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.

Puget Sound Allied Grocery Stores - Hands Off Our Healthcare! (And Heads Up about the Contract Vote!)

Ten thousand people.

Even after back-to-back days of bargaining, ten thousand people is the conservative estimate for the number of workers that Kroger and Albertsons wants to kick off our health care plan by killing automatic insurance enrollment and increasing the number of hours needed to qualify for it. For more than a decade, our union has fought for and secured high-quality, affordable health care that our coworkers love and have worked hard to protect and improve. We're not about to give that up now.

"We have what you call 'good health insurance.' I've had three surgeries on my right eye. If I didn't have the insurance I have with this job, I wouldn't have been able to afford that care with what we get paid."

— Sam Dancy, bargaining team member and front-end manager at the Westwood Village QFC

If these corporations have nearly $16 billion to blow on Wall Street—plus nearly a billion to throw away on a failed merger—then they have the cash to keep our healthcare trust whole and pay us what we deserve.

Contract Extended, Vote Announced!

We have another three days of bargaining early next week, and another three days in May. After that, we'll vote on the contract in early June.

How the employers behave in these next rounds of bargaining will decide whether we recommend a "yes" or "no" vote.

Be on the lookout for future updates with vote locations and times, and then join us to make your voice heard!

Next bargaining dates: April 28, 29 and 30. May 19, 20 and 21.

Demand more from the employers!

Step up: Join a brief workplace leaflet and sign a strike pledge card if you haven't already. Contact your union steward or union rep for more information.

Speak up: File a staffing report at nogrocerylines.org

Dive deeper: Read more information about our negotiations on our website! ufcw3000.org/better-staffing

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; Kim Hayes, Everett Safeway; 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.

Puget Sound Allied Grocery Stores - THEY MUST BE JOKING, RIGHT?

From the first day of negotiations, our member-led bargaining team has worked to reach a fair contract that honors and respects our hard work. Today Kroger and Albertsons proposed the biggest cuts to our health plan since 2013, when we were two hours away from calling a strike. This new proposal would potentially take away coverage from thousands of members and shift more healthcare costs to us. The companies attempting to increase our cost burden are the same ones who have seen profits increase by about 100% over the past five years, four to six times greater than the profits they saw before the COVID pandemic. We will never accept proposals that strip away health coverage from thousands of members.

“We have no interest in accepting proposals that kick people off our health care plan,”

—Ballard QFC Amy Dayley Angell

But the employers’ disrespect did not end with their healthcare proposal. They advanced a wage proposal of $1, $0.50, $0.50. That’s half or less than half depending on your job classification of what we settled for three years ago! We are worth more than fifty cents, which is why our union proposed a compensation package that would reward loyalty, keep up with the cost of living, and bring us in line with the pay of competitors like Costco.

“They are proposing to give us less in wage increases than Colorado, California, Spokane, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon—they must be joking, right?”

— Princetta Woodhouse, Redondo Fred Meyer

If you factor in inflation and the increased healthcare premiums the employers are demanding, their wage proposal would likely amount to a pay cut for all of us. Pay cuts for us while the companies each pay their CEOs more than $15 million a year? No way!

We know these greedy corporate CEOs can afford to keep our high-quality health plan intact and pay us what we are worth because the companies collectively spent nearly $16 billion in stock buybacks and dividends ($6.6 billion for Albertsons, and $9.2 billion for Kroger) between 2018 and 2022. That’s money they should have used to increase staff, wages, benefits, remodel stores, purchase new equipment, and lower prices for customers.

Next bargaining dates:
April 21, 22, 28, 29 and 30.

Demand more from the employers!

Step up:
Join a brief workplace leaflet next week and sign a strike pledge card if you haven’t already. Contact your union steward or union rep for more information.

