Kaiser Spokane Pharmacy Techs - Onward to Economics

We reached new tentative agreements last week on Weekend and Holiday Standby Shifts, Vacation Requests, and Seniority. The Standby shift language includes 1 ½ premium when called-in, and that will help incentivize us to sign up and work the shifts where we need staffing coverage. 

Our next bargaining sessions will be in June and July and we will focus on float issues and economics—we are working hard to confirm dates as soon as possible. 

“We are continuing to move forward in a positive direction and are excited to finally dig into economics—working towards a wage scale that rewards our experience and dedication with Kaiser.” 

– Jackie McFarlen and Tiffany Yeates, Bargaining Team

In the following weeks, you will also start receiving updates on National Bargaining—one of the Spokane Techs will join members in Western WA and the Alliance of Healthcare Unions to push for improvements to Education benefits, Bonuses, Retiree Medical Benefits, and other benefits under the National Agreement.

Questions, please reach out to the Bargaining Team or Union Representative Maureen Hatton, 509-340-7370.

For more information on the Covid Vaccine, Common Questions, and finding vaccine appointments in Spokane.

Swains General Store Contract Ratified!

Service Linen - Management Proposes to Redirect 401k Contributions to Wages! / La Compañía Propone Redirigir 401k Contribuciones a Los Salarios!

On May 12 and 14, we met with the Company to discuss wages, benefits, and contract language. Management made proposals to take away daily overtime, restrict grievance language, and reduce holidays. We pushed back on all these proposals and management withdrew their proposals to take away overtime and change the grievance language. 

The Company also agreed to change “funeral leave” to “bereavement leave.” The Company will now give employees three days of paid time to grieve for their immediate family members without needing to go to the funeral. In addition, the Company agreed to post the ending time of the shift at the start of the shift, if they will be making the shift shorter. The Company also agreed that laid off employees will keep their seniority for four months instead of three. 

As far as wages are concerned, we proposed substantial wage increases which would place everyone far beyond Washington State’s minimum rate and the Company proposed to redirect some of our 401K contributions to wages. We rejected this proposal. We believe we should keep our current 401k contributions as is and the Company should provide a wage increase comparable to Aramark Uniform Services and Alsco Linen who received between $.40 to $.80 per year. In order to get better increases we need to take action! 

We are asking everyone to wear their yellow union shirts on Friday, May 28 to show management that we are united and are willing to fight for competitive wage increases! 

El 12 y 14 de mayo, nos reunimos con la Compañía para discutir salarios, beneficios y lenguaje contractual. Administración hizo propuestas para quitar horas extras diarias, restringir el lenguaje de agravio y reducir los días festivos. Rechazamos todas estas propuestas y la gerencia retiró sus propuestas para quitarle horas extras y cambiar el lenguaje del agravio.

La Compañía también acepto cambiar “licencia funeraria” por “licencia de duelo”. Ahora la Compañía dará a los empleados tres días de tiempo pagado para luto por sus familiares inmediatos sin necesidad de acudir al funeral.

Además, la Compañía acepto dar notificación de la hora de fin del turno al inicio del turno, esto es en caso de que hagan el turno más corto. La Compañía también acepto que los empleados despedidos mantendrán su antigüedad durante cuatro meses en lugar de tres.

En lo que respecta a los salarios, propusimos aumentos salariales sustanciales que colocarían a todos mucho más allá de la tasa mínima del Estado de Washington y la Compañía propuso redirigir las contribuciones de 401K a los salarios.

Nosotros rechazamos esta propuesta. Creemos que debemos mantener nuestras actuales contribuciones de 401k y la Compañía debe proporcionar un aumento salarial comparable a los Servicios Uniformes Aramark y Alsco Linen quienes recibieron entre $.40 a $.80 por año.

¡Para conseguir mejores incrementos necesitamos tomar acción! 

¡Estamos pidiendo a todos que usen sus camisas sindicales amarillas el viernes 28 de mayo para mostrar a la dirección que estamos unidos y estamos dispuestos a luchar por incrementos salariales competitivos!

Lourdes Counseling Center - We Said “Yes” to Strike Authorization and “No” to the Employer’s Proposal

On Thursday, May 13, the bargaining unit gave strike authorization with a super majority vote and voted “No” on the proposed contract from the employer.

The next day your bargaining team met with the employer and spent much of the day bargaining over if charge nurses are in a supervisory role.

