Looks like no grocery-workers strike: Tentative agreement reached

Just got the message from UFCW 21‘s Tom Geiger:

Tentative agreement reached between Allied Employers and UFCW 21, UFCW 81, and Teamsters 38. Details of the agreement will not be released until after the grocery store workers’ vote on the offer has been concluded.

Allied Employers is the representative of QFC, Safeway, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer, whose workers’ last contract expired in March. The workers voted to authorize a strike, but negotiations continued; the latest round was set for this past Thursday-Friday, but continued into Saturday, and Geiger’s note indicates the deal was reached very late Saturday night. 6:26 AM NOTE: No word so far on when the workers will vote.

CitizenR November 21, 2010 (4:36 am)

Good! In more ways then one!

coffee November 21, 2010 (1:34 pm)

I am sure that with the new agreement will come higher prices, the stores will have to make up the difference someplace….

Baba November 21, 2010 (1:55 pm)

What is wrong with paying higher prices if it helps your fellow citizens to stay employed and other stuff?

Sage November 21, 2010 (1:57 pm)

@coffee — The grocery stores can make up the difference through a smaller profit too. The companies are plenty profitable.

Chuck November 21, 2010 (2:37 pm)

I am a grocery worker. The new agreement will not mean higher prices. We were all aware we were going to get pay cuts, it was just a matter of how much. And for those who say that grocery workers are lucky to have jobs, go in to any Safeway store and as long as you are willing to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, New Years Day, (all for minimum wage), and be able to work any hour of the day with no guarantee of any hours, they will hire you. In a few months, you will be able to get some benefits and then by Easter you will eligible to get paid minimum wage plus one dollar!!! You’ll be required to work all holidays and maybe your child’s birthday. You will never know because the schedule for the upcoming week (Sun – Sat) is posted on the evening on Thursday. You can’t schedule doctor appointments or family outings. You can request a day or a time off but it is only requests. You might be scheduled morning, evening, and graveyard shifts in the same week. And if you are sick and you need the money, you’d better come on in anyways because you don’t get sick pay until the 3rd day.
You can apply online at Safeway.com We’ll be waiting for you.

charlabob November 21, 2010 (2:54 pm)

Thanks, Chuck — not that I think your description will matter — reality is not the sandwich the “let ’em eat cake” generation ordered. But as long as we don’t have “class warfare” we’re in great shape.

Baba November 21, 2010 (6:32 pm)

charlabob,
I find your last sentence absolutely true. I really feel this way( without your sarcasm). There is so much talk about top 2% rich, CEO’s salaries etc nowadays. But, think about it, there are NO precedents in history when rich and powerful gave it all up, or a big chunk of it, voluntarily. It’s utopian thinking! What are you advocating then? Revolution? War? Do you have any idea what that entails or those are just words to you?
.
I personally will gladly accept this horrible @Chuck’s world, then be living in the Mad Max world!!!

Lorelee November 21, 2010 (9:05 pm)

Chuck- your worklife sounds brutal. Minimum wage is not enough for you all and you (at least) deserve more respect from your employer in regards to scheduling. I’m done with these chain groceries. I’ll continue to shop at PCC – a business that cares about the community, farmers and our environment.

Gary November 21, 2010 (9:42 pm)

A friend of mine is a driver for Safeway and makes great money. He started at the bottom like everyone else, had many positions within the company before he eventually landed the driver gig. You gotta start some where then work your way up.

I also know some guys from the distribution center in Auburn, they are making way-above min. wage, you will work your way up grasshopper…

Danimal November 22, 2010 (4:56 am)

Wake up people! We are all paying for what we get. If the union employees didn’t negotiate with the companies to pay them a living wage with benefits that help them and their families healthy, you the taxpayer would be paying for it.
The alternative is the Walmart business model, where most of their employees are receiving some sort of welfare.
I have worked at Safeway for 12 years and have been able to take care of my wife, who also works, and daughter through sickness and health. But I see the end of this for the fellow employees starting in the last few years. A checker starts at $8.65 an hour and they are lucky if they get scheduled 28 hours. Raises are based of hours worked and it takes 7800 hour to the top wage. Already this welfare change is happening at my store where a few new checkers are receiving WIC or food stamps supplementing their paycheck.

Bottom line is that we the people are going to be paying, either through the checkstand or at the end of the year with taxes. It is your choice.

redblack November 22, 2010 (5:45 am)

if i may, what is union scale for checkers and baggers now?

Chuck November 22, 2010 (5:19 pm)

Thanks for asking redblack. Checkers and baggers (courtesy clerks) both start out at minimum wage plus something like 10 or 20 cents. For checkers it goes up to something like $17 or $18 an hour if you’ve been there forever. I’m not sure of the wages exactly but you can go into any Safeway and ask the hiring person. I asked all the checkers I saw today and one was making $18ish, one was making $12ish and the other 7 made less than $10 per hour. All the baggers made less than $9.

I know that times are tough and it is tough to get a good job. We understand that some people think that we are a__ holes for even thinking about going on strike. People say that we are lucky to be working and we are. I just want to make a couple points.

If you need a job, and you are willing to work the holidays, weekends, nights, graveyards, mornings, mid day shifts, (and that does vary day to day) and you are willing to work anywhere from 0 to 40 hours a week (and that does vary from week to week), and you are willing to work for minimum wage with no benefits at all for the first few months, seriously, go to any Safeway and they will hire you. It’s not that there aren’t jobs out there, it’s that there aren’t jobs out there that people want.

Secondly, the employees “threatened” to strike. We were hoping it didn’t come to that but we were negotiating. Safeway was trying pay some employees minimum wage on some holidays. (New employees do work minimum wage on holidays for the first few months). Safeway probably didn’t think the union would go for it but they were negotiating. If we didn’t threaten a strike, then we could be working holidays for minimum wage. Hell, for all I know, that could be in the tentative agreement.

Sorry to ramble. I hope this helped. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Yes, I will be working it and I am glad to have a job but like most of you, I would rather be home with my family.

Sorry, comment time is over.