Release: Unions File for Temporary Restraining Order Against MultiCare

FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Seattle— The Washington State Nurses Association, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW and UFCW 3000 filed for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to prevent MultiCare Health System from garnishing wages without employees’ consent to recover alleged overpayments related to an extended outage of the employer’s timekeeping system.

Unions assert that MultiCare's plan violates WAC 296-126-030, which states that private employers can only recover overpayments by deducting money from paychecks without consent if the overpayment is discovered and the employer “implements a plan” to recover it within 90 days. Crucially, the overpayment must have been “infrequent,” “inadvertent,” and the employer must provide “documentation” of the disputed amount.

The unions are further requesting a declaratory judgment that the deductions would violate the WAC rule, and separately have filed unfair labor practice charges and requested a 10(j) injunction from the NLRB, as MultiCare did not notify WSNA, SEIU or UFCW or bargain over its repayment plans before implementing them.

These legal actions are intended to ensure that employees have a fair, transparent and collaborative process for establishing repayment plans, including an opportunity to challenge MultiCare’s accounting and a say in their individual repayment plans.

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BACKGROUND 

In December 2021, timekeeping software provider Kronos was hit by a ransomware attack, shutting the system down for many employers that use it. During the time Kronos was offline, MultiCare chose to duplicate employees’ last accurate timesheet for payroll purposes. Employees continued to track hours separately outside of Kronos, but paychecks for four pay periods were based on the first pay period in December.

MultiCare knew from the start that this would result in inaccurate paychecks during the outage, as health care worker hours vary, sometimes significantly, week to week. Notably, the period of outage covered the worst months of the Omicron surge, during which employees saw significant upheaval in their schedules. 

Following Kronos’ recovery, MultiCare announced that it would begin deducting up to $500 per paycheck without employee consent beginning March 18. MultiCare gave workers a March 9 deadline to request alternate payment plans, but did not offer an option to repay by any means other than paycheck deductions, and the lowest amount offered was 10% of the amount allegedly owed per pay period. At the same time, MultiCare has not provided transparent accounting for its claimed overpayments (or underpayments), and numerous workers have reported inaccuracies in the accounting provided to them.

UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 Members in Shock Over Shooting in Richland, WA Fred Meyer Store

For Immediate Release: February 7, 2022 1:30 PM
Contact: Tom Geiger, 206-604-3421

UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 Members in Shock Over Shooting in Richland, WA Fred Meyer Store

Richland, WA – UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 expressed deep concern for victims and survivors of a shooting that took place earlier today at a Fred Meyer store in Richland, WA. UFCW 1439 represents workers in this store, as well as other grocery stores in eastern Washington, food processing, and other industries. UFCW 21 represents workers at grocery stores in western Washington and many other industries across the state including health care workers in Richland, Washington.

“Our communities are standing together in support of our co-workers and others in the Richland community who have been impacted by this shooting. Workers in our local grocery stores have experienced many safety concerns over the last two years under COVID. This tragic shooting is another shock to all of us. No one should have to worry about their safety when going into a store to get groceries for their family. We stand together with everyone in our community against this violence.” said Eric Renner, President of UFCW 1439.

“Today, and in the coming weeks, we will do whatever we can to get support to the workers from this store and the local community,” added Faye Guenther, President of UFCW 21.

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Combined, UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 represent over 50,000 workers in grocery stores, health care, food processing and many other industries across Washington, northeast Oregon, and northern Idaho

RELEASE: WA Health Care Workers Call On Hospitals To Mitigate the Staffing Crisis

FOR RELEASE: Oct. 19, 2021

WA Health Care Workers Call On Hospitals To Mitigate the Staffing Crisis

Short-sighted and costly stopgap measures are only a bandaid; Hospitals have the tools and resources to alleviate burnout nightmare

SEATTLE -- With increasing volume, hospital administrators across Washington have joined health care workers and the unions that represent them in calling attention to the unprecedented staffing crisis. But today, nurses and other frontline workers are calling on hospitals to use the tools and resources they have available to finally begin mitigating this crisis for workers and patients.

“We’ve heard near-unanimous agreement around the problem,” said Julia Barcott, a critical care nurse in Toppenish and WSNA union leader. “That’s great. But only one voice in this conversation has the ability to immediately begin fixing this problem, and that’s the hospitals. It’s past time we saw meaningful action and policy changes from them, for the sake of our frontline workers and for patients and families across the state.”

There are a number of policies hospital administrations could immediately enact that would help begin to alleviate some of the burnout on nurses and improve conditions for workers and patients, including:

Ending mandatory overtime policies and ensuring workers can safely take rest breaks to return to compliance with already-existing state law

• Retention bonuses for frontline workers who have stayed on the job, which would ostensibly help offset hospitals’ apparent need for massive signing bonuses for new staff

• Incentive pay for burned-out workers who take on additional shifts

• Incentive pay and appropriate orientation for workers who take on extra work or shifts in a department they don’t work in

• Posting enough positions in all job categories to achieve safe staffing levels

• Actively working to fill all open positions

“We’re asking for just compensation and recognition for the work we’ve all been doing and the fact we’ve stayed on the job,” said Tracy Mullen, a nurse in the emergency department at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and member of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW. “Imagine spending the entirety of this pandemic at the bedside, and the person next to you is a traveling nurse making upwards of three- to four-times as much while the hospital apparently can’t find resources for retention bonuses or incentive pay.”

To understand the magnitude of the current staffing crisis, it’s critical to understand that a staffing shortage in Washington hospitals persisted long before the pandemic. For years, health care workers and their unions have warned our state’s hospitals about short-staffing and the potentially dire consequences. Had hospitals taken action to address adequate staffing years ago, we wouldn’t be facing such an extreme shortage now while we battle this pandemic. COVID exacerbated this already strained infrastructure, and hospitals’ response to the pandemic — including slowly filling open positions, falling back on mandatory overtime, and spending resources on signing bonuses and traveling positions rather than existing staff retention — has only worsened this preexisting shortage and led to massive burnout among workers.

“Large signing bonuses, filling positions with traveling staff, asking the federal government for emergency staff capacity — all of these are stopgap measures,” said Faye Guenther, president of UFCW 21. “You won’t reduce the need for these expensive, short-term fixes until you address the underlying problems causing burned-out health care workers to leave the bedside. In the long run the only way we’re going to see this crisis start to get better for workers and patients is for hospitals to step up and apply even a portion of that energy and those resources towards making the day-to-day working conditions of their nurses and other staff manageable.”

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About SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is a union of nurses and healthcare workers with over 30,000 caregivers throughout hospitals, clinics, mental health, skilled home health and hospice programs in Washington state and Montana. SEIU Healthcare 1199NW’s mission is to advocate for quality care and good jobs for all.

About WSNA 

WSNA is the leading voice and advocate for nurses in Washington state, providing representation, education and resources that allow nurses to reach their full professional potential and focus on caring for patients. WSNA represents more than 19,000 registered nurses for collective bargaining who provide care in hospitals, clinics, schools and community and public health settings across the state. 

About UFCW 21 

UFCW 21 is working to build a powerful union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and our communities. We represent over 45,000 workers in retail, grocery stores, health care, and other industries in Washington state.

Grocery Store Workers Have Right to Wear Black Lives Matter Buttons

For Immediate Release: September 17, 2021
Contact: Tom Geiger, UFCW 21, 206-604-3421

Grocery Store Workers Have Right to Wear Black Lives Matter Buttons

National Labor Relations Board Tells Kroger’s QFC and Fred Meyer to Reach Settlement or Change Policy

Seattle, WA -- Region 19 of the National Labor Relations Board has informed UFCW 21 of its finding that Fred Meyer and QFC – both Kroger companies – violated federal labor law when it prohibited workers from wearing union-sponsored Black Lives Matter buttons.

Specifically, Region 19 found merit in UFCW 21’s charges that Kroger violated the law by: 1) failing to bargain with the Union over a change in workplace conditions – in this case the practice of allowing the wearing of buttons at work; and 2) prohibiting workers from taking action together – in this case, by wearing Black Lives Matter messages – to protest racism in the workplace and in society, generally.

Region 19 will now seek a settlement agreement with Kroger, which would likely require a change to company policy. If a settlement cannot be reached, Region 19 would typically issue a formal complaint and a trial would be held before an Administrative Law Judge, whose ruling would be subject to an appeal to the NLRB in Washington D.C.

