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Grocery supplier seeks 'permanent replacements' for 255 Teamsters striking to save their pensions

AGNE wants out of the Teamsters pension fund. Its strikers say no pension, no contract, and New England store shelves are emptying before Thanksgiving.

Grocery supplier seeks 'permanent replacements' for 255 Teamsters striking to save their pensions
Stock photo, not from the event described. Photo by ADAIR DOS SANTOS on Unsplash

About 255 Teamsters who keep independent grocery stores across New England stocked are in their second week on strike, and their employer is now recruiting people to take their jobs for good.

Associated Grocers Northeast (AGNE), a wholesale distributor based in Pembroke, New Hampshire, has posted social media ads seeking drivers and warehouse workers as "permanent replacements," InDepthNH reported Nov. 13. The strikers, members of Teamsters Local 633, are drivers, warehouse workers and maintenance staff. The fight is over their pensions.

Pension or no contract

AGNE wants to pull out of the New England Teamsters Pension Fund and move workers into a 401(k) with no company match, according to the union, as reported by the Valley News and NHPR. When talks opened in July, the company's only proposal was to end its pension contributions, shift that money into wages and use private accounts without a 401(k) match, Local 633 business agent Keith Judge told the Concord Monitor. Court records show AGNE sued the pension fund in June, the Monitor reported.

Workers voted 98% to authorize a strike in September, Supermarket News reported. The five-year contract expired Oct. 17, according to NHPR, and pickets went up around the clock in early November.

"The company is trying to strip away retirement benefits that we've spent years earning," Shawn Gilan, a 14-year maintenance worker, said in a union statement quoted by Supermarket News. Judge told the Valley News the union can work out wages, health insurance and contract language, but losing the pension is a "nonstarter."

"Our members are sending a clear message: Keep the pension or no contract," Jeff Padellaro, secretary-treasurer of Local 633, said, Boston.com reported.

Who walked away from the table

The two sides tell different stories. AGNE said Nov. 8 that the union was no longer taking part in negotiations, according to Boston.com. The union's version, reported by InDepthNH: a session collapsed after company representatives declined to sit down with the union and a federal mediator.

Mike Violette, AGNE's president and CEO, said the company hopes for a resolution and that "AGNE has a contingency in place to ensure that we move into the holiday season with certainty of service," according to Boston.com.

The dispute was already in front of federal labor regulators. Local 633 has three open unfair labor practice charges against the company at the National Labor Relations Board: one filed in December 2025 alleging coercive statements, rules and surveillance; one filed Sept. 9 alleging interrogation and retaliation; and one filed Oct. 26 alleging coercive actions such as surveillance. These are allegations; the board has made no findings.

State police also arrested Judge, apparently for obstructing a truck driven by a replacement driver, InDepthNH reported.

Empty shelves before Thanksgiving

AGNE serves hundreds of independent stores, according to Boston.com, and the strike may touch as many as 1,000 retailers in several states, Supermarket News reported. Richardson's Market in Portsmouth, which normally gets about 90% of its stock from AGNE, had gone nearly a week without a delivery. "We have no milk," employee Shirley Stretton told NHPR. The Leverett Village Co-op in Massachusetts has lost $2,000 in sales, its general manager told Boston.com. The Marshfield Cooperative in Vermont said it would avoid AGNE-distributed products handled by replacement workers, InDepthNH reported.

What "permanent replacement" means

Federal labor law treats strikers differently depending on why they walk out. Workers striking for better pay or benefits (economic strikers) keep their status as employees and can't be fired, but they "can be replaced by their employer under certain circumstances," according to the NLRB. Workers striking over an employer's unfair labor practices "can be neither discharged nor permanently replaced," and they get their jobs back even if the employer has to let replacements go.

Which category this strike falls into hasn't been decided, and the charges against AGNE remain open. If your employer threatens to replace you during a strike, write down what was said and when, and tell your union rep.

Sources

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