On Monday, May 17, the bargaining team met with the employer again and spent the day bargaining wages.

While the employer’s proposal is still not what we think is acceptable, it is the first time in bargaining that the employer gave way to place current employees on the new wage scale with some recognition for service at Lourdes Counseling Center.

This is a substantial move and are hoping for continued movement in the right direction.

Please contact your bargaining team or your Representative, Austen Louden at (509) 340-7372 with any questions or concerns.

Lourdes Medical Center - Bargaining Continues

The bargaining team met twice with the employer this last week and although we exchanged several proposals on Employment Practices and Definitions, the employer continues to refuse to respond to our wage and economic proposals.  We meet with the employer again on May 27 and are looking forward to some movement on wages.

Please contact one of your bargaining team members to update your contact information so that you get the bargaining updates quickly.

Please contact your Representative, Austen Louden at (509)340-7372 with any questions or concerns.

Your Bargaining Team:

Isabella Amaro, NAC

Juanita Quezada, HUC/NAC

Aurora Lopez, ED Coordinator

Jordan Aviles, NAC

Maria Hinojosa, Central Processing

Sam Zoller, NAC

Skagit Regional Health - Victory—SRH Cancels Changes to Retiree Medical!

After supporting the Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) filed by our brothers and sisters at WSNA, Skagit Regional Health has reversed its decision to discontinue the early retirement benefit for tenured employees. We had also demanded to bargain over the change to retiree benefits.

Providence Centralia Hospital Tech - Hands Off Our PTO!

After hundreds of us marched on the picket line including nurses and techs at Everett and St. Peter’s on May 5, Providence continues to disrespect us at the table! We have worked through an entire pandemic short staffed and being undervalued! Providence is trying to frustrate us so we will accept a bad deal. We are essential workers and deserve more than what Providence is offering. 

On May 11, we discussed proposals regarding health insurance, holidays, daily/weekly overtime, PTO, and rates of pay. One of the main reasons we unionized was to keep our EIB/PTO plan. Providence announced the elimination of EIB prior to bargaining, but never announced any changes to our PTO plan until we were in contract negotiations. Due to this change in the status quo, we will be filing an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). We filed a charge for St. Peter’s and the NLRB found merit in our case! This means that Providence must reinstate the original PTO plan at St. Peter’s. At Centralia, we need to show Providence that we want to keep our original PTO plan and they must bargain with us to change it! 

In addition, Providence finally proposed their wage proposal which is a continuation of their merit increase/ “minimum, midpoint, maximum” pay scale. This proposal would continue the wage disparity amongst our unit and would not take into account our years of service. Providence can arbitrarily place us anywhere on their pay scale and our merit increases would be up to our core leaders. In other union contracts, Providence union members have: 1) annual wage increases 2) anniversary date wage increases 3) wage scale with at least 20 steps  

We believe that we must take further action to move them away from this proposal which is a drastic deviation from all other union contracts with Providence. Our next action will most likely be to vote down Providence’s proposal. We will be holding a contract action team meeting to discuss bargaining on May 26 and 27.

In Solidarity, Your Tech Bargaining Team: Jen Mullins, Rad Tech; Jamie Freeman, RT; Verity Olsen, Pharmacy Tech; Kathleen Spencer, RT; Jen Frunz, Mammo Tech 

PCH will have in person meetings at Fort Borst Park in Centralia on Wednesday, May 26 from 1-3 pm, and Thursday, May 27 from 5-7 pm!

Providence Centralia Hospital Support Services - Hands Off Our PTO!

After hundreds of us marched on the picket line including nurses and techs at Everett and St. Peter’s on May 5, Providence continues to disrespect us at the table! We have worked through an entire pandemic short staffed and being undervalued! Providence is trying to frustrate us so we will accept a bad deal. We are essential workers and deserve more than what Providence is offering. 

On May 17, we discussed proposals regarding PTO, leaves of absence, recognition, definitions, grievance, and no strike/no lockout. One of the main reasons we unionized was to keep our EIB/PTO plan. Providence announced the elimination of EIB prior to bargaining, but never announced any changes to our PTO plan until we were in contract negotiations. Due to this change in the status quo, we will be filing an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). We filed a charge for St. Peter’s and the NLRB found merit in our case! This means that Providence must reinstate the original PTO plan at St. Peter’s. At Centralia, we need to show Providence that we want to keep our original PTO plan and they must bargain with us to change it!

