Your Bargaining Team met with the Employer on Wednesday, November 18. There was some progress on issues like Bereavement Leave, where workers will no longer have to attend the funeral of an immediate family member in order to be able to take paid time off to grieve. Unfortunately, there was little progress with the biggest issues on the table. 

So, keep those stickers on, and if your store needs more call your rep today!

Management says Union “Asks” are “Way Out There”

In the previous session Bartell Drugs’ wage proposal contained little to no raises for most workers. The Bargaining Team made a counter-proposal that stuck to our concept of keeping our wages above the legal minimum wage that increases with our years of service. Management said that this and other proposals we made are “way out there”.

“Let’s see Management try live on $14.20 an hour and then see how ‘way out there’ our proposals are.” 

— Kia Haggerty (Bargaining Team, Burien Bartell)

Safety in Retail During a Pandemic

During the session we talked about the increasing problems with social distancing in our stores, and the ongoing results of the inspections that union reps are doing. Cases of Coronavirus are continuing to explode locally and across the US, and our work in retail puts us especially at risk. We need to stand together and make sure that we keep our lives at work as safe. This isn’t just important for union workers at Bartell’s, it’s important for us all.

We let Management know that they should be doing more to limit the number of customers in our stores, and to make sure that they are wearing masks and maintaining social distance. To make sure that they do that, the Bargaining Team needs to hear from you and your coworkers about when there are problems with:

• Customers not wearing masks in the stores,

• Customers not maintaining social distancing while shopping or standing in line, 

• If there aren’t floor decals establishing social distancing for check-out or directions for one-way aisles,

• When we don’t have enough time to properly clean high traffic areas and surfaces (registers, carts, shelves, etc.)

Reps will continue doing safety inspections and gathering evidence. But please don’t wait, contact your Union Rep and let them know what is happening. Staying healthy and safe is too important to wait!

Other Updates

• Bartell’s still wants to eliminate overtime after 10 hours and when 6 days is worked in a week,

• The Employer continues to reject our proposal to have work the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas be voluntary or assigned by reverse seniority,

• Bartell’s is refusing agree to severance compensation for store closures,

• Management’s team continues to express concern about maintaining our health care benefits and the new pension structure adopted by the grocery stores represented by UFCW 21. These are some of the most important benefits of our union contract, and they need to be maintained now and for the future.

We meet again to bargain with Bartell Drugs on December 11 and 18.