Grocery workers’ union gives 72-hour strike notice

7:29 PM: This means a strike could happen as soon as Monday night for union workers at Safeway, QFC, Albertsons, Fred Meyer. This does NOT involve all union grocery workers in our area – those chains have not reached a contract agreement; other stores have separate contracts in effect. The unions that just gave the chains 72 hours’ notice say they’ll brief the media at 9 pm; we’ll add more info to this story when that happens.

1 AM: The 9 pm briefing was at Westlake downtown, where the potential strikers unveiled a big countdown clock. Here’s an update from our partners at The Seattle Times.

Ex-Westwood Resident October 18, 2013 (9:12 pm)

Time to hit Safeway and drop an application in for a part-time job!!!

lux October 18, 2013 (10:02 pm)

You should wait until the strike has ended.

You’ll make more money.

D. Bee Cooper October 18, 2013 (10:14 pm)

~ Grocery Outlet ~ is less expensive than Safeway. And -NO- “Club Card” needed; or 1950’s dress code.

Justin Massie October 18, 2013 (10:23 pm)

Thanks guys just got hiried temporarily cuz you idiots decided to stand in the cold with a wood stick rather then make a pay check

Mike October 18, 2013 (10:25 pm)

I will honor picket lines.

zipline October 18, 2013 (10:26 pm)

Why do people bring their pet dogs into supermarkets?

D. Bee Cooper October 18, 2013 (10:33 pm)

~ Grocery Outlet ~ is less expensive than Safeway. (!) Gocery Outlet has NEVER needed a “Club Card” (or a pavlovian “Balance Rewards” Card) to give a low price to an anonymous comsumer.
Washington State needs more no-nonsense distributors like Grocery Outlet and less delusional corporate pirates like Safeway/QFC/Walgreens.

miws October 18, 2013 (11:09 pm)

Won’t be a tough call for me, I’ll continue to do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Thriftway, just as I do now.

Mike

Granger October 18, 2013 (11:43 pm)

If you are not being treated fairly, if you are worth more than you are getting paid;; prove it. Go work for someone who will pay you what you ARE worth. Sheesh.

charlabob October 19, 2013 (12:03 am)

We will honor picket lines as well.

JanS October 19, 2013 (12:50 am)

I’m torn…I have yet to find out if this will affect the pharmacists. I get quite a few prescriptions from the Safeway Pharmacy (after kidney transplant). I will otherwise get my groceries at other stores.

WSB October 19, 2013 (12:57 am)

I suspect the pharmacies are involved, given this page on the union website:
.
http://standwithourcheckers.com/uncategorized/alternative-pharmacies-king-county/

CandrewB October 19, 2013 (7:45 am)

Tway must treat their employees pretty well. Many have been there as long as I have been here (2002) and most (except for two) seem happy to be there.

Mike October 19, 2013 (8:45 am)

Don’t blame the workers, blame the union. If I remember correctly, when I had signed a union contract as a high school student working for Larry’s Markets, they stated I could be fired for crossing a picket line to go to work. When you are part of a union, you work for two businesses, the one where you physically work and also the union mafia. You pay the mafia to ‘protect’ you. What you really are doing is paying the mafia to bully a company that’s already paying higher than minimum wage into paying more so you can pay the union more. Each paycheck a large chunk goes to the mafia. If you work as a high school student, you receive no medical, vision, dental or vacation time benefits, yet you pay the same % of your paycheck for union dues as those that do ‘benefit’ from the mafia’s agreements with the company you work at. Best part was when I left the mafia/grocery industry and worked for an automotive salvage yard I made 30% more on each paycheck as a college student.

flimflam October 19, 2013 (8:51 am)

I think cahiers and stockboys should make AT LEAST 50k to start, with a free hybrid car to get them to and from work.

trickycoolj October 19, 2013 (9:10 am)

I already shop at TJs, but they won’t be able to handle an influx of new shoppers. TJs regularly runs out of basic items on Sunday and Monday. I think I’ll take this opportunity to try Amazon Fresh. I used it once while quarantined with swine flu, a little more expensive for a single person but less impulsive grabs from “pretty” displays. Dang those Halloween Joe-Joe cookies!

sc October 19, 2013 (9:14 am)

We will honor picket lines as well.