We also asked Providence for their wage proposal, but they told us they are still working on their proposal. At the PCH Tech table, Providence proposed merit wage increases and a “minimum, midpoint, maximum” pay scale which mirrors their current practice. We expect that Providence will propose something similar to our unit.

If this is the case, our next action will most likely be to vote down Providence’s proposal. We will be holding a contract action team meeting to discuss bargaining on May 26 and 27.

In Solidarity, Your Support Services Bargaining Team: Necole Moore, EVS; KayCee Grimm, Lab; Kim Jorgenson, ED HUC; Aaron Green, Kitchen; Laura Norton, Endo Tech

PCH will have in person meetings at Fort Borst Park in Centralia on Wednesday, May 26 from 1-3 pm, and Thursday, May 27 from 5-7 pm!

Providence St. Peter Hospital Tech - Hands off our PTO!

After hundreds of us marched on the picket line including nurses, techs and support services at Everett and Centralia on May 5, Providence continues to disrespect us at the table! We have worked through an entire pandemic short staffed and being undervalued! Providence is trying to frustrate us so we will accept a bad deal. We are essential workers and deserve more than what Providence is offering. 

On May 13, we discussed management’s proposals regarding PTO and daily/weekly overtime, stand-by pay, low census stand-by pay, and rest between shifts. One of the main reasons we unionized was to keep our EIB/PTO plan. Providence announced the elimination of EIB prior to bargaining, but never announced any changes to our PTO plan until we were in contract negotiations. Due to this change in the status quo, we filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board and they found merit in our case! This means that Providence must reinstate the original PTO plan. Although Providence can still challenge the charge, we need to show Providence that we want to keep our original PTO plan and they must bargain with us to change it! 

In addition, Providence has not moved away from their merit increase/ “minimum, midpoint, maximum” pay scale. We believe that we must take further action to move them away from this proposal which is a drastic deviation from all other union contracts with Providence. We will be holding a contract action team meeting to discuss bargaining and next steps on May 26.

In Solidarity, Your Tech Bargaining Team: Josh Wood (CT), Shapel Morgan (X-ray), Rae Lynn Korpi (RT), Colleen Castaneda (Cath Lab)

PSPH Contract Action Meeting 

Wednesday, May 26

6:30 PM

Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.

PCH will have in person meetings at Fort Borst Park in Centralia on Wednesday, May 26 from 1-3 pm, and Thursday, May 27 from 5-7 pm!

Planned Parenthood Progress at the Bargaining Table

Our bargaining team met with management on Wednesday and made a lot of progress on the language of our contract. We were able to get management to move off of some of their proposals. We have reached tentative agreements around:

• Ability to grieve all levels of discipline.

• Capturing Planned Parenthood’s Paid Parental Leave policy in our contract.

• Notification to the union in advance of any reduction to healthcare or retirement plans.

• Layoff process for workers not assigned to one location (float clinicians & community outreach educators).

• Maintaining seniority if laid off then recalled.

• Clarification to access to benefits during probation period.

• Clarification to vacation cashout at the end of employment.

• Cleanup/clarifications to our Union Security language.

Your Bargaining Team: Charlie King, PAC Rep - Tacoma; Monalisa Baumann, MA - Federal Way; Jennifer Morgan, PCC - Tacoma; Sage Alixander, Insurance Biller - Seattle

We expect to make economic proposals at our next bargaining session on June 8.

There are still a few outstanding issues on the table that we need your input on as we move into the economic part of our negotiations.

Your voices help to bring real stories to the bargaining table. Please fill out the bargaining topics survey here: bit.ly/pp-issuesurvey

Bargaining Update - Macy’s Lowers COVID Safety Standard

We met with Macy’s to negotiate for the second time and addressed Macy’s new mask policy that requires us to be masked, but allows customers to opt out as masks would only be recommended. That is not only unfair but only increases the risk we take every day serving our customers!

We also discussed issues around:

• Commissioned associates required to work in non-commission areas because of understaffing;

• Problems with trading shifts under MSP caused by understaffing;

• Safety issues from understaffing and sanitizing work areas during this pandemic.

While Macy’s did say they are looking into these problems, we don’t think they take them very seriously. We need your specific stories to show that understaffing is causing problems in our stores for us and for our customers. Talk to your bargaining committee members, shop stewards, and union reps about how understaffing has affected you.