“This is very uplifting. When workers were trying to speak out through these buttons and collectively say Black Lives Matter and Kroger said to take the buttons off, that was an insult. This decision is welcome news in our work to bring attention to social and racial injustice in the workplace and in our neighborhoods”, said Sam Dancy a Front End Supervisor at the Westwood Village QFC in West Seattle, WA.

Motoko Kusanagi, a Front End Checker at the University Village QFC in Seattle reacted, “We wore the pins because it seemed like the right thing to do. My coworkers showed me their pins happily, letting me know they stood in solidarity with me and my family. One of the core values of the store is inclusion, so we did not think “Black Lives Matter” was a radical statement for this business. The amount of pushback we received for such a small showing of support still sits wrong with me to this day. I’m glad we could fight back.”

UFCW 21 President Faye Guenther concluded, “In the wake of this welcome action by the NLRB, we are calling on Kroger to respect workers’ rights and take meaningful steps to address racial inequities in Kroger workplaces. Among other things, Kroger needs to do a better job of hiring and promoting African Americans at every level of the company and making it clear that it will not tolerate racism from customers or employees.”

Background

After Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd on May 25, 2020, many UFCW 21 members working in grocery and retail stores chose to express their opposition to racism by wearing face masks (otherwise worn for protection from COVID) or other items bearing the Black Lives Matter slogan.

Although Kroger issued public statements expressing sympathy with the Black Lives Matter movement, managers at Kroger-owned stores in Western Washington started ordering UFCW 21 members to remove Black Lives Matter masks in June 2020.

 UFCW 21 responded to the company’s Black Lives Matter ban by collaborating with Fred Meyer and QFC workers to distribute union-sponsored Black Lives Matter buttons with the UFCW 21 logo. When managers banned the Union buttons, UFCW 21 filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Kroger’s ban and the Union response received widespread local and national attention.

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UFCW 21 represents over 46,000 workers at grocery stores, retail, health care and other industry jobs.

RELEASE: Washington hospitals on the brink of unprecedented crisis; health care workers and patients need immediate action from hospitals

FOR RELEASE: Sept. 13, 2021

WA hospitals on the brink of unprecedented crisis

Preexisting staff shortages have reached critical levels; nurses, health care workers and patients need immediate action from hospitals

SEATTLE -- The reality cannot be overstated: Washington hospitals are on the brink of a crisis, and without immediate and impactful action to retain and attract critical workers the state’s health care system could face an unprecedented collapse in capacity and care.

Hospitals across the state have warned of massive staffing shortfalls and collapses in capacity. Now the Washington State Nurses Association, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, and UFCW 21 — who collectively represent 71,000 nurses and other healthcare workers — are urging hospitals to use the tools they have available to mitigate this crisis by retaining and adequately compensating current staff and filling under-staffed departments to ensure patient safety and access to care.

“Amid a fifth wave of COVID, spurred on by the Delta variant, and hospitals overflowing with patients who need critical care, our state health care workers continue to heroically perform their jobs a year-and-a-half into this pandemic,” said Julia Barcott, chair of the WSNA Cabinet and an ICU nurse at Astria Toppenish Hospital. “But nurses and other frontline workers are people, too. We’re losing overworked nurses to overwhelming burnout, the distress of working short-staffed, better-paying traveler nurse jobs and even for signing bonuses of up to $20,000 to move to a different hospital. We’re worried for our patients and the impact of the staffing crisis on the care they receive.”

This isn’t just a crisis for frontline workers, it’s also a public health crisis. Because hospitals were already understaffed well before the coronavirus pandemic hit, we are now seeing a new story every day about a regional hospital at maximum capacity. Without immediately addressing the shortage of staff and untenable workloads for frontline workers, there could be dire consequences to Washington’s health care infrastructure.

“Chronic understaffing is a disaster for patient care. Health care workers don’t want to see patients stuck in overflowing ICUs or being treated in ER hallways, or be forced to turn away ambulances at the door, but that’s the reality of health care right now,” said Faye Guenther, UFCW 21 president. “Hospitals need to immediately respond to this patient care crisis. That means focusing on meaningful, sustainable solutions that will recruit and retain qualified caregivers in every department.”

As many anti-vaccination activists falsely conflate the staffing crisis with looming vaccine deadlines for health care workers, it's important to understand that health care staffing shortages predate the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of years’ of staffing and management decisions, many hospitals already didn’t meet adequate staffing for average patient levels. COVID exacerbated this already strained infrastructure, and hospitals’ response to the pandemic has only worsened this preexisting crisis. 

“What’s really driving this crisis is that hospitals have spent the last two decades balancing their budgets on the backs of health care workers and patients,” said Jane Hopkins, RN, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW. “COVID has been a stress test on our health care system, and we are seeing the system fail that test due to management’s choice to understaff. Retention bonuses for frontline workers who have stayed on the job, adequate pay for extra hours worked, and aggressive hiring to staff at full capacity would go a long way right now.”

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About SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is a union of nurses and healthcare workers with over 30,000 caregivers throughout hospitals, clinics, mental health, skilled home health and hospice programs in Washington state and Montana. SEIU Healthcare 1199NW’s mission is to advocate for quality care and good jobs for all.

About WSNA 

WSNA is the leading voice and advocate for nurses in Washington state, providing representation, education and resources that allow nurses to reach their full professional potential and focus on caring for patients. WSNA represents more than 19,000 registered nurses for collective bargaining who provide care in hospitals, clinics, schools and community and public health settings across the state. 

About UFCW 21 

UFCW 21 is working to build a powerful union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and our communities. We represent over 45,000 workers in retail, grocery stores, health care, and other industries in Washington state.

UFCW 21 Endorses Council Member González for Seattle Mayor

For Immediate Release: Monday 4/12/21 | Contact: Tom Geiger, UFCW 21, 206-604-3421

SEATTLE, WA —  Today, UFCW 21, the region’s largest labor union, announced its endorsement of Council Member Lorena González for Seattle Mayor. The working partnership with our worker-led union goes back nearly a decade —  a decade of both great progress and great strife for working people in our city. The Mayor of Seattle can be a major force for leading change and our belief is that González is the best candidate for our city and that she will help meet the potential to reduce inequity, reduce racial injustice, and improve the rights and daily lives of working people. UFCW 21 has been at the center of efforts for over a decade to forward workers’ rights and lead the nation.

González reacted to the news: “I’m proud to have the support of UFCW 21's 46,000 hard-working members. Their workers are vital to our city's economy and have been on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm proud to have worked with UFCW 21 on the city council to establish the Office of Labor Standards, protect workers from scheduling instability and to provide hazard pay for grocery store workers during the pandemic. As Seattle's next Mayor, I will continue to work with our essential workers to ensure the safety and health of working people and to create good-paying jobs."

Our city was one of the first to pass a dramatically higher minimum wage, paid sick days, secure scheduling, and most recently hazard pay for essential grocery store workers. González has been there with us all along the way, providing savvy, principled and progressive leadership.

"Council Member González was a great partner in the fight for the Secure Scheduling law to help us have more control over our schedules at work and to better plan time with family. As a grocery store worker and elected board member of UFCW 21, I'm very happy she has our full support to become Seattle's next mayor," said Maggie Breshears who works at Fred Meyer in Greenwood.

"Last year, after continued problems and the Seattle Police Officers Guild’s refusal to meet community demands for major police reform and accountability, UFCW 21 heard the community’s demands, and we took a leadership role in the Labor community and fought for and succeeded at having SPOG removed from the MLK Labor Council.  Everyone, people of all races and economic levels need police justice and should have equal access to that justice in our communities. Seattle has a lot of work to do along these lines and we feel Council Member González can help lead that work as Mayor," said Sam Dancy, a longtime QFC worker in West Seattle and elected Executive Board member of UFCW 21.

As an at-large member of the council, González has been elected by voters across the city. And as an attorney and advocate, she has a long record of caring, action and success for the working people of the city and beyond. Her own story combines the hard struggle of an immigrant family, a farmworker family. She understands firsthand the trials of racism, the inequality in our economy, as well as the benefits of getting a strong public education and the importance of getting organized and involved in community.

