Arturo Lewis is a truck driver in Orlando who’s worked for Breakthru Beverage, a multibillion-dollar alcohol wholesaler, for roughly three and a half years. He likes the social aspect of the job, and the way trucking allows him to stay connected with his community.
“I’m a social person,” he admitted to Orlando Weekly in a phone call. But when he and fellow Breakthru Beverage drivers in Orlando and across Florida — in major metros such as Jacksonville and Tampa — organized a union with the Teamsters in 2024, Lewis wasn’t expecting the aggressive union-busting campaign from his employer that followed.
“It’s been very hectic,” said Lewis, who’d never been part of a union prior to joining the Teamsters as a Breakthru Beverage driver.
As Orlando Weekly previously reported, Breakthru Beverage paid a professional “union avoidance” firm more than $375,000 to convince Breakthru drivers in Florida and in California not to join the Teamsters, according to federal disclosure reports filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Instead, as Breakthru’s management paid multiple union avoidance consultants a reported $3,750 a day just to convince the drivers to vote “no,” the nearly 150 drivers in Florida voted in favor of unionization in a 91-to-54 vote.
“That money could have been well-suited to take care of us,” Artie Hoffman, another driver for Breakthru, previously told Orlando Weekly. “Put it towards the people who take care of your business.”
But the fight against the drivers’ union didn’t stop there. After the drivers in Orlando unionized, Breakthru allegedly refused to meaningfully negotiate with the workers over important terms of their union contract, including health benefits, wages and retirement benefits, leading the drivers to launch what turned into a four-month strike last year.
The strike — featuring allegedly unlawful terminations of drivers and low morale — ultimately ended with a union contract for Breakthru drivers that, according to the union, delivered “major wage increases, improved paid leave and key protections.”
“I was very ecstatic that we reached the deal,” said Lewis. “I was very ecstatic that the union held strong, that we held solidarity with the brothers, you know? Because we was up against people that were spending millions of dollars, man. Anti-union people that were spending millions of dollars on a campaign to try to get us not to be able to form and come together, trying to [decertify] us.”
Indeed, ahead of the strike’s conclusion, a Breakthru driver filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to decertify, or essentially dissolve the union.
The petition was filed with the help of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, an anti-union group that offers legal assistance to workers who want to get rid of their unions in an effort to undermine the organized labor movement nationwide.
According to Lewis, Breakthru “brought people in” to discourage their continued affiliation with the Teamsters by harping on about how expensive union dues were — a common talking point of union busters — and what the drivers could do with that money instead.
“They even put signs along inside of the building, doing the math of what your dues cost a year and what you would be able to do with that, had you not [given] it to them,” Lewis recalled.
It’s common for employers that oppose unionization efforts to delay the process of negotiating a contract in the hopes that, with time, it will convince workers that it’s the union’s fault they haven’t secured a strong contract, and not that of an uncooperative boss.
We reached out to Breakthru Beverages for comment about the union-avoidance consultants, decertification petition or anything else regarding their drivers’ affiliation with the Teamsters. We hope to hear back from them, and will add their comment to this story if we do.
Convincing an employee to file a decertification petition is usually the last step in the employer’s process of trying to oust a union, according to a joint report from the Economic Policy Institute and union-buster watchdog group LaborLab.
“This is the goal of the anti-union campaign, and employers either illegally encourage decertification petitions or tacitly support them,” researchers Margaret Poydock of EPI, Teke Wiggin of LaborLab and Celine McNicholas (also EPI) note.
The effort to decertify the union at Breakthru failed. Drivers in Orlando, Jacksonville, Fort Meyers, Tampa, Pensacola and Midway, Florida, voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining unionized with the Teamsters earlier this year.
It was only recently, however — thanks to a drawn-out process of reviewing objections filed by the employer — that the decertification case was officially closed, with workers retaining their union representation.
Lewis, who helped urge his fellow drivers to keep their faith in the Teamsters, said he’s looking forward to continuing the fight — as a Teamster — for better wages, better healthcare and a better work environment for Breakthru drivers.
“I’m excited about security, I’m excited about stability,” he said, adding that their new union contract gives them a solid foundation to build on.
In Florida, only about 6 percent of workers even have union representation — compared to 11 percent union density nationwide — despite a near record-high level of support for unions, according to recent Gallup polling.
States in the U.S. South, including Florida, have for decades held and passed laws that have made it harder for workers to join together to form unions and bargain collectively for fair wages, strong job benefits and a meaningful voice on the job.
“The union cares about you as a person, not just you as an individual at your job,” said Lewis. “You can go to the union away from your job … anything that you’re going through, there is somebody, one of the brothers, that can help you. We have a Black caucus, we have a Hispanic caucus — because we have whatever it is that you’re dealing with, the union has someone that can meet you there to help you in life. That’s what I want people to know.”