The Union bargaining committee also presented a comprehensive proposal to cover this pandemic and all future ones. Macy’s counter-proposed language doesn’t include:

• A mask requirement for customers  

• Still requiring temp checks at home on the honor system;  

• No ability for associates to stay home in a future pandemic like we had in June 2020 for the reopening of the stores with a “one-time pass” for recall 

In fact, they had little to say about anything we had proposed besides: “Rejected.” They also didn’t have any proposals for wages and other economic items, and still haven’t told us what “Reliability Indicators” are when it comes to their new attendance policy proposal. All while telling us they are concerned about how long negotiations could go on...  after only two bargaining sessions.

Stickers will be hitting your store soon, make sure to get some, put one on and sticker-up your coworkers. 

We need to Protect Our PTOs! 

“We seem to be doing a lot of the work in this bargain so far. Why does Macy’s have to make things so difficult by not making proposals for wages and other economic items? These things are the core of our union contracts!” 

– Brenda Eaden, Macy’s Furniture Gallery Tukwilla

Summit Pacific Medical Center - Tentative Agreement Reached—Bargaining Team Unanimously Recommends a YES Vote!

After close to a year of bargaining, we have finally reached a recommended tentative agreement on a contract with UFCW21. Thank you for all of your support throughout this process. All that remains is the final step of voting.

For our first contract (3 year duration) we won:

• Respectful wage increases each year of the contract

• Increases to many premiums, and new premiums for some job classifications

• Just Cause and a fair grievance procedure to handle contract disputes

• Creation of a Labor Management Committee to address ongoing issues in between bargaining cycles

• Clear, enforceable definitions of practices for seniority, pay, scheduling, hours, leaves, and more

• The right to join and participate in your union free from retaliation

Details of the agreement will be available as we finalize our documents. A vote announcement with details of time, date, and location will also be out soon via email and on our website, www.ufcw21.org. 

Your Bargaining Team: Angi Swinhart, Barbara Ford, Jessee Bednarik, Michael Granstrom

PCC - We Demand to Bargain Over Changes in Mask Policy

As many of you know, PCC announced today (Friday 5/14) that they are no longer requiring masks to enter any of their 15 stores if customers are fully vaccinated.

Instead, PCC is moving to a mask policy for only those that are not vaccinated. We believe this needlessly puts essential workers at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 while working in our stores. In response, today our union issued a demand to bargain with PCC over changes to the mask policy. We are meeting with PCC on 5/18 and will be raising this issue. To do that most effectively, we want to share as many PCC worker voices as possible so management understands how this affects us.

Tell PCC how you feel about these changes:

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Remember to RSVP to our next Contract Action Team meetings on May 17 & 19!

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Multicare is Panicking | May 14•2021

“I want to say to all the healthcare workers, you are important, you are valued, don’t give your value away. Greed has no conscious, if you let them get away with giving you a 1.25% raise they will come back and take more from you. I want you to know that I am with you, I am for you!”
-Pastor Christopher

Health care workers, faith leaders, labor unions, and community allies in Pierce County planned a car caravan around Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital last Thursday, May 13. However, less than an hour before the caravan was scheduled to begin, MultiCare’s attorney sent a last-minute cease and desist letter to the Union.

The Employer’s letter claimed that the car caravan “may constitute unlawful picketing even if that conduct does not include all of the traditional elements of picketing activity” and that “MultiCare demands that UFCW Local 21, and any of your representatives, employees, or agents, cease and desist this unlawful behavior.” Translation? MultiCare took notice of their employee’s speaking up about management’s behavior and, in a moment of desperation and panic, the employer made a last-minute attempt to silence their workers.

While their letter may have stopped the actual caravan, their letter came far too late because the community had already converged at the staging area and was ready to hear from workers. We read the employer’s entire cease and desist letter to the community, and they were OUTRAGED. Management’s letter was a serious mistake because all it did was show the community the truth about MultiCare, that they don’t care about their workers.

Bargaining Team members Glen Steele and Alexis Dotts then spoke to attendees about negotiations and the chronic staffing issues at MultiCare. We shared moving stories of healthcare workers bringing COVID-19 home to their families, staffing levels so dangerously low that workers are burning out, management’s despicable behavior at the bargaining table, and their insulting 1.25% wage proposal.

The community leaders who attended demanded that we escalate our actions against MultiCare and promised to bring even more people to our next action. MultiCare’s attempt to silence their workers not only failed, it actually amplified our message more than the original action ever could.