As Their Profits Soar, Kroger Announces Closure of Two Seattle Grocery Stores in Retaliation for Hazard Pay Law

For immediate release: 2/16/21
Contact: Tom Geiger, 206.604.3421, or tgeiger@ufcw21.org

Statement from UFCW 21

As Their Profits Soar, Kroger Announces Closure of Two Seattle Grocery Stores in Retaliation for Hazard Pay Law

Today, Kroger publicly announced the closure of two QFC stores in Seattle, in a transparent attempt to intimidate other local governments from passing ordinances that would provide hazard pay to front line grocery store workers. Essential workers, our local government, and our communities will not be threatened by this corporate bullying.

The COVID pandemic has caused serious illness and taken lives, and at the same time the amount of work and the level of stress and risk for grocery store workers has risen dramatically. Early on, companies like QFC agreed to pay $2/hour in hazard pay to employees all across the nation in acknowledgement of the risks workers faced and the essential nature of their work during a national crisis. Then they cut that pay in May -  with no explanation. Kroger’s profits continued to soar, as did COVID cases, and as more and more people got sick, and more and more people shopped for groceries, restaurants and schools closed.

Workers have tried for months to get the hazard pay that was cut re-instated. But month after month the pay cuts were kept in place. The level of stress grew, as did concerns about safety, higher workloads, fewer workers on shift, more customers, and rising COVID cases in stores. Several places in California passed local hazard pay ordinances. Kroger  announced the closure of two stores in that area in retaliation against that local hazard pay law.

In January, things had reached a breaking point and, working with Seattle City Council, UFCW 21 members were able to help pass a local and temporary $4/hour hazard pay law. That pay went into effect on February 3. Kroger announced their Seattle store closures on February 16.

Today’s announcement by Kroger to close these two Seattle QFCs is a case of over-the-top greed and bullying, and it shows how out of touch Kroger is with our community. The public overwhelmingly supports hazard pay and supports our grocery store workers. Other grocery chains, including PCC locally, have actually expanded hazard pay to stores beyond Seattle and Burien which have now passed new hazard pay laws. Kroger’s closures threaten workers, as well as shoppers and our local community. We need safety concerns addressed and we need hazard pay expanded.

Kroger’s intent seems perfectly clear: They are announcing these closings to try and intimidate any other local communities here in our state or around the nation from passing hazard pay. If Kroger cares about their employees and the local communities in which they operate, they should expand hazard pay and improve store safety practices, not file lawsuits and close our neighborhood stores.

Statement from UFCW 21 President Faye Guenther and Secretary Treasurer Joe Mizrahi on today’s assaults on the capitols in Olympia and Washington, D.C.

“We call on all elected leaders to finish what they started and certify the 2020 presidential election. Hate groups, lies purposely spread by certain elected officials, tantrums and riots fueled by false conspiracy theories and racism will not derail democracy. We are one when it comes to protecting our democracy, our Constitution, and each other.

We believe in the democratic process, in our union and in our country. The people voted. Biden won. And today, Warnock and Ossoff won in Georgia. That is how you take the halls of congress. That is how democracy works. The people have spoken.

We are thankful our elected officials are safe, including Governor Inslee and our longtime ally Representative Jayapal, who was in the House Gallery today. We will not tolerate bullies here or in Washington D.C.”

-UFCW 21 President Faye Guenther and Secretary Treasurer Joe Mizrahi

Bernie Sanders Joins UFCW 21 and UFCW 7 demanding Safer Stores and Fair Compensation For Essential Grocery Workers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2020

Contacts: 
Tom Geiger | tgeiger@ufcw21.org | 206-604-3421
Bridget Bartol | bbartol@skdknick.com | 954-594-0689

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Joins UFCW Local 7 and Local 21 in Letter to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen Demanding Safer Stores and Fair Compensation For Essential Grocery Workers

Unions representing 42,000 Essential Grocery Workers in Colorado, Wyoming & Washington State Urge Kroger To Reinstate Hero Pay of $2/Hour In Pandemic

DENVER – At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kroger Co. implemented a Hero Pay bonus of $2/hour for Essential Grocery Workers, calling grocery workers “heroes” because of their extraordinary sacrifice and dedication to the company and its customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 17, 2020, the company stripped away the Hero Pay bonus program and has since relaxed safety protocols in stores. Seven months later, COVID-19 cases are higher than ever before throughout the country, yet Kroger’s employees who risk their health at work went from being treated as Heroes to Zeros by the company.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joined Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Local 7 of Colorado and Wyoming, and Faye Guenther, President of UFCW Local 21 of Washington State, which together represent 42,000 Essential Grocery Workers, sent a letter to Kroger Co. CEO Rodney McMullen, urging him to ensure that workplaces are safe and to reinstate the $2/hr. Hero Pay bonus for all grocery workers across the country. 

An excerpt from the letter below:

“You often mention your experience as a stock boy to reaffirm to the public and shareholders that you're committed to seeing things through your customers' eyes. The time has come for you to see the risks through the eyes of your workers. Your inaction only increases the fear and anxiety that our members deal with as they walk into work each day.

“Hundreds of thousands of UFCW members work to keep YOUR stores clean, YOUR shelves stocked, and YOUR business running. Their work has enabled the large increases in sales and higher profits you've reaped since the pandemic began. Yet, they are working in fear, they are working in danger, and they are working without adequate support and respect from their employer, Kroger. They are risking their health and that of their families to keep America's food supply chain running and the country fed.  It is time that YOU take care of Kroger's frontline Essential Workers like they are taking care of your customers.”

A PDF of the letter can be found HERE, and the text of the letter is below: 

December 14, 2020

Dear Mr. McMullen,

We write to you as UFCW Local Union presidents, representing 30,000 Essential Workers at Kroger Co. stores across Colorado, Wyoming, and Washington State. Together with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), we hope and expect you are taking substantial time to work with the current and incoming administration to ensure that your grocery store Essential Workers are a priority for a COVID-19 vaccination. We write today to urge you to take the necessary and responsible steps to improve stores' safety and compensate Kroger Essential Workers fairly by immediately reinstating Hero Pay ($2/hr.) to all workers across the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage our communities and stores more than ever and, as we navigate this especially hazardous winter season, it is imperative to recognize the dangers Essential Grocery Store Workers face. Our members, your employees, are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, yet these heroes are being denied the Hero Pay you awarded them at the beginning of the pandemic. Kroger's employees went from Heroes to Zeros. As we continue to witness a severe and alarming increase in worker case numbers, store safety must significantly improve to stop the spread. Preventive measures include enforcing mask requirements, reinstating and enforcing strict shopper limits to allow social distancing for all in the stores, improved staffing on all shifts so there is sufficient coverage to enable all workers to take COVID-19 sanitation breaks where they can conduct extra hand-washing and have allotted times to wipe and disinfect all areas of the store.

As a company, you initially recognized the dangers of this virus, implementing a Kroger Hero Pay bonus of $2/hr. in March, you coordinated better staffing for the extra work needed to clean stores, allowing more frequent breaks to wash hands and other safety measures. Yet, case numbers and deaths have risen exponentially since you prematurely claimed that we were "beginning to see a return to normal," and you ill-advisedly relaxed safety protocols and stripped away hazard pay on May 17, 2020. These decisions blatantly disregarded the dangers Essential Grocery Store Workers faced, not just by going into work but also by weakening them financially when dealing with COVID-related hardships, such as lack of childcare due to homeschooling, sick relatives, and additional medical costs.

Since Kroger stripped away Hero Pay, COVID-19 infections among these Essential Grocery Store Workers have exploded among our members. For example, there have been 491 positive cases, a 692% increase, and three deaths, among Local 7 members alone: James McKay, Karen Haws, and Randy Narvaez. As recent COVID cases in Washington have reached record levels, we see cases of grocery workers on a significant rise, and several outbreaks have been reported in just the last two weeks. In some cases, these outbreaks include more than a dozen cases in only one store.

Underneath those numbers, we see the threat to communities of color, which make up a majority (50%) of our nation's Essential Workers-- and an even more significant proportion of the food and agriculture workforce.

You often mention your experience as a stock boy to reaffirm to the public and shareholders that you're committed to seeing things through your customers' eyes. The time has come for you to see the risks through the eyes of your workers. Your inaction only increases the fear and anxiety that our members deal with as they walk into work each day.