And Justin, please remember

“Unions, the people who gave you the weekends!”

sc October 19, 2013 (9:19 am)

Justin

“Unions, the people who gave you the weekends”

My husband and I will also not cross picket lines.

VanillaGorilla October 19, 2013 (9:36 am)

will not cross the picket line!! looks like all be shopping @costco and tjs next week

Mike October 19, 2013 (9:57 am)

Any reason my previous comment was removed? Nothing offensive, nothing but facts. Did I break some rules? I’d like to know.

thanks

WSB October 19, 2013 (9:59 am)

This thread has not had any comments declined for publication approval. If you’re not seeing something, try again, might have gone to the spam filter (which is automated and does sometimes grab bonafide comments among the hundreds of spams that flood in hourly).

Mike October 19, 2013 (9:59 am)

“Unions, the people who gave you the weekends!” that’s why the Port of Seattle and Grocery stores are closed on weekends… oh…nope.

Millertime October 19, 2013 (10:28 am)

Did you know that labor unions made the following 36 things possible?

1.Weekends without work
2.All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks
3.Paid vacation
4.Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
5.Sick leave
6.Social Security
7.Minimum wage
8.Civil Rights Act/Title VII – prohibits employer discrimination
9.8-hour work day
10.Overtime pay
11.Child labor laws
12.Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
13.40-hour work week
14.Workers’ compensation (workers’ comp)
15.Unemployment insurance
16.Pensions
17.Workplace safety standards and regulations
18.Employer health care insurance
19.Collective bargaining rights for employees
20.Wrongful termination laws
21.Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
22.Whistleblower protection laws
23.Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) – prohibits employers from using a lie detector test on an employee
24.Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS)
25.Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises)
26.Sexual harassment laws
27.Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
28.Holiday pay
29.Employer dental, life, and vision insurance
30.Privacy rights
31.Pregnancy and parental leave
32.Military leave
33.The right to strike
34.Public education for children
35.Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 – requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work
36.Laws ending sweatshops in the United States

Did you know that Wisconsin repealed equal pay for men and women? That is what anti-union groups do- hurt the working people of America.

AJP October 19, 2013 (10:35 am)

I was at Albertsons last week and my checker was talking to the lady in the line in front of me. The checker was really upset about the strike, she didn’t want it to happen. There has been a lot of good from unions, and a lot of bad, too.

Westside Mom October 19, 2013 (11:25 am)

My family will not cross picket lines. Good luck to the strikers!

Kitty October 19, 2013 (11:58 am)

Yup, totally honoring the picket lines if it comes to that.

sc October 19, 2013 (12:04 pm)

Millertime – Thanks for the list

Mike – My grandfather worked in the mines in Butte, Montana before and after unions. He remembered when the 8 hour work day became law. He also talked about people being fired just because the boss didn’t like the way a person looked. Oh, and he also showed me where the company “goons” hung the union organizer from the train trestle. The murder was never solved.

Many people take work benefits for granted but they were not freely given, they were negotiated for and earned.

elikapeka October 19, 2013 (12:19 pm)

“Unions, the people who gave you the weekends!” that’s why the Port of Seattle and Grocery stores are closed on weekends… oh…nope.”

Oh….yes. That’s a silly and simplistic response. Plenty of businesses are open on weekends, but those workers get two days off elsewhere in the week. Sheesh.

No crossing picket lines in our family.

PSPS October 19, 2013 (3:50 pm)

It’s somewhat sad that any story like this generates predictable anti-worker and anti-“union” screeds. Well, we can’t have the working class get too comfortable lest they get uppity, right?

Steven A Burd CEO Safeway
2012 income = 7.75 million
Last 5 years income = 84.5 million

David B Dillon CEO Kroger (QFC/Fred Meyer)
2012 income = 4.04 million
Last 5 years income = 23.7 million

Cindy Lou Who October 19, 2013 (4:21 pm)

Time to dust off “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair.

