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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We Continue Our Fight Against the Kroger/Albertsons Merger as the FTC Trial Enters Final Week, More Trials to Follow

UFCW 324 Members' Rally Was Covered on ABC 7 in LA September 13, 2024

Dear Grocery Store Members,

Since the trial of the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit to stop the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons began on August 26, workers have been at the courthouse, talking to the media, and talking to customers about how damaging this would be for workers, customers, and our communities. We've been doing this work for nearly two years and we'll continue to do it until we finally put a stop to this disastrous merger.

The federal court case is expected to conclude on Tuesday, September 17, and the judge could make a decision on whether or not to approve the FTC's request for what is called a "preliminary injunction" as early as the first week of October. If the injunction is granted, the merger would be put on hold until after a full court case on the merits of the merger is done.

Meanwhile, on Monday, September 16, the Washington State Attorney General's lawsuit to block the merger will begin its trial in Seattle. The Colorado Attorney General's lawsuit to block the merger is scheduled to start on September 30.

The outspoken work of grocery store members and our community partners, as well as many enforcement agencies like the FTC and Attorneys General, have all been central to the successful efforts so far to stop the proposed mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons.
 

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Kroger's Q2 Earnings Call

Kroger held its 2nd quarter earnings call on Thursday, September 12, and it showed what we've been saying all along: Kroger is doing just fine, and doesn't need this merger to compete. Same store sales were up 1.2% (higher than expected) and the company pointed to higher online sales and increased loyalty households as drivers of stronger sales and growing private label brands as a driver of increased profitability. Notably, these areas—ecommerce capacity, customer loyalty and private label manufacturing—are ones that C&S Wholesale Grocery (the proposed buyer of 579 divested stores if a merger were allowed) lacks, underscoring concerns that C&S would not be able to operate those stores in a sustainable way.

Kroger also discussed strong profits in the pharmacy sector and acknowledged pharmacies as a leading cause of loyalty. We've pointed out time and time again that C&S has little to no experience managing pharmacies that are a lifeline to our communities.

Also of note, company officials claimed that shrink (the loss from theft or other causes) has been improving, though is still elevated, and that OSHA incident rates are currently at record lows. Members, who actually work in the stores, paint a very different picture of understaffed stores with high rates of shoplifting rates and significant health and safety risks.
 

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In the News

UFCW Locals 7, 324, 400, 770, 1564, and 3000 have held press conferences, store actions, webinars and interviews to raise our concerns to the public through more than a thousand media stories from coast to coast since the very first day Kroger and Albertsons announced their proposed plan to merge. Time and again grocery store workers, sharing their experiences, have proven to be a critical part of those news stories.

Most recently, several stories around the FTC trial have been noteworthy:
 

• Stop the Merger Rally of UFCW 324 highlighted on ABC 7 in California
• NPR - All Things Considered - Shoppers and workers that stand to be affected by a Kroger-Albertsons merger weigh in
• New York Times: A Trial Asks: If Grocery Rivals Merge, Do Workers Suffer? - Front page of the Business section
• Reuters: Surging grocery prices in focus as US tries to stop Kroger deal
• AP: Kroger and Albertsons defend merger plan in federal court against US regulators' objections
• Cincinnati Enquirer: Deleted texts, grocery prices: CEOs testify in Kroger-Albertsons merger case

You can find more of the most recent news coverage on the Stop the Merger website news page >>

Protecting the jobs and collective bargaining strength of union workers and keeping choice and price competition for our customers are key reasons for our long-standing and loud opposition to the proposed merger. We recently launched a Stop the Merger customer petition to continue to build public support that has already garnered thousands of signatures! Please help spread the word about our petition by sharing www.nogrocerymerger.com/petition.

We hear from customers all over the country that Kroger and Albertsons' proposed mega-merger threatens our communities with store closures, food and pharmacy deserts, thousands of laid-off unionized grocery store workers, and higher prices.

You can take action by encouraging your co-workers, family members, fellow shoppers, friends, and others in the community to sign the petition to show Kroger and Albertson that they are opposed to this disastrous proposal.

Sign and share the petition >>

In solidarity,
The Stop the Merger Coalition

Telephone Town Hall Call: Stop the Mega-Merger Update

On Monday, September 9 please join us at 5:30PM for a live telephone town hall on the topic of Kroger and Albertsons’ proposed mega merger and our ongoing efforts to stop it.

Despite what the companies are saying, this proposed merger threatens lay-offs, store closures, and higher prices as well as undercuts our strength in collective bargaining negotiations.

During the call, we will take members’ questions live on the topic of the proposed merger, discuss the ongoing federal court trial taking place in Portland regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit to block it, as well as prepare for a rally in Seattle the first day of the trail by our Attorney General to block the merger on September 16.

We will plan to call you at 5:30PM on Monday, just answer the phone and you will join us.

If, for some reason you don’t receive a call by 5:35pm, or get disconnected during the call, you can join us by dialing directly: 888-652-0384 And enter meeting ID 8143.

Grocery East Tentative Agreement Reached!

Member Bargaining Committee recommends a YES vote! 

After months of strike preparation, store actions, and long negotiation sessions, our member bargaining committee reached a fully recommended tentative agreement with Safeway/Albertsons and Kroger on a new contract. This agreement has dramatic gains for Eastern Washington, Oregon, and historic gains for unionized grocery stores in Idaho.

“This is the most money I thought I'd ever see coming out of Kroger. The pressure we applied across all our stores was amazing! I am feeling amazed!” - Katriana Keffer, Fred Meyer

The agreement includes: 

• Higher wages that will address pay equity across departments 

• Rights that will ensure a safer store 

• Pension improvements

• ​Investments in workforce development and training

• And more!

This tentative agreement is not final until we vote on it. Full details of the agreement will be available at the contract vote Thursday, May 2 where members of the bargaining committee will be available to help answer questions and walk us through the agreement. 

Contract Votes for Spokane Albertsons Meat, Spokane Albertsons Grocery, Spokane Safeway Meat, Spokane Safeway Grocery, Spokane Fred Meyer Meat, Spokane Fred Meyer Grocery, Spokane Fred Meyer CCK: Thursday, May 2, 2024 from 9am-12pm and 3pm-7pm at the Spokane DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center, 322 N Spokane Falls Ct, Spokane WA 99201 - All other grocery contracts will vote at a later date.

“I feel really, really good about what we are finally getting from these employers! We broke through some big barriers in this agreement. The gains to our retirement plan felt like we were finally being listened to -we can actually retire!” -Frankie Roesser Safeway

“It’s not what everybody wants, it’s not the moon but I am really excited for my coworkers who worked for year in the Deli, my coworkers will get wage increases that they deserve. Hopefully this will help make sure we can keep people here in the store.” -Jeff Yergens, Safeway