Grocery workers picket over ‘low wages, unpredictable schedules.’ Negotiations ongoing
Contract talks between major grocery chains in the area and their workers, so far, aren’t making much progress.
Informational pickets are happening this week at 32 area stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, QFC and Fred Meyer stores in King, Kitsap, Snohomish counties as well as in Tacoma.
The next one in Tacoma is scheduled for Thursday (Aug. 1) at Fred Meyer, 7250 Pacific Ave.
The pickets are organized by UFCW Local 21, UFCW Local 367 and Teamsters Local 38 as a way to let customers know what is happening.
In a release Wednesday, organizers cited the reasons for the latest action.
“Workers are increasingly feeling the pressure of understaffing, unpredictable schedules and low wages,” the release stated. “While the wealthy CEOs of the big national grocery store chains are making more than 300 times their average worker, the employers are proposing wage increases of only a fraction of what workers need.”
The organizers noted they have been in talks for four months over contracts that cover nearly 30,000 grocery store workers.
In a response, Zach Stratton, media representative for QFC, told The News Tribune on Wednesday: “QFC and Fred Meyer are currently in negotiations with local unions in Tacoma and surrounding areas. Our goal is to reach an agreement that is good for our associates and good for our stores, too.”
Stratton also said that both QFC and Fred Meyer “already offer one of the best total compensation packages of wages and benefits in our industry, in this region. That includes good pay and affordable and quality health care” and pension benefits at retirement.”
Labor and employment relations firm Allied Employers, in a statement on behalf of Albertsons, Safeway, Fred Meyer and QFC, told The News Tribune: “We have been negotiating diligently with the unions since March. Good agreements come from working together and we have reached tentative agreements on issues such as safety in the workplace, new technology, and future workforce development.
“We are now getting down to the core economic issues. The unions are conducting informational picketing at some stores this week. ... This type of activity at the stores is not unusual for this point in the process.
“The important thing is that we get back to the bargaining table and do the hard work of putting a negotiated settlement together.”
Allied Employers said it would return to the bargaining table Aug. 12.
The employee action this week is part of a larger ongoing United West campaign that is coordinating UFCW grocery workers’ contract negotiations along the West Coast.
UFCW 367, representing workers in the Tacoma area, recently rejoined the current contract negotiations with Teamsters 38 and UFCW 21, according to UFCW 21 communications director Tom Geiger.
Last year, union members voted down an effort to merge Locals 367 and 21.
In a July 24 bargaining update post about the grocer negotiations on its Facebook page, UFCW 367 representatives wrote: “Some progress on some issues including scheduling improvements,” but that they were “still a very long way from reaching an agreement.”
“Some of the specific items where solutions have been tentatively agreed to include safety, workforce development and training, bereavement and most recently a major breakthrough with Kroger on a large-scale solution for our pension problems,” the post said. “That Kroger pension solution is conditional — it only can be part of a global solution, which includes reaching a pension agreement with Safeway/Albertsons.
“After months of waiting and member action, the employer finally presented their first wage proposal of 30 cents, 25 cents, and 25 cents. Although this is what we won in the final hours of 2016 bargaining, it is only a fraction of what we need.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 6:05 AM.
