Dockside first contract bargaining has begun! After preparing proposals based on our survey answers in early April, our bargaining team met with representatives from management for our 1st session last week.

Theorem first contract bargaining has begun! After preparing proposals based on our discussions and survey answers in March, our bargaining team met with a representative from ownership for our 1st session in mid-April.

We’re excited to announce that negotiations for our first contract will begin soon—we’ll finally be getting The Joint to meet us at the table in April. We’ve been preparing as a unit for months, identifying our shared goals and concerns and organizing around pay & raises, security, and health & safety issues. Now is the time to get involved!

April 2, 2025 marks UFCW 3000’s quasquicentennial, a word so fancy that nobody quite knows how to say it. Regardless of how you pronounce it, the absurdly Latinate term means we’ve been around for 125 years. During that time, we’ve grown from a crew of nine butchers in downtown Seattle to the largest private-sector union in the Pacific Northwest, representing more than 56,000 workers in grocery, retail, food processing, health care, laundry and textiles, cannabis, and others industries.   

We’re excited to announce that negotiations for our first contract will begin soon! Our Bargaining Team has prepared draft contract proposals informed by our shared concerns and priorities, and last week

We’re excited to announce that negotiations for our first contract will begin soon! Our Theorem Bargaining Team brings a combined 10 years of experience at Theorem and met last week to draft contract proposals that address our shared goals and concerns.

As we navigate these adverse weather effects, please remember there are resources and rights through our union and through our communities that can help.  

Our Have a Heart bargaining team met with management last week to continue negotiations. We had productive conversations about new hire training, health and safety at work, compliance-related discipline and inventory discrepancies, PTO and sick leave, and wages. We’ve come to tentative agreements on guaranteed time and a half for the second half of double shifts and changing funeral leave to bereavement leave, which offers greater flexibility, and including parents in the 5 days paid leave. Our focus continues to be on winning crucial economic improvements, navigating the challenges of Have a Heart’s reduced staffing, and minimizing takeaways for both new and existing employees. We’re hopeful that management’s next proposal will bring us closer to a recommended agreement.

When we last talked about Unfair Labor Practice Strikes it involved nurses at a hospital. Unfair Labor Practice Strikes in other industries often look very different. Michaela talks with Macy’s retail workers who went on strike in Black Friday in 2023 and again on MLK Day 2024 about the unfair labor practices and reasons that they went on strike during their contract negotiations. She also interviews community members about why they joined the Macy’s picket lines, and reviews the differences and similarities between Macy’s and her career in healthcare. Please note that this episode has parts where both English and Spanish are spoken.

On Monday and Tuesday this week, our Have a Heart Bargaining Team met with the Employer for our first negotiations sessions. There are some reasonable offers on the table, while there are some serious takeaways proposed as well.