Duty Free Americas - Members Vote Unanimously to Ratify New Contract

On Monday, August 11, members at Duty Free Americas voted unanimously to ratify their new contract!

Some highlights of what members have won are increased annual wage increases, increased PIC premium, better union access, a new additional floating holiday, union leave, the right to wear jeans, improved PTO payout, and a longevity bonus at 10 years of service.

Our bargaining team member Sara McCrae and many in the bargaining unit are most excited about the new floating holiday and are committed to making sure everybody uses both their floating holidays this year.

Please reach out to your Union Representative Allison Hanley at 206-436-6586 with any questions or concerns.

Bargaining Team: Sara McCrae

Card Kingdom Roundtables: A Win from Our Labor Management Committee (LMC)!

For weeks, our LMC members collected survey responses about how poor communication and unclear expectations lead to stress and poor morale at Card Kingdom. On June 20, our Card Kingdom LMC met with management to discuss an agenda of workplace issues we compiled from your survey responses. At the end of the meeting, our committee delivered a compilation of powerful statements with a request attached: Card Kingdom management needs to host consistent roundtables with us to discuss issues, questions, concerns, and to repair morale and respect. The committee thoughtfully presented this letter of your statements and asked to meet again to hear their response.

As a result, Card Kingdom management met our demands by agreeing to host twice weekly roundtables with union members, management, and VP representatives!

This is a win we all can celebrate! We need to continue organizing together to use our powerful worker-led union at Card Kingdom where all of our voices can be heard. Roundtables are our space to organize, communicate openly, and give feedback with actionable results.

"Card Kingdom is at its best when everyone is able to come to work and do our best to both help each other out and help meet customer commitments with the trust that we know what's expected, why, and how to get there.... We also, crucially, want to be considered part of the community around the campfire, not just fuel to be burned."

— Labor Management Committee Letter excerpt

If you have any questions about upcoming roundtable meetings, please reach out to your stewards for support or call your representative Allison Hanley at (206) 436-6586.

Do you want to become a workplace leader, get involved in our Labor Management Committee, or become a shop steward? Reach out to one of your committee members or Allison Hanley to get involved!

Your Labor Management Committee: John Proudfoot, Aaron Sargent, Natalie Roggenbuck, and August Jones

Duty Free America - We Reached An Agreement! Vote On August 11!

After two bargaining sessions, we are proud to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with Duty Free America management!

From the beginning, our goal was clear: to improve compensation, recognize your years of service, and build a workplace culture that supports and retains staff. Our collective efforts at the bargaining table have secured significant improvements.

Some of the highlights of the agreement we reached include:

• Increased PIC premium

• Increase to annual wage increases for all classifications

• Improved union access language

• New additional floating holiday

• New union leave language

• Longevity bonus after 10 years of service

• Improved PTO payout language

• Improved dress code

• Improvements to scheduling language

• Increased hire-in rate

Vote on Tentative Agreement
August 11
7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Breakroom

The vote will be in-person. UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to drop-in to a vote meeting, read the tentative agreement, ask questions, and cast their vote. You can sign up to be a union member on the day of our vote or by calling Membership Services at 1-866-210-3000 prior to the vote.

Your bargaining team recommends a "YES" vote!

Sea Wolf Bakers - Bargaining Update

On Tuesday, July 8, our bargaining team met with management for our tenth bargaining session. We spent much of our day in caucus formulating our latest counterproposal on all things economic, including a wage scale with progression based on length of service, a potential system for tip pooling, and vacation accruals. We presented our counterproposal in the afternoon and had a lengthy discussion with management about where we are apart on the issues.

We also had a frank and open dialogue with them about our desire to address improvements to the existing excessive heat policy. We are happy to report that management seemed to understand this is an extremely important issue to all of us and they said they would return to the table next session with a revamped proposal for us to consider.

While they are still resistant to certain proposals, we feel with all our coworkers standing together in solidarity we can win a contract that we can all be proud of! We will be passing out Union swag for folks to wear at work soon (buttons and bandanas) and will be holding another all-member Contract Action Team meeting to discuss next steps. Please stay tuned for more details from our bargaining team and Union Representative Allison Hanley (who can be reached at 206-436-6586).

We will have our next bargaining session July 29 and are working on setting two more bargaining dates in August.

Bargaining Team: Frankie Hull, Delivery Driver; Sophia Cerreta, Savory & Bread Departments; Miller Hammond, Barista

REI - Bargaining Update

We had productive days of bargaining on June 6, 16, and 17. We reached a new tentative agreement on Health & Safety, securing additional workplace protections around protective equipment, safety training, closing shifts, and indoor temperatures. We received REI's initial counters on Training & Onboarding, Labor Management Committee, and Grievance & Arbitration, and we also got much closer on Job Promotions & Vacancies, Technology & Data, and Inclement Conditions.