Hundreds of thousands of UFCW members work to keep YOUR stores clean, YOUR shelves stocked, and YOUR business running. Their work has enabled the large increases in sales and higher profits you've reaped since the pandemic began. Yet, they are working in fear, they are working in danger, and they are working without adequate support and respect from their employer, Kroger. They are risking their health and that of their families to keep America's food supply chain running and the country fed.  It is time that YOU take care of Kroger's frontline Essential Workers like they are taking care of your customers.

Every day wasted is another day our members risk contracting COVID-19 at a Kroger store. Another day, our members are not paid fairly for the dangers they face conducting essential work. Kroger must reinstate Hero Pay immediately. Kroger should be a leader by ensuring their profits, made possible by Kroger's employees, are at least partially used to keep them and our shoppers safe and secure.

That is why we call on you, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, to reinstate Hero pay immediately because, as you stated, Essential Grocery Store Workers are heroes. They were heroes at the beginning of the pandemic, and they continue to be the unsung heroes keeping Kroger and the country moving forward.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders                                   

Kim Cordova, UFCW Local 7 President

Faye Guenther, UFCW 21 President 

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Local 7, the largest Union in Colorado, is affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest private sector Unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, and health care. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

UFCW 21 represents over 46,000 workers in grocery store, retail, health care and other industry jobs across the state of Washington

UFCW 21 PRESS ADVISORY: Changes Needed to Make Grocery Stores Safer

UFCW 21 PRESS ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: December 9, 2020  -- 6 PM
Contact: Tom Geiger, 206-604-3421

Outbreak at Burien Fred Meyer and other Stores Raise Levels of Concerns for Essential Workers and Shoppers

WHO:   Top officers of UFCW 21 and members from the store tell our story. We will be joined by Teamsters 38.

WHAT: Online ZOOM press conference to raise concerns, present the facts, and propose solutions to make shoppers and workers safer. We are calling on grocery stores to immediately put these better protocols in place and enforce them, and we are calling on government agencies to better ensure this takes place. We will take questions from the press.

WHEN:  Thursday, December 10 at 9:30 AM Pacific

IF YOU MISSED THE CALL: You can watch a complete recording of the press conference here. There is also a recording available for download here.

Background: Early in the pandemic there appeared to be a willingness by grocery store chains to better prioritize safety with the looming pandemic and change the way of doing business. Workers’ wages were raised by $2/hour which at least helped a little to make people working in the store feel a bit more appreciated. Increased staff was scheduled to handle the additional work of sanitization, cleaning carts, wiping down check-out stands as well as to allow for workers to rest, take more frequent breaks and wash hands more often. Even with those changes, serious problems persisted with dire consequences as members got worn out and some contracted COVID 19.

Unfortunately, by early summer, even as social restrictions were eased and more people were shopping, it had become clear that as grocery store sales were increasing, as revenues and profits went up, and as stock holder dividend pay outs were made, the grocery store chains’ practices to protect workers and shoppers slipped backward:

       -    workers’ pay was cut by $2/hour

       -    workers reported fewer staff to cover shifts

       -    mask requirement orders were not strictly enforced by management

       -    lax enforcement of standards to limit the number of shoppers in the store is resulting in crowded stores and insufficient social distancing

       -    reduced cleaning and other practices that would help clean and disinfect stores

       -    recently, the problems have only gotten worse.

UFCW 21 represents over 46,000 workers in grocery store, retail, health care and other industry jobs across the state of Washington.

Press Advisory: Puget Sound Grocery Store Workers Speak Out for Hazard Pay, Staffing and Safety

Advisory

For immediate release: Monday November 23, 2020
Contact: Tom Geiger. 206-604-3421

Puget Sound Grocery Store Workers Speak Out for Hazard Pay, Staffing and Safety

Thank you to all who attended, if you missed this online webinar where unionized grocery store workers share their experiences and feelings about improved safety and reinstating hazard pay you can watch it here.

Grocery store workers here in Washington and around the nation continue to go to work every day, risking exposure to the deadliest virus in over one hundred years. Despite these risks and the dramatic increase in sales and profits that grocery stores have recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, the hazard pay that had been put in place in March was cut by early summer. Workers are also feeling a lack of sufficient staffing at a time when the need for sanitizing and breaks are paramount. Unionized workers have continued to press for the hazard pay and improved safety procedures. With the recent new spikes of exposure, positive cases and deaths, workers are re-doubling efforts for safety, staffing and hazard pay.

Background:

Nine months into the pandemic front line workers like grocery store workers are still going to work every day, exposed to the virus and concerned with safety.  Early on during the pandemic, many stores like Safeway, QFC and Fred Meyer began paying workers an additional $2 an hour in hazard pay. In addition, we won increased safety protocols grocery store workers had been demanding, such as frequent disinfecting, wiping down carts and check-out stands, installing plexiglass, limiting the number of people inside the store to be able to allow shoppers to socially distance, asking shoppers to wear masks and allowing workers to take frequent breaks to wash hands and maybe get some fresh air.

At the very beginning of March 2020 our nation had its second recorded death from Covid. By the end of that month, the death toll had surpassed 1,500. By the early summer, in all counts, the pandemic had already taken a massive toll, was still out of control, and there was no end in sight. However, while profits and sales at grocery stores soared, workers’ hazard pay was inexplicably cut.  Workers who continued to do essential and hazardous work were apparently not worth the extra $2 an hour. Unionized workers’ protests delayed the pay cuts in some places for a month, but by mid-summer, it was all taken away.

Fast forward to today: our nation has recorded over a quarter million COVID deaths. The slow-down in daily rates of infection and deaths has now turned around, with spikes and new records set throughout the month of November. Workers continue to be exposed, but safety protocols in many stores seem to have become more lax, and reduced staffing has made it very difficult to take the time to do the extra work required to disinfect the store, check-out stations and carts, as well as making it hard to take more frequent rest breaks to wash hands and get fresh air. And the hazard pay that was cut from workers’ weekly checks has still never been reinstated.

Unionized grocery store workers in Washington and around the nation this week are calling out for improved safety, including safer staffing, and a reinstatement of hazard pay for hazardous work.

Grocery Store Workers speak out:

"As a grocery cashier, at least at my store, the best analogy I can give you is that every day is like that Snowmageddon period, where we had lines as far back as we could see, and we didn’t have enough cashiers. Customers are so used to it that they don’t even think about complaining, and the corporate heads think they can get by with it. It’s not because they can’t hire enough people; they’ve hired plenty of people. They just want to have a minimum crew and maximum profits. So we get worked to death because there’s fewer of us doing the work of many.  - Wil Peterson, 17-year Kroger employee 

"To my customers, I say you don’t need to be accepting these long lines. We have 13 check stands in my store. Today there were only 2 cash registers open. This is ridiculous. We’re speaking up about it. We’re working through our union to get a safer store. The way it is now means more strain on everybody — more work for us, customers in the store longer, backed up in the aisles, even though experts seem to say people should keep their shopping trips to 30 minutes. How can they do that if corporate isn’t listening to them and to us?" - Wil Peterson, 17-year Kroger employee 

“I just also want the company to work to keep me safe, and not run me into the ground. Our work is a lot more stressful than it used to be. In our department, we’ve grown in size but we’ve grown even more in how many orders are coming in. Everyone is tired. Everyone is getting worn down. Sections of the store can get so crowded, it’s impossible to keep social distancing and still meet our timelines for fulfilling orders. And I’m very conscious of the risk I’m exposed to. My partner is a nurse, and we have a lot more potential exposure than the people we know who can work from home. That risk is something that I don’t get to leave behind when I leave work—I carry it home with me. My job takes up so much more space in my life now.

On top of all this, on top of them cutting the hazard pay we were getting at the beginning of the pandemic, we’re getting squeezed to be more productive. We push trolleys with the orders we’re preparing all around the store, and they just increased the capacity of those trolleys by 50%. Now they’re so big we can’t see past them around corners, and they’re 50% heavier to push around all day. Lately, the only things any of us are talking about is how tired and sore we are. People are saying they don’t know how much longer they can stay. We are working on these issues through our union, but if our employers can’t commit to keeping us safe, we’re going to lose people who are experienced, who know how to do this work and care about it.” - Amanda, QFC Clicklist

“Through all of this, wanting to give good service, keep our workplace safe for ourselves and our customers, we’re getting nothing from our employers. We got a small amount of hazard pay in the spring and then it was taken away, just like that. They just put $100 on our Advantage cards recently as a little bonus, and it feels like a slap in the face. “

Click here to file a safety report on your neighborhood store and help keep our Grocery Store Workers and our Communities safe.

