Ratified!

Our Union Bargaining Team: Back row (L-R): Debra Rix, Callow Ave Safeway; Dan Howes, Crown Hill Metro Market; Roger Yanez, Bella Bottega QFC; Sam Dancy, Westwood Village QFC; Cliff Powers, Anacortes Safeway; Bryan Gilderoy, Kent Fred Meyer; Kyle Doherty, Stanwood Haggen; Kevin Flynn, Marysville Albertsons; J’Nee Delancey, Ballard Town and Country; Teamsters Local 38 E-Board Member Caprii Nakihei; Teamsters Local 38 E-Board Member Caprii Nakihei; Teamsters Local 38 Joel Palabrica; Todd Heuer, Ballard Fred Meyer. Front row (L-R): Yasmin Ashur, Port Orchard Albertsons; Daisy Hannelore, Benson Plaza Fred Meyer; Joseph Baltz, Anacortes Fred Meyer; Jeff Smith, Fred Meyer; Princetta Woodhouse, Redondo Fred Meyer; Kyong Barry, S Auburn Albertsons; Amy Dayley Angell, Ballard QFC.

On Friday, Sept 19, QFC grocery store workers ratified a Letter of Understanding (LOU) that allows displaced UFCW 3000 members at Fred Meyer stores to transfer into open QFC positions while retaining their hard-earned union seniority and benefits.

The ratification of this LOU ensures a fair transfer process for the 700+ workers whose jobs were put at risk by Kroger’s decision to close stores in our region. 

Fred Meyer Closure FAQ, Tele-Town Hall Scheduled for Thursday

Dear Grocery Store Workers,

This week Kroger announced plans to close four Fred Meyer stores in the Puget Sound region, including stores in Everett, Kent, Lake City, and Redmond.

Our members built a fighting union exactly for moments like this one. Our size and strength give us the power to push back against giant corporations like Kroger and Albertsons when they try to disrupt our lives and communities with store closures.

To that end, in the coming days our union bargaining team will sit across the table with Kroger with a list of demands to ensure fairness during this process.

In the meantime, below you'll find frequently asked questions about store closures, along with actions we plan to take to fight back against this corporate greed.

Give them a read, get involved, and get in touch with your union rep if you have any other questions >>

STORE CLOSURE FAQ

Is the company obligated to place us at another store?

All of our grocery contracts ensure that the company must offer workers placement in other nearby stores based on seniority following a closure.

Where can I find the seniority language in our contract?

• Fred Meyer Grocery: Article 3

• Fred Meyer General Merch: Article 5

• Fred Meyer Meat: Article 11

If I move to another store, do I keep my same position?

The move to All Purpose Clerk (APC) for grocery and general merchandise workers gives members the opportunity to flex toward departments other than their home one to pick up hours.

Do these closures impact my retirement benefits?

Generally, our pension plan requires you to work for five years before you can draw on the pension during retirement. If you have not worked for five years, then you will not receive pension benefits when you retire. For specific questions, please contact Sound Retirement Trust at (206) 282-4500.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Read up: To learn more background information on these closures, read our union's press releases.
Release 1 >> Release 2 >>

Speak up: UFCW 3000 will host a 30-minute telephone town hall with all grocery store members at 4:30 PM on Thursday, August 21. We'll be answering any questions you have about these closures. Call in using this number: 844-227-7556. If you join a few minutes late, then just input the Meeting ID: 8789.

Stand up: Our union is currently in the process of planning ways to work with our state and local elected officials to prioritize policies that protect workers, eliminate food deserts, and ensure affordable food for all. Get involved in the process by emailing politics@ufcw3000.org and expressing your interest.

Telephone Town Hall

Thursday, August 21
4:30 PM
Call-in Number: 844-227-7556
Meeting ID: 8789

Puget Sound Allied Grocery Stores - Haggen Meat - Tentative Agreement Reached—Contract Vote Time Scheduled!

Attend and Vote! MEMBERS OF THE BARGAINING TEAM RECOMMENDED A YES VOTE!

Your vote is important. During this vote we will be voting on contract ratification and taking strike authorization. It is your decision if we ratify the contract or prepare for strike. Your bargaining team is recommending YES to ratify the contract and NO to strike.

After months of leafleting, info-picketing, and petition-signing, our bargaining team harnessed the power of thousands of grocery and meat workers to fight and win a fair contract. All that organizing helped win:

• First-of-its-kind staffing language

• Strong Journey wage increases

• Health and pension funding that sees no benefit cuts

• Contract alignment with Snohomish Grocery and Spokane-area grocery/meat, uniting nearly 30,000 grocery workers across Washington State in a unified fight

From June 12 to 15, our team bargained for nearly 60 hours straight, fighting down to the last nickel.