Our team is looking ahead towards economics as all of us keep demanding REI uphold its Co-Op values. We continue to believe that our store-level organizing and national public pressure is pushing REI to come to the table. We won't stop until we reach a fair contract!

Forward together, not one step back!

REI's Corporate Board REJECTED!

Since we met for bargaining last time, we WON the REI Board election! We believe that over 100,000 REI members across the country voted against the cherry-picked Board candidates and in support of workers and getting the co-op back on track. REI is clearly feeling the heat!

A-Sale in Action!

Workers, community members, and elected officials came out to support workers during A-Sale. We talked to hundreds of REI members over the course of the day who are in support of MB coming to the bargaining table and reachingv a fair contract. Members flooded MB with messages of solidarity, telling her to come to the table and respect workers.

What's Next

REI continues to reach out to discuss settlement regarding Merit and Summit pay. While we're not close to an agreement yet, their last offer shows us that REI is getting serious about settling these Unfair Labor Practices. We'll keep fighting for what we deserve and the wages we're owed!

Look out for our next social gathering sometime later this summer! Stay tuned for ways to get involved this summer by attending events REI sponsors and talking to our communities and Co-Op members about our fight for a fair contract.

Have questions or concerns about work? Want to get more involved in our union? Reach out to a bargaining team member or call our Union Rep, Allison Hanley, at (206) 818-6954.
 

Card Kingdom Union Labor Management Committee updates: Your feedback in action!

On Friday June 20 our labor management committee took large strides to address workplace concerns and feedback about low morale. August Jones, Natalie Roggenbuck, and Aaron Sargent presented a letter to management compiled of personal statements they collected individually. Your statements spoke to feelings of disrespect, unclear communication from management, and tension around unclear metrics and work directives. The committee took time to thoughtfully explain these topics and how we can course correct to build back trust, community, and respect at work. Thanks to the responses on your surveys, specific issues like summer heat safety, employee parking spots, and cross training were also addressed in the committee. After a productive meeting, both parties believed it was necessary to meet again soon and left with plans to discuss at length in a follow-up session.

Heat Safety

Management and the committee agreed that while heat management is difficult in a warehouse facility, they want to work together to find solutions to keep work safe and comfortable.

• The employer agreed to provide training materials on identifying signs of heat exhaustion and wants to further the discussion on severe temperatures protocol, if work conditions become dangerous or unsafe.

• The employer was open to the use of cold water stations near work stations and wants to continue talking about ways to best use fans and skylight covers to block out sunlight. They also intend to provide water and ice pops in break areas, like in previous years.

Parking

Our committee and management both agreed that the auxiliary parking lot has been helpful, and the company elaborated on their efforts to coordinate with neighboring businesses on the use of their extra lot space. Your committee proposed using designated carpool only spots to be reserved for those who carpool to work, and the employer proposed we meet again to continue brainstorming.

Stay tuned; your response will be needed! Management offered to run a survey to collect data on how many groups carpool to work to better understand how many designated spots are reasonable. Our committee will continue to discuss carpool ideas in preparation for our next meeting.

Cross Training

Your survey responses helped the committee come prepared with solutions: The majority of your feedback on "what's working?" pointed to shift huddles as the best way to maintain clear communication and clarify department goals for the day. Our committee proposed multiple ways to better communication when assigned to other departments:

• Supervisor lead shift huddles to be maintained daily for all workstations so when labor is redistributed, work can keep flowing smoothly.

• Red binders be assessed and updated to reflect any current procedures or guidelines.

• Management acknowledged that Supervisory tasks shouldn't pass on to Leads when Supervisors aren't scheduled, and they agreed to assess shift overlaps to see if more support can be given.

We look forward to another meaningful conversation about workload, communication, and fostering a respectful environment at Card Kingdom—all the things that make our job fulfilling and safe. Stay tuned for updates about our next meeting. Your feedback and testimonies helped drive our conversation forward, and we look forward to hearing from you again!

Sea Wolf Bakers - Bargaining Update

On Tuesday, June 24, our bargaining team met with management for another joint session. In the morning, we were able to provide a counterproposal on the subject of excessive heat and breaks, and also came to tentative agreement regarding an attendance policy that will allow for equitable treatment of our coworkers.

In the afternoon, management presented a comprehensive counterproposal regarding all economic items: a wage scale based on months/years of service, health insurance, paid time off, retirement, etc.

Our next bargaining session will be July 8!

Contract Action Team Meeting

July 1
4:00 PM
Fremont Public Library

This will be for all of our UFCW 3000 coworkers at Sea Wolf to attend and discuss next steps in our contract campaign and get more details of the proposals!

Sea Wolf Bakers - Bargaining Update

On Tuesday, June 17 our bargaining team met with management for another joint session. After the last few sessions of discussion around economic proposals, they were able to provide us with their initial comprehensive economic proposal. The highlight of their proposal was a wage scale that would guarantee increases in pay based on months of service, with the seventh tier being the top of the scale after 60 months. We also had lengthy conversations about our tipping proposal and the concept of a surcharge, but have not yet come to agreement on these subjects.

