texas, after organizing around pay, health care and retirement security. Laqurria Marshall, a Lancaster warehouse worker and Local 745 member, said the contract would “change our lives for years to come,” and pointed to better wages, affordable health care and a more secure retirement as the fight’s core goals. For workers in a warehouse built around constant inbound and outbound volume, those gains go beyond a headline raise. They set a floor for what a large distribution employer has to put on the table when workers organize.

The Texas deal did not land in isolation. More than 200 UNFI workers in Pompano Beach, Florida, ratified a five-year contract on April 17 after a strike threat, winning a 31 percent wage increase over the life of the agreement, Teamsters health care, entry into the Teamsters Western Conference Pension Plan, just-cause protections and grievance-arbitration procedures. Before that, more than 300 workers in Sarasota won a five-year deal in August 2025 with up to an $8-per-hour wage increase, health care and pension participation. Taken together, the contracts show a pattern at UNFI: once workers organize, the company has been willing to move on compensation and job protections rather than keep the old terms in place.

That matters because UNFI is not a niche operator. The company describes itself as the largest publicly traded wholesale distributor delivering healthier food options in the United States and Canada, with 48 distribution centers, about 31 million square feet of warehouse space, roughly 230,000 products, more than 10,000 suppliers and 30,000-plus customer locations. In other words, the labor standards in Lancaster and Pompano Beach can echo far beyond one dock or one shift.

For Dollar General employees, especially in distribution and store replenishment, the benchmark is plain. Dollar General said it employed about 194,200 full-time and part-time workers as of February 28, 2025, and its fiscal 2025 report said it opened 589 stores, relocated 47, remodeled more than 4,254 stores and opened a new distribution center in North Little Rock, Arkansas. In a business that depends on fast-moving freight, tight schedules and steady staffing, UNFI’s new contract shows how much leverage workers can gain when a warehouse campaign turns into a binding agreement.