Some other highlights include:

• Training Up: Major investment in a Meat Apprenticeship WeTrain program to help strengthen our industry for years to come

• Premium Increases: Doubling the Meat Manager pay from $1 above Journey to $2 above Journey, the first increase to manager pay in years

• Largest Journey Increase: Largest average increase to our Journey wages over the contract we have ever won

Our union member bargaining team reached a Tentative Agreement and recommends a YES vote to accept the proposal from the employers.

"We're fired up to return to the table sooner than ever—and this time with thousands more workers with us"

— Kyle Doherty, Haggen Meat

These votes are open to all active members of UFCW 3000 Haggen Meat in King County.

Members in good standing are eligible to vote at the following location and date.

Contract Ratification Vote

• Friday, August 22, 2025

• 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

• Haggen Woodinville: Breakroom

• 17641 Garden Way NE, Woodinville, WA 98072

For questions, please contact your Union Representative, bargaining team members, and stewards for updates. If you are unable to connect with your union rep, steward, or bargaining team member you may call the MRC at 1-866-210-3000 for more information.

Puget Sound Allied Grocery Stores - Puget Sound Grocery Store Workers Overwhelmingly Reject Contract, Approve Strike!

After three days of voting across the Puget Sound area, grocery store workers at Fred Meyer, QFC, Albertsons, Safeway, Haggen and Saars voted to reject the latest contract and to authorize a strike by over 97%.

Our union’s overwhelming support for a strike should serve as a wake-up call to these corporations as we continue to fight for better wages, better staffing, and better stores. As these results show, we’re past tired of waiting.

"Corporate is about to have 60,000 problems on its hands,"

— Kevin Flynn, Marysville Albertsons, referencing the workers impacted by strike authorization votes taking place in Colorado and Southern California this week.

Our member-led bargaining team returns to the table late next week, June 12 and 13.

Now is the time to prepare for a strike.

• Review your budget and look for ways to save.
• Contact your steward or union rep and learn how to become a strike captain.
• Keep your eyes peeled for strike schedules and W9s to make sure you qualify for strike benefits.

At First I Thought I Couldn’t Afford to Strike, but Now I Know I Couldn’t Afford Not To

Bargaining Team Member Todd Heuer on a Background of UFCW 3000 Blue with the quote “At First I Thought I Couldn’t Afford to Strike, but Now I Know I Couldn’t Afford Not To” in white and “The Better wages, Better Staffing, Better Stores” logo in the bottom right corner

By Todd Heuer

When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the word “strike” can send chills down your spine. You can’t even afford to pay rent and put food on the table—how can you even think about not working?

At this point, I’ve worked at Fred Meyer for 17 years. I’m a vice president on the executive board for UFCW 3000, and I’m sitting across the table from Kroger and Albertsons on the bargaining team right now.

I support doing whatever we can do as a union – up to and including a strike – to get the contract we deserve. But I wasn’t always like that.

Back when I first got the job, the word “strike” scared the hell out of me.

Like many of my co-workers, I was working part-time, couldn’t afford the rent, and was weeks away from eviction. At that time, I felt like I couldn’t support a strike in good conscience.

But then I started talking to other workers about it.

My co-workers told me the union has a strike fund that pays benefits out to workers who walk the picket lines, helping us support ourselves and our families.

On my way into the store one morning, I was chatting with a bus driver, and he said their union and others would stand with us and support our strike.

Then I talked to the truck drivers, and they said they wouldn’t deliver food to striking stores. How long could the CEOs keep the stores open when the supply lines dry up?

Then I talked to customers, and many of them said they’d honor our line. Because – look, we all know this – the customers don’t keep coming back because they want to fatten corporate pockets – they keep coming back because of the customer service we provide.

But we can’t provide that customer service if the bosses run skeleton crews, cut pay, gut health care, and fire people for no reason.  

Without a strike-ready union, that’s our future.

As a matter of fact, at a bargaining session last month, Kroger and Albertsons proposed a pay and benefit package that would have amounted to a pay cut and worse health care.

But with a strike-ready union, we can fight back.

Join me and our bargaining team and thousands of other grocery store workers, sign the strike pledge, become a strike captain, and support your coworkers in our fight  for us all to have a better life.