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<\/p>\nSeptember 8, 2025<\/p>\n
Management at a Bronx pharmaceutical plant on strike since Sept. 2 announced it is hiring replacement workers \u201con a permanent basis,\u201d according to a written notice posted near striking employees on the picket line Thursday morning, THE CITY has learned. <\/p>\n
More than 200 factory workers at Perrigo, a company that manufactures private-label, over-the-counter medication, walked off the job after the Labor Day holiday weekend. The action followed the company’s refusal to negotiate its plans to roll back overtime protections and stop making contributions to their retirement plan, employees and their union said. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 210.<\/p>\n
Workers and Teamsters officials on Thursday said they were blindsided by Perrigo\u2019s notice that the company intends to permanently replace striking workers. The two sides had their most recent bargaining session on Wednesday, and are scheduled to meet again on Sept. 10, union officials said. On Thursday evening, several red and yellow \u201cnow hiring\u201d banners appeared at the facility\u2019s entrance on Bathgate Avenue near East 173rd Street.<\/p>\n
In a printed notice to their \u201cunionized employees,\u201d signed by Perrigo New York Management, the company wrote that it hired several replacement workers for first shift positions \u201con a permanent basis and will continue to do so,\u201d with those words bolded and underlined.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs such, the ability of a striking first shift employee to return to their position at the conclusion of the strike may depend on whether they have been permanently replaced,\u201d the notice continued.<\/p>\n
Union officials said the action could run afoul of federal labor standards and said they intended to file formal charges against the employer to the federal National Labor Relations Board. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are intimidation tactics. You\u2019re trying to scare the people,\u201d said Lydia Torres, vice president of Local 210. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re not at the table, it\u2019s not like we\u2019re not talking, so what is the intent behind this?\u201d <\/p>\n
Brad Joseph, a spokesperson for the company, confirmed the company is hiring permanent replacement workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo continue providing consumers with our important self-care products, we are taking the necessary steps to ensure product availability, including replacing workers on a permanent basis,\u201d Joseph said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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Workers at Perrigo have been striking since Sept. 2. Alex Krales\/THE CITY<\/p>\n
Ricky Guzman, a union shop steward who has worked at the Bronx facility for about 20 years, said the company\u2019s actions were \u201ctotally unfair and not OK\u201d and accused management of attempting to \u201chumiliate\u201d and \u201cscare\u201d workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want us to go back in? We\u2019re willing to go back in, but we have to reach a reasonable agreement,\u201d said Guzman. \u201cBut then again, you humiliate us while we\u2019re out here on the street, and start putting up these signs to start scaring people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not really being as professional as they say they are,\u201d added Guzman.<\/p>\n
At the center of the bargaining dispute is a proposal by management to expand operations at the facility to seven days a week. Workers are currently scheduled for four 10-hour shifts per week, with the option of earning overtime on Saturdays and Sundays. But management wants to increase shifts to 12 hours with Saturdays and Sundays to the regular schedule, which the union claims essentially eliminates the workers\u2019 existing ability to earn overtime pay.<\/p>\n
Perrigo counteroffered to pay some existing workers an additional $2 per hour on Saturdays and Sundays instead of the existing overtime rate of time-and-a-half, according to Torres. The union refused that deal, in part, because they claim it creates a \u201ctwo-tiered\u201d system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them I\u2019m not against the 12 hours,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat I\u2019m against is paying them straight time,\u201d instead of the existing overtime.<\/p>\n
The Teamsters represent compounders, inventory clerks, mechanic line operators and technicians at the Bathgate Avenue facility, which produces arthritis topical gel, hemorrhoid suppositories, and other over-the-counter medications sold at Target, CVS, Amazon, Costco and other major retailers nationwide<\/p>\n