Teamsters win first UNFI contract for 300 Lancaster warehouse workers

Teamsters Local 745 members at United Natural Foods Inc.’s Lancaster, Texas, distribution center ratified their first contract on Monday, locking in gains for 300 warehouse workers at a site that sits deep in the grocery supply chain. The agreement delivers a 23% wage increase, Teamsters health care, a defined benefit pension plan and job protections.

For Trader Joe’s crews, the significance is less about the specific warehouse and more about what it signals upstream. UNFI is the primary distributor for Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market, which means labor standards at a major distributor can influence how reliably product moves through the system, how much that distribution costs, and what warehouse workers elsewhere may expect when they organize.

The Lancaster deal follows an organizing run that has accelerated since 2022. Workers at the facility voted to join the Teamsters in December, after drivers at the same site had already won an organizing victory. The union said more than 3,500 UNFI workers have organized since 2022, bringing total Teamsters membership at UNFI nationwide to more than 5,500. In other words, Lancaster was not an isolated win, but part of a broader push inside one of the country’s most important food distributors.

Laqurria Marshall, a UNFI warehouse worker and Local 745 member, said, “This contract is going to change our lives for years to come,” adding that workers organized for better wages, affordable health care and retirement security. The Teamsters have been trying to turn those demands into a repeatable playbook at UNFI, where earlier newly organized workers won first contracts that included up to an $8-an-hour wage increase, Teamsters health care coverage and participation in the Teamsters Western Conference Pension Plan.

UNFI said in an emailed statement that it was pleased to reach an agreement with warehouse associates in Lancaster. That calmer corporate note does not change the larger equation for grocery operators and store managers: if distribution workers win stronger wages, benefits and job protections, retailers may face higher logistics costs, but they may also see steadier staffing and fewer disruptions in the warehouse-to-store pipeline.

That tradeoff matters for crews who live with the daily consequences of delayed trucks, thin backstock and suddenly empty shelves. Trader Joe’s has its own separate organizing effort through Trader Joe’s United, an independent union founded and powered by crew members, and the Lancaster contract is another sign that pressure on grocery labor is building in both stores and the distribution network that keeps them stocked.