“We’re back in the throes of it all. We’re here working on the front lines and we don’t feel appreciated. It’s not fair. I’m pissed off. I’m tired. My family’s health care depends on this job. I’m a cancer survivor and I’ve fought to maintain our great union health care for years, I’m proud to work here. I love my customers, but this is so hard. “

“We need hazard pay. We need fully staffed stores so we can keep ourselves and our customers safe. We need respect from our employers—we’re the ones running these stores every day. “ -Amy, QFC

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Press Advisory: St Michael's Medical Center Workers and Their Union to Speak Out

Press Advisory

Contact: Tom Geiger, 206-604-3421
For Immediate Release: Monday, August 24

Press Conference Tuesday at Noon Regarding St Michael’s Outbreak

After announced outbreak of COVID cases among staff and patients, St Michael’s Medical Center workers and their union (UFCW 21) are outraged, but no longer surprised by ongoing problems at the Hospital. St Michael’s Medical Center is formerly known as Harrison Hospital and is located in Bremerton, WA.

WHAT: Staff and members of UFCW 21 plan to hold a Zoom Press Conference to communicate the magnitude of the problems at St Michael’s – both how widespread the concerns are and how long the workers have been raising the alarm. Workers and their union will present a list of demands to the WA Department of Health and Kitsap County Public Health.

ZOOM MEETING:

Direct join link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86353217505
Webinar ID: 863 5321 7505
Dial-in #: (253) 215 8782

WHEN: Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 12 PM, NOON

WHO:   UFCW 21 President and staff will be joined by hospital workers who will share their experiences regarding the problems that have been going on at the hospital for months. These individuals will make brief prepared statements including information about their efforts over each and every month since March to raise concerns and the hospital’s failed response. We will be available to answer questions live during the ZOOM call.

Workers Win Historic $2 Million Settlement from Macy’s Over Secure Scheduling Violations in Seattle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 1, 2020

Contact: Joe Mizrahi, jmizrahi@ufcw21.org

Workers Win Historic $2 Million Settlement from Macy’s Over Secure Scheduling Violations in Seattle

Macy’s owes more than 800 workers back pay and damages in the largest settlement in the history of Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards

SEATTLE - Workers are celebrating the 3rd anniversary of Seattle’s Secure Scheduling law, a law their union UFCW 21 was involved in passing, with a $1,999,839.35 settlement stemming from claims they filed with Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS) around Macy’s scheduling practices.

“When I first reported scheduling issues, I was just hoping that Macy’s would have to follow the law like everybody else,” said Susan Hedman, who worked at the downtown Seattle Macy’s for more than 30 years. “fact that our settlement turned out to be the biggest one in OLS history is beyond my wildest dreams.” Hedman, a shop steward with UFCW 21, encouraged coworkers to track their schedules and hours after noticing a discrepancy between the city’s scheduling law and the treatment she was experiencing at work, especially when it came to the premium pay she was supposed to earn for last-minute schedule changes. “I noticed something with my schedule that didn’t feel right, so I started documenting what was happening and I went to my union. It took some effort, but it was pretty easy to keep track of the violations. It’s not enough to have strong labor laws on the books—we need to enforce them. Strong city enforcement coupled with the backing of my union helped me and my coworkers get what we deserved.”

Macy’s, which closed its two Seattle locations in 2019 and early 2020, owes back pay and damages to 803 employees who worked in those stores between July 1, 2017, and February 24, 2020. Workers will receive about $2,500 on average, with some receiving upward of $10,000.

“We hope this sends a strong message to employers, especially retail employers in Seattle, that you cannot break the law and expect no consequences,” said Joe Mizrahi, UFCW 21 Secretary-Treasurer. “UFCW 21 members and other workers in Seattle fight hard to both pass strong workers’ rights laws and adequately fund the office that enforces these laws. This historic outcome is what happens when we have elected officials who prioritize workers over corporations, and we appreciate the continued leadership of our city council and the hard work of OLS investigators.”

The Secure Scheduling ordinance, which went into effect on July 1, 2017, requires large retail and food-service businesses to post workers’ schedules two weeks in advance, compensate workers for employer-requested schedule changes, and offer additional work hours to current employees before hiring new people.

“In 2016, I co-sponsored the passage of our Secure Scheduling Ordinance because I believe that all work is dignified,” said Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez. This law has always been about forcing massive corporations, like Macy's, to respect the time of workers that are key to their success. This settlement shifts respect back to Macy's workers and makes them whole, while holding Macy's accountable. Thank you to our OLS staff and the UFCW Local 21 members that played a role in upholding this important labor protection.”

“I want to thank the workers whom this has directly impacted for years. You deserve the money owed to you,” said Councilmember Lisa Herbold. “Secure Scheduling requires employers to schedule 14 days in advance, and if that schedule needs to change then employers must compensate their employees.  Time is money and last minute disruption of the schedules of parents, caregivers, students, and people with second jobs has real economic impacts. I also want to thank OLS and UFCW for bringing this injustice to light and setting the record straight.”

Any worker who believes their employer is violating Seattle’s labor laws should document what is happening and contact their union or file a complaint directly with OLS at seattle.gov/laborstandards or by calling (206) 256-5297.

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UFCW 21 is building a powerful union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and our communities. UFCW 21 is the state’s largest private-sector union with over 46,000 workers in retail, grocery stores, health care, cannabis, and other industries in Washington State. More than 10,000 UFCW 21 members live or work in Seattle. Whenever workers are ready to form a union, give UFCW 21 a call.

Governor Announces Statewide Mask Mandate

Many UFCW 21 members have been wearing masks to work for months already, but the public has not been required to do so. We wear masks to protect our customers, patients, and each other, but we know masks are most effective when everyone is wearing them. That’s why UFCW 21 members have been pushing for the public to be required to wear masks when they visit our workplaces—like stores, pharmacies, and clinics.

This week the governor has listened to essential workers and issued a mandate that everyone wear face coverings when going out in public. We know we had an impact, because members have been demanding this for months and that has been repeatedly passed on to state officials. When we speak up together, we make change. UFCW 21 President Faye Guenther joined Governor Inslee for a press conference announcing this safety proclamation on Tuesday, June 23.

Meanwhile, Fred Meyer, QFC, Safeway, Albertsons, and Haggen have cut hazard pay for front-line grocery store workers. Employers should be implementing hazard pay for all essential workers immediately. Get in touch with your Shop Steward or Union Rep to get involved in actions for hazard pay at your workplace.

Read the Governor’s proclamation about mask-wearing here:

Beginning June 26, every Washingtonian in an indoor public space, or in an outside public space when unable to physically distance from others, will be legally required to wear a face covering…

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 Joins Call for Resignation of Mayor Durkan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2020

Press Contact:
Joe Mizrahi, jmizrahi@ufcw21.org,
(619) 955-2970

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 Joins Call for Resignation of Mayor Durkan

This weekend, Seattle residents once again experienced a massive deployment of chemical weapons from the Seattle Police Department, choking a city neighborhood during a respiratory virus pandemic.

“Many of our fellow UFCW 21 members who are essential workers have faced a choice between losing a paycheck or traveling to work during confusing curfews and consistent use of tear gas, pepper spray, and explosive devices in neighborhoods where we live and work,” said Seattle members of the UFCW 21 rank-and-file executive board Sam Dancy (QFC), Jeannette Randall (Safeway), Greg Brooks (PCC), and Amy Dayley Angell (QFC). “The distance between Mayor Durkan and the values of the membership of UFCW 21 is growing clearer each day.”

Unfortunately, it has become clear that Mayor Durkan is unable to enact the changes required to respond to community demands around the city’s budget and to protect working people from ongoing police violence. Our community’s constitutional rights and our safety is being compromised due to failed leadership.

