UFCW 3000 Member Story: Vivian Pitre

Vivian Pitre

Vivian Pitre has worked at the North City Safeway off 175th St. in Seattle for 6 years. She spent four years doing fresh cut work in the produce department, but didn't like how isolated the job was, so two years ago, she transferred to the deli department. She loves the interaction with customers. This is her first union job and she likes it. "It's a good job."

Vivian flagged down her Union rep during a site visit and wanted to know how long she had left until she made it to the journey payrate.

The Rep did some digging, and it turns out, Vivian should have made journey some time ago. This month, Safeway made it right. Not only is Vivian now making journey wages, but she was issued over $4,500 in back pay. That's wages she should have been earning all along!

Check your paycheck, check your union contract!

UFCW 3000 Member Stories: Sheila Sloan-Evans

SHeila SLoan-Evans in the deli

Here is Sheila Sloan-Evans’s story in her own words:

Prior to the pandemic, I was a job coach with Northwest Center in a high school transition program. I so enjoyed training a client in his new grocery job that I realized grocery might be a fit for me too! I have been a PCC member for many years, but during COVID, the Redmond PCC was my go-to store, always a safe and welcoming place with quality products.

I began work at PCC on October 4th, 2022. I take customer service and food safety seriously but also have fun in the process. I enjoy helping people in both French and English--and attempting to learn Spanish from my coworkers!

In late May of this year, Sheila became injured off the job and had to apply for a leave of absence. It was here that her story took a troubling turn:

I provided Redmond PCC and HR a return-to-work letter for July 7th, 2023; Redmond staff and managers were very supportive. PCC human resources called me en route to surgery to terminate me as ineligible for the 6 weeks off and inform me that my insurance coverage would end the next day as well. It was devasting.

Sheila reached out to her rep and the Member Resource Center, who filed a grievance for her termination. After some meetings with PCC, they agreed to restore her employment and bring her back to work!

I truly love this job. I say that every day and am genuinely surprised by that, as it is an unexpected joy to work with these great people in grocery who have so much to teach me. The support of the union was essential. Having strong union advocates really helped me focus on healing and getting back to work. Thank you!!

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Krystal Krotzer

Krystal Krotzer beams over the win of retro pay for her and her coworkers!

Shop steward Krystal Krotzer works as a pharmacy tech for Kaiser Permanente in Spokane. As a leader, Krystal took on an arduous fight with her union rep to get Kaiser to make good on owed retroactive pay dating back to December 2021. She helped gather evidence for the group grievance and didn’t give up until her coworkers got paid. Moving forward Krystal’s stewardship will be much appreciated by her fellow Kaiser union members. Good work Krystal!