Speak up:
File a staffing report at nogrocerylines.org >>

Dive deeper:
Read more information about our negotiations on our website! >>

Our Union Bargaining Team: Back row (L-R): Todd Heuer, Ballard Fred Meyer; Kim Hayes, Everett Safeway; Teamsters Local 38 E-Board Member Caprii Nakihei; Jeff Smith, Fred Meyer; Bryan Gilderoy, Kent Fred Meyer; Sam Dancy, Westwood Village QFC; Debra Rix, Callow Ave Safeway; Cliff Powers, Anacortes Safeway; Dan Howes, Crown Hill Metro Market; Roger Yanez, Bella Bottega QFC. Middle row (L-R): Kyle Doherty, Stanwood Haggen; Kevin Flynn, Marysville Albertsons; Kyong Barry, S Auburn Albertsons; Princetta Woodhouse, Redondo Fred Meyer; Joseph Baltz, Anacortes Fred Meyer; Daisy Hannelore, Benson Plaza Fred Meyer; Yasmin Ashur, Port Orchard Albertsons. Front row (L-R): Amy Dayley Angell, Ballard QFC; J’Nee Delancey, Ballard Town and Country. Not pictured: UFCW 3000 President Faye Guenther; UFCW 3000 Secretary-Treasurer Joe Mizrahi; Teamsters Local 38 Union Rep Luke Vauley; Teamsters Local 38 Secretary-Treasurer Samantha Kantak; Teamsters Local 38 President Pete Lamb

Member Story: After Confronting Management Over Armed Robberies, Members Continue Fight for Safer Safeway

Pine Hurst Safeway activists Jane Wynn, Annette Wilde, Lailanie Stamper, Maria Austin, and Kalen Wright

Working the self-checkout area ranks as one of the toughest jobs in our grocery stores, mostly because running these departments with skeleton crews forces cashiers to serve multiple customers and to deal with multiple problems at the same time. The working conditions are more than just frustrating—they can be dangerous, too.

Safeway cashiers Lailanie Stamper and Maria Austin experienced this problem firsthand. One October morning at the self-checkout stands, a man displayed a gun and then demanded that Stamper open the cash drawer, she said. In the same store’s liquor department just a few months later, a man flashed a knife at Austin and demanded alcohol.

These interactions shook their confidence in the company’s ability to keep them and their co-workers safe.

"It's not safe anymore, working alone in the morning," Stamper said.

"I'm scared to come to work," Austin added. "I feel hopeless. I need the money, so I need to work, but I am afraid this is going to happen again.”

Rather than wait for the company to get around to maybe doing something about safety in the stores, after the knife incident the two workers decided to take action. They tapped UFCW 3000 Shop Steward Kalen Wright and other coworkers to start a petition demanding in-store security during all open hours, increased staffing on the front end, and a new system that alerts workers to any incident involving a weapon within 24 hours.

Union workers taking action at Pine Hurst Safeway for a safer store

After gathering the signatures of more than 80% of the store’s workers, they presented their petition to Store Director Brenda Swarts. Shortly after that, management increased the store’s security.

Unfortunately, Safeway has since pulled out the extra security. The Pinehurst Safeway crew isn’t giving up, though. They’re continuing to fight for a safer Safeway. UPDATE: Safeway has once again put in store security back in the store. But this fight is ongoing at this and every retail location.

In addition to helping them in this struggle, the rest of us can lighten their load by fighting for a contract that ensures better staffing throughout our stores, particularly in self-checkout areas. According to one recent Harvard University study, compared to traditional checkout, self-checkout machines increase negative interactions with customers by 40%. These machines also increase chronic understaffing in stores by 26%.

That study—and our lived experience—shows us that the path to safer stores runs right through better staffing. To win it, we need to communicate with each other, stand together, and take action.

Central Co-op Update- New Contract Ratified!

Our Union Bargaining Team is happy to announce that our new Collective Bargaining Agreements for both the grocery and meat units were ratified this past Tuesday by an overwhelming majority of those voting!

The terms of the contract are now in effect while the Negotiator works through the post-vote process of review and approval of Local 3000’s President Faye Guenther’s signature. In the meantime the “redline” draft of the contracts showing all deletions and additions in red will be available online within a few business days.

If there are questions or concerns please speak with a Bargaining Team member or call our Member Resource Center at 866-210-3000 so that we may have the appropriate person get back to you.

Our Bargaining Team (left to right): Chris Paine, Interim Produce Manager; Andee Taylor, Grocery Clerk; Eddie Parks, Interim Assistant Deli Manager; Dylan Lindquist, Meat Cutter [not pictured]