A mayor who allows for the use of weapons of war against her own community cannot remain in office and cannot lead on the critical changes needed for public safety. We are joining the community call on Mayor Durkan to resign her position and allow the city to begin the meaningful process of seeking out community voices and listening to their calls for justice, without enacting added state violence. We need a mayor who can restore our right to peaceful assembly and free speech, which are bedrock values of the labor movement. The trust between our city and our mayor has been irrevocably broken.

We know that Mayor Durkan’s resignation will not solve the deep-seated systemic issues with policing in Seattle. As Seattle City Council member Teresa Mosqueda said earlier today, “a change in office without radical change in the institution that is policing is not transformational.” We will stand with our community and we will stand with Seattle City Council to demand this change.

UFCW 21 is working to build a powerful union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and our communities. We represent over 46,000 workers in retail, grocery stores, health care, cannabis, and other industries in Washington State. More than 10,000 UFCW 21 members live or work in Seattle. Whenever workers are ready to form a union, give UFCW 21 a call.

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National Leader to Testify At Senate Hearing On Coronavirus Deaths and Infections Among Food Workers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 12, 2020

**TODAY, May 12 at 2:30PM ET**

National Leader to Testify At Senate Hearing On Coronavirus Deaths and Infections Among Food Workers

Marc Perrone, International President of Largest U.S. Food Retail and Meatpacking Union, to Testify on Growing Threat To American Workers and Food Supply, Urge Congress to Put Worker Safety First

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, May 12 at 2:30PM ET, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union, which represents 1.3 million workers in food and retail, will testify in a U.S. Senate hearing on the growing number of deaths across the food industry from COVID-19 and the threat to America’s food supply. The U.S. Senate hearing will highlight the push to exempt businesses from liability for ensuring the safety of their employees during the ongoing pandemic.

The following are excerpts from prepared remarks UFCW International President Marc Perrone will deliver today at 2:30pm in front of the U.S. Senate hearing on employer liability: 

“UFCW supports measures to make workers safer and rejects calls for employer immunity, which would only exacerbate the current crisis. It is not just wrong for workers; it will endanger the very food supply we must all strive to protect. The best way to keep our essential businesses up and running, and to reopen additional businesses, is to ensure that workers have essential protections they need.

“This virus does not care whether you are Republican or Democrat, and when it comes to such a national crisis, neither should we. Without standardized and uniform protections, and when no one at the federal level is holding these companies responsible, I can promise you that these workers will continue to get sick and die.”

“Protecting these workers is not about dollars and cents, it is about life and death. It is about this simple fact – we can’t protect America’s food supply unless – and until – we protect America’s food workers.”

**Livestream: Click here to watch today’s 2:30pm U.S. Senate hearing on employer liability**

Background:

During the testimony, President Marc Perrone will discuss the conditions grocery workers and meatpacking workers face on the frontlines of the outbreak, share best practices and safety standards that must be followed, and talk about how to protect America’s food supply. 

Since the beginning of this pandemic UFCW has been proactive in advocating for the best and necessary safety standards to protect America’s food supply, grocery workers and meatpacking workers. The below is a summary of measures UFCW has urged employers and elected leaders to immediately implement:

• Prioritize Essential Workers for Testing: To protect grocery and meatpacking workers and the food supply, these essential workers must be prioritized for testing.

• Immediate Access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): All grocery, meatpacking and food processing workers must have priority access to the critical personal protection equipment necessary to do their job and reduce the risk of exposure. 

• Immediate Halt On Line Speed Waivers: USDA’s recent approval of 11 regulatory waivers for poultry plants to increase line speeds shows a reckless disregard for worker safety during this pandemic. The USDA must immediately cease granting any new waivers and suspend all existing waivers that allow plants to operate at faster speeds.

• Mandate Social Distancing Where Possible: Companies must enforce and practice six-foot social and physical distancing to the greatest extent possible, even if it slows production. When not possible, companies should use plexiglass barriers and/or ensure all workers have masks that can safely be used. 

• Isolate Workers Who Show Symptoms or Test Positive for COVID-19: It is critical to identify and isolate workers who test positive or exhibit COVID-19 symptoms. These workers must be allowed to quarantine at home, with pay, per CDC recommendations. 

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 The UFCW is the largest private sector union in the United States, representing 1.3 million professionals and their families in grocery stores, meatpacking, food processing, retail shops and other industries.

Our members help put food on our nation’s tables and serve customers in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. Learn more about the UFCW at www.ufcw.org.

GROCERY STORE UNIONS CALL ON KROGER TO CEASE PLANS TO ELIMINATE HERO PAY FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS, IMPROVE SAFETY IN STORES

UFCWs 7, 21, 324, 367, 555, 770, 1439 and IBT 38

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2020 | 3  PM Pacific
Contact: Tom Geiger, UFCW 21, 206-604-3421

GROCERY STORE UNIONS CALL ON KROGER TO CEASE PLANS TO ELIMINATE HERO PAY FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS, IMPROVE SAFETY IN STORES

AS GROCERY STORES ACHIEVE RECORD PROFITS AND CORONAVIRUS CONTINUES TO SPREAD, UFCW LOCALS REPRESENTING OVER 100,000 OF THESE #ESSENTIALHEROES ACROSS THE WEST URGE KROGER TO MAINTAIN HERO PAY AND ADDRESS SAFETY CONCERNS

Puget Sound Region, WA – Kroger-owned grocery stores across the West notified essential grocery workers that starting May 17th, the company will eliminate the $2.00 an hour bonus called “Hero Pay.”  Grocery store employees, deemed essential workers by the government, are a constant on the frontline in all natural disasters or national crises-- risking their lives to ensure America is fed no matter what.

In response to Kroger’s announcement, UFCW Local Unions are calling on the public to support these #EssentialHeroes in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming asking Kroger to maintain Hero Pay and improve store safety practices and provide testing to all employees as COVID-19 continues to plague local communities, and the UFCW membership.

“We have been working hard from day one of this crisis, putting our own health at risk to serve our community, and now Kroger’s response is to say that they are going to take away our pay. Meanwhile in many stores they are still dropping the ball on limiting the number of people in the store at one time to allow proper social distancing,” said Chuck Svac, a member of UFCW 21 from the Fred Meyer store in Port Orchard.

Fred Meyer and QFC are the two Kroger store banners in the Puget Sound area.

Together, these local unions represent over 100,000 essential grocery workers in these five western states and approximately 55,000 of these are at Kroger stores. Unions have seen an uptick in cases of infection of COVID-19 amongst their respective grocery worker members.

“We will continue to recognize and support the frontline workers through this COVID-19 crisis and beyond and demand that their employer do the same by continuing to pay the $2.00/hr "HERO" pay and provide a safe working environment for these workers,” said Steve Chandler, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 38. “These workers have proven themselves as dedicated employees of Kroger which is reflected in them tirelessly serving the customers on a daily basis.”

The decision by Kroger to rip away this well-deserved pay increase comes at the same time these essential grocery workers -- American heroes -- are mourning the loss of their Union brothers and sisters to COVID-19 and more workers are falling ill.

Seven UFCW Local unions across the Western US and Teamsters 38 in Snohomish County, representing over 55,000 members who work at Kroger stores, have united to bring attention to Kroger’s unjustified decision to take away Hero Pay as states reopen. We encourage customers to support grocery workers as these #EssentialHeroes and continue to support them during local stay-at-home orders and the global pandemic. Local Unions are also continuing to call on Kroger to more effectively limit the number of shoppers in a store at one time in order to allow for safe 6 ft distancing, and also have all workers and shoppers wear masks.

Please support your community grocery workers—our #EssentialHeroes—by  telling Kroger how you feel about their takeaway of the Hero pay.

For more information visit on how to get involved visit UFCW21.org and Teamsters38.org

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U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, nurses and healthcare workers call on Trump administration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 3, 2020 

CONTACT: 
Nina Jenkins, SEIU 775 nina.jenkins@seiu775.org 206.618.6718
Amy Clark, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW amyc@seiu1199nw.org 425.306.2061
Tom Geiger, UFCW 21 tgeiger@ufcw21.org 206-604-3421
Ruth Schubert, WSNA rschubert@wsna.org 206.713.7884

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, nurses and healthcare workers call on Trump administration to drive coordinated, transparent response to protect healthcare workers, patients and communities

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and frontline healthcare workers from SEIU 775, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, UFCW 21 and WSNA today called on the Trump administration to show the leadership the country needed since before this crisis began, and ensure all healthcare workers have the personal protective equipment they need to safely care for their patients and elderly clients.  

