FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 15, 2025
Contact: Chelsea Connor (RWDSU) | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259
GROWNYC WORKERS ACROSS 60+ GREENMARKET & FARMSTAND SITES, ITS TEACHING GARDEN, WAREHOUSE, & HQ WIN HISTORIC 1ST UNION CONTRACT
- BRINGING FIRST UNION CONTRACT TO THE INDUSTRY IN NYC -
Contract Includes Major Health and Safety Wins for Field Workers Including Extreme Weather Protections, Recall for Seasonal Workers, and Second Language Pay Bonuses, Along with Significant General Wage Increases Across the Board and More
(NEW YORK, NY) – Today, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced the ratification of the very first union contract at GrowNYC. The three-year agreement will cover over a hundred workers at the large-scale non-profit across 60+ locations in all five boroughs of New York City who work at the organization's greenmarkets and farmstands, as well as in its teaching garden, warehouse and headquarters. The union first won voluntary recognition back on May 16, 2023 making this a significant milestone in resolving many issues and paving the way for lasting improvements.
Workers originally sought to organize their union around a myriad of prolonged safety issues amid the rebound of post-pandemic New York City, including; workplace harassment including sexual harassment, seasonal layoffs with no call-back structure, a lack of structure when it came to job duties and tasks at work, and favoritism by management. This union contract alleviates these issues and more by providing:
Improved protection from harassment from customers and the public by creating customer codes of conduct, providing Incident PTO to workers to recover from traumatic events, and exploring further remedies including potentially banning repeat harassers/offenders from GrowNYC services.
Health and Safety improvements for field workers, including extreme weather pay bonuses, restroom access, relief seating, and protective weather-appropriate clothing and equipment.
Union representation recall for seasonal workers.
Wage bonus for workers who utilize fluency in a second language on the job and additional improved language access for the communities served.
Organization-wide starting minimum wage of $21 per hour, which goes up to $22 per hour after a new worker's first annual raise. Annual increases of either 3.5% or 4.5%, depending on tenure.
GrowNYC workers on the 1-year anniversary of their delegation seeking voluntary recognition of their union.
“This contract ratification represents the culmination of three long years of organizing and negotiating. For the first time, we will have guaranteed annual raises, just cause protections, access to chairs at all sites, and bonuses for multilingual speakers, to name a few. While the struggle and advocacy efforts will continue, we hope to achieve and sustain impactful collaboration, as well as future gains. This agreement shows what’s possible when workers stand in solidarity and disrupt the status quo,” said Win-Sie Tow (She/Her), Greenmarket Site Lead and Bargaining Committee Member.
“It’s been over three-years since my coworkers and I first started organizing with the RWDSU, so to finally reach a first contract is an amazing feeling. I’m excited to see all the changes that GrowNYC will implement through this contract actually take effect, mainly when it comes to diversity, and health and safety,” said Tammy Castrillo (She/Her), Upper Manhattan & Bronx Greenmarkets Site Lead and Bargaining Committee Member.
“This first union contract for GrowNYC workers is historic,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). “GrowNYC workers feed our city, educate our communities, and keep New York’s beloved greenmarkets running in all kinds of weather. Their fight for a union was about safety and fairness on the job, and this contract delivers. From protections against harassment and extreme weather pay, to improved language equity and significant wage increases, they’ve set a new standard that will lift up not only GrowNYC workers, but workers across the sector.”
The vote to ratify the contract concluded on Thursday, August 14, 2025. The over 100 workers represented by the RWDSU in the bargaining unit work as full-time, regular part-time, and seasonal non-supervisory employees in GrowNYC’s food access, education, and green space programs, including all farmstand site staff, greenmarket site leads, receiving associates, warehouse associates, wholesale delivery drivers, senior greenmarket site leads, union square operations coordinators, greenmarket operations assistants, inventory specialists, lead volunteer managers, administrative coordinators, inspections program coordinators, inspections specialists, union square publicity coordinators, inventory specialists, procurement specialists, delivery drivers, driver assistants, adult education coordinators, garden coordinators & seed to plate helpers, school gardens coordinators, nutrition education coordinators, farmstand program assistants, food access publicity and outreach assistants, food access staffing assistants, education coordinators, green space project leads, green space gardens coordinators, Governor's Island container farm coordinators, and education engagement leads.
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU, Instagram: @rwdsustrong.