In our counterproposal, which we passed at the end of the day, we addressed retirement, sick leave, paid time off, wages, scheduling, holidays, breaks, and other benefits.

We look forward to coming closer to an agreement next Tuesday, June 24 when we will receive another counterproposal from management, and another update will be forthcoming after that session!

Our Bargaining Team (Left to Right): Frankie Hull, Delivery Driver; Sophia Cerreta, Savory & Bread Departments; Miller Hammond, Barista; [Not pictured]: Haley Rydberg, Bread & Pastry Departments

Sea Wolf Bakers - Bargaining Update

Our bargaining team met with Sea Wolf management on June 3. Progress continued at a rapid clip as we reached Tentative Agreement on:

• Our Recognition clause firmly establishing our union as the sole and exclusive representative of the non-supervisory workers at Sea Wolf Bakers

• The employer's proposed Management Rights clause outlining their right to direct work and operations as long as it is within the parameters of the union contract

• The 90-day introductory period for new hires

• Successorship language, which details the process of the employer's responsibilities under the contract if Sea Wolf is sold to another owner

We also have come very close to agreed-upon language for a clear attendance policy, which will hold management to a defined process for treating us all equally. Last (but not least) we continued an open conversation with management about the structure of a potential wage scale and compensation overall.

Our next bargaining session will be June 10; after next week's session we will share details of another all-worker meeting to keep everyone updated and discuss next steps!

"We got a lot done and started an important discussion about compensation, though some of the conversations were more difficult than others."

— Miller

Bargaining Team: Frankie Hull, Delivery Driver; Sophia Cerreta, Savory & Bread Departments; Miller Hammond, Barista

Bartell Drugs & Rite Aid - Severance Pay & Store Closure Information

On May 5, our union, along with other UFCW locals across the country, received notice that Rite Aid is filing for bankruptcy again and plans to close all store locations in the coming months. They aim to sell all their stores by August 2025. As we learn more information, we will send communications out through email and through our website.

While we do not yet know the timeline, it is important for all our members at Rite Aid and Bartell Drug stores to know their rights under our current contract.

If you have any questions about the closures or if you’re considering retirement, please call your union representative, Aaron Bailey, at (206) 436-6631.

• Members have severance pay rights if their store is closed (see enclosed)

• Your pension is still available and will not be affected by Rite Aid’s closure. For any pension questions, please call our pension office, Sound Retirement Trust, directly at (206) 282-4500.

• For Bartell Drug members’ healthcare related questions, please call Sound Health and Wellness at (206) 282-4500.

• King County Labor Council also has an online union hiring hall to see other union job openings in our area at www.unionhiringhall.org

• If you have any questions about the closures or if you’re considering retirement, please call your union representative, Aaron Bailey, at (206) 436-6631.

Our contracts at Bartell Drugs and Rite Aid have strong language in Article 6.9 (2) around you receiving severance if you are laid off due to a store closure:

Years of Service Severance Amount Two (2) through four (4) years 1 week severance Five (5) through six (6) years 2 weeks severance Seven (7) through eight (8) years 3 weeks severance Nine (9) through ten (10) years 4 weeks severance Ten (10) years or more 5 weeks severance

Article 6.9 (3) — Severance pay will equate to the average hours paid in the fourteen (14) weeks, Sunday through Saturday, preceding separation, not to exceed forty (40) hours straight time pay.

Article 6.9 (4) — Workers who receive severance pay shall be paid accrued, unused personal holidays and accrued, unused vacation.

As union members at Rite Aid and Bartell, we have the right to be transferred to a union store in order of seniority. Work with your union rep and Rite Aid HR on relocating to a store nearby.

If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to your Union Reps, Aaron Bailey (206) 436-6631, or our Member Resource Center (866) 210-3000.

We have gotten reports that Bartell Drugs has told members to put in their two weeks’ notice if workers are leaving the company or moving to a non-union store—you will not receive severance pay if you put in your two weeks’ notice instead of being laid off! In order to receive the severance as outlined in our contract, you will need to be laid off by Bartell Drugs/Rite Aid.

Read your Contracts:

Bartell Drugs Contract

https://ufcw3000.org/find-your-contract/2015/2/4/bartell-drugs-contract

Rite Aid Contract

https://ufcw3000.org/find-your-contract/2015/2/25/rite-aid-contract

Resources:

The Unemployment Law Project: a free service that supports workers receiving their unemployment benefits at (206) 441-9178 or online:

unemploymentlawproject.org

UFCW Represented Work Locations: Stay protected through a union contract at our other represented locations—on our website find “Who We Represent”:

ufcw3000.org/shop-union

If you are laid off, you should qualify for unemployment benefits through the Washington State Employment Security Department if all have worked at least 680 hours within the last year. You can file a claim for benefits at 800-318-6022 or online:

esd.wa.gov/unemployment