Union members are demanding the Trump administration immediately invest in the health and safety of every worker, including taking the following actions to increase the supply of PPE: 

Immediate distribution of the masks and equipment held in the Strategic National Stockpile.

Identifying reserves of masks/equipment in other industries, such as construction, and redistributing them to healthcare providers.

Using all powers of the federal government to speed immediate production of new equipment and ensure it is routed to states for distribution across acute care, home care and long term care settings.

Ensuring that all frontline healthcare workers across all settings and emergency response workers can be tested easily to slow the spread of the virus.

Desirae Hernandez, Home Care Provider, Tri-Cities, SEIU 775
“Healthcare workers are on the frontlines of this crisis and we need personal protective equipment to care for our clients’ safely,” said Desirae Hernandez, a home care aide in the Tri-Cities. “I can’t do my job while staying stay 6 feet. This is intimate, personal work with a high-risk and vulnerable population. No one knows if they have this virus for weeks before symptoms. I need PPE now so I can prevent my clients from getting and spreading this virus.”

Katy Brehe, Hospital Registered Nurse, Seattle, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW
“What we need is action,” said Katy Brehe, an RN in the critical care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. “Adequate supplies, not someone’s old t-shirt that was sewed into a mask. Expanded testing, so all healthcare workers will know whether or not we have been exposed and could infect others. And administrative flexibility for healthcare workers in high-risk categories such as immunocompromised, so our coworkers can stay on the job and not get needlessly sick. This is a call for help. We’re all in this together, and we need action today to keep us safe."

Katherine Piana, Emergency Room Registered Nurse, Everett, UFCW 21
“Our hospital had one of the earliest confirmed COVID cases in the country,” said Katherine Piana, an ER nurse at Providence Everett and member of UFCW 21.  “Now, six weeks later we are still suffering with a serious lack of supplies to do our work safely.”

Adam Halvorsen, hospital registered nurse, Richland, WSNA
“Nurses and health care workers are stepping up to meet the needs of patients in the face of this pandemic. But we are going to get sick. We are going to die. That is a hard truth to swallow, and it isn’t right,” said Adam Halvorsen, a registered nurse at Kadlec Regional Medical Center and a member of the WSNA Board of Directors. “We are calling on the federal government and private businesses to do everything possible to step up and make more protective equipment available.”

U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Washington state
“I’m so incredibly grateful for the frontline health care workers in Washington state and across the country, who are going above and beyond to keep us all healthy. I’ve repeatedly pushed this Administration to give Washington state the supplies we need to address this pandemic and ensure that our workers on the frontlines can stay safe. We have a long, hard road ahead of us and I’ll keep doing everything I can to make sure those on the frontlines of this response get the protection and support they so deeply deserve,” said Senator Murray.

As COVID-19 spreads, members of Washington state healthcare worker unions are calling on Congress to join Sen. Murray in working to ensure all working people have healthcare coverage and paid sick time, and that elected officials and corporations put financial relief for working people first.

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About SEIU 775
SEIU 775 represents more than 45,000 long-term care workers providing quality home care, nursing home care, and residential services in Washington and Montana. SEIU 775’s mission is to unite the strength of all working people and their families, to improve their lives and lead the way to a more just and humane world.

About SEIU Healthcare 1199NW
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is a union of nurses and healthcare workers with over 30,000 caregivers throughout hospitals, clinics, mental health, skilled home health and hospice programs in Washington state and Montana. SEIU Healthcare 1199NW’s mission is to advocate for quality care and good jobs for all. 

About WSNA 
WSNA is the leading voice and advocate for nurses in Washington state, providing representation, education and resources that allow nurses to reach their full professional potential and focus on caring for patients. WSNA represents more than 19,000 registered nurses for collective bargaining who provide care in hospitals, clinics, schools and community and public health settings across the state. 

About UFCW 21 
UFCW 21 is working to build a powerful union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and our communities. We represent over 45,000 workers in retail, grocery stores, health care, and other industries in Washington state. 18,000 of these members work in healthcare.

Unions Push Back on Labor Relations Board’s Anti-Democracy Decision

For Immediate Release: March 23, 2020
Contacts:
Tom Geiger, UFCW 21, 206-604-3421
David Groves, WA State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, 206-434-1301

Unions Push Back on Labor Relations Board’s Anti-Democracy Decision: Call for All Mail-Ballot Elections to Improve Worker Rights and Protect Health and Safety

Labor organizations across Washington State today are expressing outrage in reaction to the National Labor Relations Board (Board) postponing of all union recognition elections until at least April 2nd. They are also calling on the Board to revoke the decision, reschedule all such elections, and make all elections become all mail-in ballot only.

Recently, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) postponed all union recognition (or RC) elections until at least April 2nd. We strongly oppose this unilateral action undermining workplace democracy, and we call for immediate revocation of this action and immediate rescheduling of all RC elections, by mail ballot, as soon as they can be scheduled. Additionally, we call for the expediting of mandatory mail ballot procedures for all RC elections going forward.

“The Board’s decision shows that what was meant to be a balancing force weighing the interests of workers and employers is a broken system. The Board unilaterally revoked workers’ rights to organize by this one action,” said Faye Guenther, President of UFCW 21. “Any insistence that mail balloting require approval from employers amounts to giving a veto card to all employers to terminate any unionizing effort at any time.”

Further harm to workers right to organize result from the decision because the standard that the Board has typically used (so-called “laboratory conditions”) in union elections will be erased because without the prospect of a union election workers will be reluctant to begin any new organizing drive. What would be the point of beginning to organize if you knew the employer could simply deny the right to a vote? Without the right to vote being protected and expected, there is no democracy.

“Now is the time for increased worker involvement in their workplace health and safety, not a muzzling of workers,” said Larry Brown, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “Democracy in the workplace where workers can be assured of a safe work environment, the ability to stay home from work when sick, and their unfettered right to advocate for themselves and for the public they serve, is paramount not just for their well-being, but for the well-being of everyone in America.”

Going beyond the issue of workers’ intertwined rights to self-determination and to advocate for their own health and safety, this attack on these rights creates an ongoing threat to the health and safety of the general public.  For example, health care workers who are denied collective bargaining rights are less effective advocates for their patients than those who can be confident that if they speak up for patient safety their union will stand with them. Employers, pressured by intense market conditions, are endangering workers and the general public. Worker self-organization is one of the most powerful public health tools available, and it can produce immediate on-the-ground public health improvements. By example, unionized workers have already won agreements with employers that modify retail store conditions and health care facility standards that directly and immediately benefit the general public and the workers, resulting in immediate public health improvements.

Additional Information that would make workplaces safer for people working there and the general public:

• More worker whistleblowers than ever.

• We need workers to go home if they are sick more than ever.

• Workers in industries such as retail grocery and pharmacies are in fact first responders in our COVID-19 world, just as police, fire and healthcare workers are.  

• To make matters even worse, we have evidence of examples where employers (Florida and Washington State and New York)* refused to agree to mail balloting--in essence their veto of any election--when the Board was willing to conduct mail balloting just prior to the Board’s blanket postponement. In each of these examples, the employers refused to agree to mail ballots even as they scheduled mandatory, anti-union, captive audience meetings with workers. And this at a time when most local and state governments are strongly recommending, if not mandating, the elimination of people meeting together in confined spaces in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

 We Demand:

• Immediate rescheduling of all currently postponed RC elections; these to be conducted by mail ballot. These new elections ought to commence as early as practicable, but in no case later than April 1.

• Elimination of any previous rulemaking or precedent that requires employer agreement in order to conduct mail balloting.

• Development of new ways for workers to organize in workplaces, including voluntary recognition and other methods that are outside the traditional RC election model.

• If the Federal Government fails to restart NLRB elections immediately, then State Governments should proceed with elections.

• Consideration of any special new rules--given the new COVID-19 realities--intended to make certain that workers’ address information and other procedural details are conducive to conducting fair and democratic mail balloting.

• Immediate mandatory postings in all relevant workplaces of the intent to reschedule elections by mail balloting to inform workers that their democratic rights are being restored followed by subsequent postings indicating the date/time/particulars of all rescheduled union RC elections.