We thank the Tacoma NAACP, Tacoma DSA, Union of American Physicians and Dentists, Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, Political Destiny, Unite Here Local 8, and SEIU 1199NW for joining us and for committing to this fight for health care workers’ rights and for safe, quality patient care in Tacoma and Pierce County. MultiCare workers have taken care of our community through a traumatic year, and it’s time for MultiCare to take care of its workers.

Stay tuned for updates on our next action. Perhaps we need to show them what a REAL picket looks like…

Your Bargaining Team: Glen Steele, Yvette Broeckel, Kelly Gusman, Julianna Van Enk, Gregg Barney, Patricia Brown, Alexis Dotts, Heidi Strub, Jamie Fenton Kurtis Chaffin, Rochelle Brummer, Ryan Boyd, Sammy Bainivalu, Teri Kruse,Wanda Rodriguez-Ramos

Join the UFCW 21 MultiCare
Facebook Page for the latest updates!
facebook.com/UFCW21Multicare

UPDATE: MultiCare’s Dirty Tactics Shut Down Community Caravan Supporting Its Workers, Community Vows to Return in Force!

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Glen Steele, Mary Bridge

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Alexis Dotts, Tacoma General

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Pastor Greg Christopher

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MultiCare workers & allies

Health care workers, faith leaders, labor unions, and community allies in Pierce County planned a car caravan around MultiCare-owned Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospitals today, in support of a fair contract for MultiCare’s essential workers. Workers who risked their lives to show up for patients during a yearlong global health crisis are now having to fight for pay that respects their work, for their own access to affordable health care, and for safe staffing in their hospitals and clinics. Workers have been bargaining since January with little movement from MultiCare in agreeing to fair wages and working conditions, and the Tacoma and Pierce County community is ready to step up and support their health care workers.

But before the caravan could begin, MultiCare sent a last-minute cease and desist letter to block it from taking place, saying they consider cars with signs to be unlawful picketing activity and threatening legal action if it continued.

This community will not be silenced. MultiCare workers will not be silenced. If MultiCare is so scared of our voices that they are already resorting to threats, we know that our solidarity and determination are working. The numerous community allies and workers who organized this public event are already spreading the word about MultiCare’s dirty tricks and planning our next action calling attention to this important fight.

We thank the Tacoma NAACP, Tacoma DSA, Union of American Physicians and Dentists, Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, Political Destiny, Unite Here Local 8, and SEIU 1199NW for joining us today and for committing to this fight for health care workers’ rights and for safe, quality patient care in Tacoma and Pierce County. MultiCare workers have taken care of our community through a traumatic year, and it’s time for MultiCare to take care of its workers.

Zenith American Solutions - Fighting for Real Wage Increases

We met with management on May 10 to continue negotiations. We passed them our initial wage proposal that would bring us closer to market rates and recognize longevity with the company. The Employer countered with ZERO percent wage increase for the first year with ONLY a $750 ratification bonus. We find that to be unacceptable and continue to fight for a fair contract with real wage increases.

“Zenith’s wage proposal is insulting and devalues all current employees. Their proposal appears to show that they value recruitment over retention, whether you have been here for one day or 40 years. Join us next week to share your thoughts and help guide our proposals going forward.” 

— Debbie DeVore

Your Bargaining Team: Carlotta Bogdon, Sr. Fund Accounting Specialist; Debbie DeVore, Sr. Pension Processor; Sue Wehmeyer, Sr. Claims Processor. 

Questions or concerns? Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep, David Trujillo @ dtrujillo@ufcw21.org or 360-419-4665

Join our drop-in meeting on May 19 @ 6PM via ZOOM to ask questions and get an update! 

Wednesday, May 19

6:00 PM

Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.

Not getting communications from us? Be sure to update your contact information!

Next Bargaining Date: 

May 24

Planned Parenthood - Management Holds to Bad Proposals

Management Holds to Bad Proposals

While we have reached tentative agreements on:

• Reinstating our ability to grieve discipline at every level

• Receiving email address with employee rosters for easier communication

• Ensuring seniority remains full intact if recalled from a layoff

• Bringing our contract in compliance with meal and rest break laws

Management has dug in their heels on their anti-union proposals and REJECTED our proposals for:

• Severance language in case of layoff

• Notifications on changes to telecommuting practices

• Paycheck deduction of union initiation fee

• We have not yet traded proposals on economics.