Jeff October 19, 2013 (4:23 pm)

If both those men gave up their entire salary and divided it among all the workers, Safeway workers would get an extra $44 a year. Kroger an extra $12 a year. So those numbers don’t seem particularly relevant.

Ex-Westwood Resident October 19, 2013 (6:03 pm)

Save me your “Pro-Union” platitudes. If you REALLY looked at what unions have become, maybe you wouldn’t be so blind about them.
The UFCW 21, IBT 38 and UFCW 367 have a “button” out that on the top states “30,000 Grocery Store Workers.”
WOW!!!! 30,000 members.
Lets look at some numbers since PSPS was kind enough to list the salaries of the CEOs of the threatened stores.
Say the union dues are $35.00 for a two week pay period (that’s what they are for the union where I work – and NO I am not a member), some unions dues are less, but I’m willing to bet that it’s actually more than the $35.00 I’m assuming it to be.
$35.00 for two weeks works out to $910.00 per year
$910.00 per year works out to $27,300,000.00 PER YEAR COLLECTED FROM THEIR MEMBERSHIP of 30,000.
I wonder how much the striking workers will get from the strike fund?”
Will it equate to the amount they “contributed” over the years?
Will it be enough to cover their pay while they aren’t working?
IIRC, the last time there was a strike was in 1989, 24 years ago.
That means a worker “contributed” $21,840, assuming they have worked there for the whole time.
The unions have collected a WHOPPING $583.2 MILLION during the same time frame
How much of the $27,300,000.00 goes toward the salary of the Union leadership? Will the leadership also cut their salary to match their members while they are on strike?
When was the last time the leadership ACTUALLY worked in jobs of the people they are supposed to represent; if ever?
How much of that $27.3 MILLION is spent on political contributions? Instead of going BACK to the members when there is a strike.
People need to open their eyes to what unions have become.
Once they actually cared about their members and worked to better their conditions, but it has been awhile since that has been the case.
These days all the unions care about is POWER and MONEY.
You would think that if they collect $27.3 MILLION per year, the union could offer Healthcare to their members, no matter how many hours they work, as long as they are members in good standing.
Note…This is a generality that I am throwing out there, I fully realize that not all unions are alike.

JoB October 19, 2013 (10:44 pm)

you can cross the picket lines if you want to
to work or to shop…

i won’t.
i politely explained that to my favorite QFC manager last week.
i shop there because of the service provided by the employees going out on strike.

anonyme October 20, 2013 (6:50 am)

Millertime: right on.

I won’t be crossing any picket lines.

Millertime October 20, 2013 (10:08 am)

Ex-Westwood Resident,

I appreciate you acknowledging that not all unions are the same. I am a union representative, putting in 20-30 hours per week on behalf of my members. I also do the job full time and that will never change. I make less than minumum wage as a union representative, but I have a strong belief in sticking my neck out for my brothers and sisters.

I wanted to address a few of your points. The union member who pays $35 every two weeks (I don’t know what a Safeway/QFC employee pays) is making that money back in wages and benefits if compared to a non-union counterpart at Walmart. And remember the employee at Walmart can be fired for any reason.

Union provided healthcare- $35 every two weeks, or $910 per year, is enough money to buy what, 1 month of health insurance? It is not feasible to buy insurance for $35 every two weeks.

Political Contributions- My union, and many unions do not give union dues to canditates. We have voluntary funds that members can contribute to. I don’t know about UFCW. Maybe someone with more information can comment.

Where does all the money go?-
Picnics and events that union members get to bring their families to. Education and training for union representatives so they can be competent in representation of members, legal costs for representing members, monthly rent of a union hall, just to name a few.

The vast majority of union dues goes to education and legal fees. Federal law stipulates that union representives shall fairly represent members whose contractual rights have been violated. If union reps do not fairly represent these members, then the reps themselves can be held accountable in the court of law. Yes, if I don’t do a good job of representing a member of my union, I can be sued and lose everything I have. This is the law. Therefore, unions educate their elected leaders so they are competent, and unions spend money on legal fees so as to properly represent members. Thanks for your time.