• Prohibition on all employer mandatory captive audience meetings. These meetings put workers and management alike in unsafe conditions. Also, given the new restrictions on union visiting workers’ residences due to COVID-19, the Board must immediately prohibit all captive audience meetings. Absent this, the union’s ability to communicate with workers is essentially eliminated while the employer anti-union activity would continue without any counter-balance.

• Special attention to all union-filed or worker-filed complaints relating to retaliation for workers advocating for workplace health and safety and public safety in the context of union elections and/or other NLRA-protected activity.

• Immediate staffing up of NLRB offices--remotely--in order to expedite the above matters.

Specific employers can be identified and interviews with union spokespeople can be arranged for reporters upon request.

Labor unions signing on include at the time of the release:

WA State Labor Council / MLK County Labor Council / AFT WA / WSNA / UFCW 21 / UFCW 4 / UFCW 365 / UFCW 1439 / UFCW 368a / UFCW 555 / UFCW 7 / Teamsters 38 / SEIU Local 49 / SEIU Local 503 / SEIU 925 / SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW / UNITE HERE Local 8 / PROTEC 17

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“I am so disappointed on Lourdes for not allowing us to have mail in ballot.

We have worked so hard to unify our departments and be ready for our election on April 2nd. We are not going to allowed them to take our right to organize. We want our union and our right to a say in our working conditions. With this Covid-19 Crisis our management can do better by us and allowing us to at least to vote. We need our job protections, our safety and fair wages. I work in Central Supply and we are losing hours since our department is not emergency care. With the Union we would be protected instead of at the mercy of Lourdes.” - Maria Hinojosa, Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco.

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“I’ve been working at Providence Centralia for over twenty years and really feel like we’re not being treated fairly anymore.

We don’t make what other people who work in similar positions make. We have had no cost of living raise in eight years. We don’t get step raises. We get merit raises, but it’s usually a small percentage that’s not nearly enough. They’re trying to shift our benefits to the state, which means taking away all our EIB (Extended Illness Bank) hours. And they just make changes to our jobs without consulting us. The last thing they did was take away one day each pay period for all HUCs, which was a big deal to us. And before that they cut HUC workers at night, which puts our patients in greater danger. If we’d had a union, I don’t think they would have been able to do those things. 

If we had somebody to back us, we’d be sitting in a different position. I don’t think it’s right that we’re not able to vote in the union right now. We’ve waited a long time for this, and I don’t think people should put it on the back burner. We’re motivated and want to act now. 

It’s time for us to be treated like we’re part of the business, not just people who are working there. It’s really hard to do our job. We should be supported and treated like we’re an important part of the team. We help make the hospital run. The nurses, who are union, get treated with respect. But those of us who aren’t unionized don't as much. That’s why it’s so important that we’re able to have a union election right now.” - Donita Letteer, Health Unit Coordinator, Providence Centralia 

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"I've worked at the Providence hospital in Centralia, Washington for 25 years. Providence used to be a good employer, providing lots of perks and very good benefits. However, lately they become less like a family, farming out lots of the jobs in HR, payroll, and administration. That means that there's no one left here on campus to actually care about the little guy such as myself.

So many of the things that made this a really great place to work are gone now. We used to have sick time so we didn't have to decide between taking a vacation with our family or taking care of our family and ourselves when we were sick, which leads to more people showing up to work sick and everyone else getting sick as well. We used to be able to work a holiday and take our holiday pay for a double time-and-a-half pay out, which made working a holiday not so bad. There was a time when we would get substantial raises. Now we're lucky to get one or one and a half percent, even if we've done exemplary work for the year. Even little employee enrichment things like scrub sales and book sales in the lobby are gone now.

I don't believe they really care about their small potatoes employees anymore. They're more interested in their corporate image and advancing their administration. If we do nothing, this is going to continue on a downward trend until things become unbearable. I believe that the union is the only way that we're going to be able to stand our ground and maybe even recoup a few benefits.

I would like to add that during the coronavirus crisis it has been easy to see how little they care about the problems we are going through. The schools are closed and there's nowhere to send our children, but we cannot stay home either. And if they get sick or we get sick, we're not allowed to use our extended illness bank (EIB). We still have to use our vacation time. I have noticed that many workers are struggling with this. If they had daycare before, they would have been using it now.  Some folks are in a real pickle. I don't see anyone in the administration trying to help with that or even acknowledging that it's a problem. They just chastise us if we use too much PPE equipment. It makes me wonder how much we are really worth to them. I think the answer is not much. Now they're telling us that we're going to have to take voluntary days off with no compensation unless we want to use our vacation. I think now more than ever we need the union to step in and help us with this. We have no recourse, no way to fight for ourselves, and it seems that we're getting stepped on more and more. I am writing to ask you to allow us to proceed with our union vote." -Diana Jennings, Mammography Technician, Providence Centralia

JOINT STATEMENT FROM SEIU HEALTHCARE 1199NW, WASHINGTON STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION AND UFCW 21 ON PROHIBITION OF LARGE EVENTS DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wed., March 11, 2020

CONTACT:

Amy Clark,
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW
amyc@seiu1199nw.org
425.306.2061

Ruth Schubert,
Washington State Nurses Association
rschubert@wsna.org 
206.713.7884

Sarah Cherin,
UFCW 21
scherin@ufcw21.org
206-436-6580

JOINT STATEMENT FROM SEIU HEALTHCARE 1199NW, WASHINGTON STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION AND UFCW 21 ON PROHIBITION OF LARGE EVENTS DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK

As nurses and healthcare workers providing essential care to patients in hospitals, clinics, and housing and shelters across Washington state, we applaud Gov. Jay Inslee and the leaders of King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties for taking the necessary step of limiting large gatherings during this stage of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Prohibiting events is a common-sense measure that will help protect our community members from the novel coronavirus.

This measure will also help frontline health care workers and our health care system as a whole effectively respond to this crisis by “flattening the curve” of coronavirus patients seeking care. As health care workers on the front lines of responding to this public health emergency, we support all efforts to reduce the impact on our ability to provide care by lowering the daily number of patients coming into a system that is already stressed by the growing number of COVID-19 patients.

We understand that state and local governments and public health agencies are responding proactively to the existing risks created by this new disease in an effort to minimize those risks and keep our healthcare delivery system accessible to all who may need it.

In our role as caregivers, we are often called on to tell patients the truth about their health. The truth we want our community to hear is this: Social distancing, like that enforced by the measure announced today, is one of the very best ways to prevent the spread of epidemic illness. This temporary change in behavior will help protect all of us from the spread of COVID-19, as well as from cold and flu illnesses common during this time of year.

The most vulnerable COVID-19 patients—those age 60 or older or with underlying health conditions—may need intensive hospital care, and it is essential that we preserve hospital intensive and critical care beds for those most vulnerable patients. Social distancing is a public health measure that will help prevent our health system from being overwhelmed, and will make it easier for anyone with the novel coronavirus to access necessary hospital care.

As nurses and health care workers, we care deeply for our patients and take pride in the roles we play on the front lines of patient care, particularly during a time of heightened concern for community health. Our continued safety during this outbreak is critical to our ability to continue to provide quality patient care. We continue to call on the CDC to proactively and effectively target the supply of respirators and use other controls to reduce the risk of infection in health care workers, knowing that our professionals are at the highest risk of infection. We will continue to work closely with health care employers and with federal and local public health agencies to ensure all caregivers have access to the highest level of personal protective equipment available so we can continue to provide the high-quality health care our communities require.

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About SEIU Healthcare 1199NW
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is a union of nurses and healthcare workers with over 30,000 caregivers throughout hospitals, clinics, mental health, skilled home health and hospice programs in Washington state and Montana. SEIU Healthcare 1199NW’s mission is to advocate for quality care and good jobs for all.

About WSNA 
WSNA is the leading voice and advocate for nurses in Washington state, providing representation, education and resources that allow nurses to reach their full professional potential and focus on caring for patients. WSNA represents more than 17,000 registered nurses for collective bargaining who provide care in hospitals, clinics, schools and community and public health settings across the state. 

About UFCW 21 
UFCW 21 is working to build a powerful union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and our communities. We represent over 45,000 workers in retail, grocery stores, health care, and other industries in Washington state.