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.
Read MoreMatthew was hired on as a meat wrapper at Safeway in March of 2023. After a few paychecks he noticed he was not being paid as promised, so he talked to his union representative.
Read MoreWorkers should always check their paycheck to make sure that they are getting everything they are owed from their employer. Our member story this week is about Registered Nurse Elisabeth Meyer who noticed that her paycheck was missing premium pay for a nursing certification pay that she qualified for. Found out how as a union member she made sure she got what she was owed!
Read MoreNo matter who you are, sometimes life can be pretty rough. And sometimes the problems we’re faced with just can’t be solved while our regular day-to-day lives continue. The boss’s attitude is often, “Not my problem. You need to work your regularly scheduled shift!” Which is why union contracts generally have provisions for leaves in these situations, and why the labor movement has always pushed for laws to protect workers from unjust terminations and discipline when they need to take time off work for emergency situations.
Read MoreMonica Meloy and Jason Sherwood Foug knew their contract language and timelines, and helped win them and their coworkers nearly $80,000 in backpay for bonus pay in their contract that was paid out incorrectly.
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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!!
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!
We are the Union. The members of UFCW 3000 are over 50,000 members working in grocery, retail, health care, meat packing, cannabis, & other industries across Washington state, north-east Oregon, and northern Idaho. UFCW 3000 is a chartered member of UFCW International with over 1.4 million workers in North America.
To build a powerful Union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and in our communities.