Your Bargaining Team: Charlie King, PAC Rep - Tacoma; Monalisa Baumann, MA - Federal Way; Jennifer Morgan, PCC - Tacoma; Sage Alixander, Insurance Biller - Seattle

Macy's - Management still wants to mess with our PTOs

Our Union Bargaining Team met with Management for the first time on Monday, May 10 to deliver our initial proposals for the new Union contract.

Some of what the Union proposed was:

• Language to protect our vacations, personal days, and other benefits when there is another health emergency like there has been with COVID-19

• Making sure that compensated hours and short-term disability benefits count towards qualifying hours for health insurance and FMLA leaves

• Fixing the MLK PTO problem by making it permanent for us to use as we choose

Macy’s also made some of their initial proposals, many of which takes us in the wrong direction:

• The Employer wants to delete language that lets us take our PTOs for whatever reason we need.

• Macy’s wants to eliminate attendance credits entirely and replace it with a “Reliability Indicator.” If you are asking yourself, “What’s that?” so are we, but it doesn’t sound good.

• They want to change the definition of a late shift from one ending at 7 PM to one ending at 8 PM, which would mean more shifts at night would be required.

“Many of Management’s proposals are not appropriate for employees to have worked through a deadly pandemic and shown Macy’s loyalty.”

— Candice Hemphill

Want to find out more?
Join our online CAT Meeting via Zoom
Friday, May 14
6 PM
Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.

MultiCare Employees Take Action!

Contract Action Team Meeting

Date/Time
Wednesday, May 12
9AM & 6:30PM
Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.

Join your Bargaining team for our next virtual Contract Action Team (CAT) meeting to hear the latest from negotiations and talk about next steps towards winning a fair contract. All members are welcome to join!

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Multicare Community Car Caravan

Date/Time
Thursday, May 13 • 3PM

Location
Shiloh Baptist Church
1211 S I St
Tacoma, WA 98405

Join the MultiCare Bargaining Team, UFCW 21 Movement Builders and community leaders from around Pierce & King Counties for the Community Car Caravan action.

The Bargaining Team has been fighting for months to address the dangerous staffing levels across the MultiCare Health System, the skyrocketing cost of our healthcare, and uncompetitive wages that have made the recruitment and retention of workers extremely difficult. Management has rejected nearly every Union proposal and makes clear every time we meet that they are simply “not interested.” We must stand-up and take action to show MultiCare that we stand in solidarity against their anti-worker behavior!

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The community will converge in the parking lot of Shiloh Baptist Church, where we will hear from our healthcare leaders and then go safely in our cars by caravan to Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Before leaving the staging area, materials will be available to decorate your vehicles with Union colors and messages of solidarity with healthcare workers for a fair contract.  

Working during the event? If you’re working at TG/MB during the event, but can take a break or lunch, you can show your support by joining the caravan outside the hospital on the M.L.K. Jr. Way sidewalk around 3:45PM. 

FM Personal Shopper Update - Union Proposes Return to 6 Tote Trollies and Fred Meyer’s Answers Raise More Questions

On May 5 we met with Fred Meyer reps to discuss the extension of the shopping carts. 

We proposed that FM go back to 6 totes per trolly to make sure workers are able to handle the trollies safely. Fred Meyer is considering our proposal, and we expect them to get back to us at our next bargaining session on May 19.

They did provide answers to questions from our previous meeting; but those answers only raised more questions, and we have serious concerns as to the accuracy of some of the responses. Especially the estimated weight of the totes and trollies, which seemed low at best.

Over the past month we have heard directly from personal shoppers about injuries sustained on the job because of the weight of the extended trollies and want to get more specific examples of these problems. Members have sent in pictures of heavy, overstuffed totes, broken carts, and accounts of the injuries, aches, pains, and accidents involving these expanded trollies. While Fred Meyer has said that “anecdotally” they have heard no complaints.

We need to show Fred Meyer that our safety is important, that our customers’ safety is important and that the new trollies are needlessly dangerous. 

Take action by sharing your story, concerns and evidence about safety concerns the new trollies have created at safetyreport@ufcw21.org or contact your union representative or shop steward!

“Fred Meyer’s response to our questions doesn’t fit with reality. The larger trolleys are too heavy and unsafe. Our members are getting hurt. It is time for Fred Meyer to take the matter seriously.” 

—Maggie Breshears, Personal Shopper at Fred Meyer Greenwood.

Don’t forget our grocery bargain is next year, Fred Meyer workers are signing Strike Pledge Cards to let Kroger know we are serious about getting a fair contract!