Grocery Store Worker Contract Negotiations Update & Vote Notice: Tentative Agreement Reached with Kroger

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After months of preparation and workers taking action, marathon bargaining sessions have now led to a Tentative Agreement with Kroger, in addition to the tentative agreement reached with Albertsons/Safeway last week. This historic agreement with Kroger, reached at 9:15 pm today, April 19, is a direct result of our actions and commitment to fighting for essential frontline grocery store workers and serving the communities in which we live, both during and long before COVID.

Our Union Member Bargaining Team reached these Tentative Agreements and recommends a YES VOTE to accept the proposal from the employers.

“This contract is a historic deal. No one in this region has seen wage increases like this ever and it will go a long way to address inequities in Fred Meyer stores.”
— Jeff Smith, Fred Meyer
“I’m very excited about this agreement. It is the best contract in my career. Come to the vote meetings to see the details and vote!”
— Amy Dayley, QFC

Essential grocery store workers from UFCW in Colorado, California and now here in our State of Washington are gaining some of the respect, pay and protections we deserve.

Active members are eligible to vote at whichever location is most convenient, during any time when polling is open. Drop by any time during the voting time, review the Tentative Agreement, get your questions answered, and then vote.

These votes are open to all active members of UFCW 3000 Grocery Store Workers in King, Snohomish, Kitsap, Mason, and Thurston Counties at the big chains (Safeway, Albertsons, Fred Meyer and QFC) and independent stores covered by this Tentative Agreement.

VOTE MEETINGS

All vote meetings will be open between the hours of 8:00 AM - 12 Noon, and 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM.

Monday 4/25 LYNNWOOD: Lynnwood Convention Center, Rooms 1DEF, 3711 196th St SW, Lynnwood (8am–12pm & 4pm–8pm)

  • Tuesday 4/26 SEATAC: Hilton Seatac, Emerald Ballroom, 17620 International Blvd, SeaTac (8am–12pm & 4pm–8pm)

  • Wednesday 4/27 BELLEVUE: Meydenbauer Center, Rooms 404-406, 11100 NE 6th St, Bellevue (8am–12pm & 4pm–8pm)

  • Thursday 4/28 BREMERTON: Kitsap Conference Center, Puget Sound Ballrooms C&D, 100 Washington Ave, Bremerton (8am–12pm & 4pm–8pm)

  • Thursday 4/28 OLYMPIA: The Olympia Center Room 208, 222 Columbia St NW, Olympia (8am–12pm & 4pm–8pm)

NOTE: The informational pickets scheduled for Tuesday, 4/26 have been cancelled.

OUR UNION NEGOTIATIONS TEAM:

Ames Reinhold, Metropolitan Market
Amy Dayley Angell, QFC
Aaron Streepy, Attorney
Cliff Powers, Safeway
Caprii Nakihei, Safeway
Cosmo Villini, Safeway
Eric Renner, UFCW 3000
Enrique Romero, Fred Meyer
Suzi Geffre, Fred Meyer
Faye Guenther, UFCW 3000 President
Jeff Smith, Fred Meyer
J’Nee DeLancey, Town & Country
Joanna Clapham, Fred Meyer
Joe Mizrahi, UFCW 3000 Secretary Treasurer
Kevin Flynn, Albertsons
Kyong Barry, Albertsons
Maggie Breshears, Fred Meyer
Naomi Oligario, Safeway
Roger Yanez, QFC
Sam Dancy, QFC
Sam Kantak, Teamsters 38 Secretary Treasurer
Shawn Hayenga, Metropolitan Market
Tammi Brady, Teamsters 38 President
Wil Peterson, Fred Meyer

Get to know your Negotiations Team! >>

2022 Grocery Store Worker Negotiations Kick-Off Telephone Town Hall Call

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Join the 2022 Grocery Store Worker Negotiations Kick Off Telephone Town Hall Call

On Monday, November 8 @ 7PM, we’ll call you!

If you get disconnected or want to to join the call dial 1-866-304-0619 and enter Meeting ID 6395. Keep your personal contact information up-to-date with our union and make sure you know your rights and receive important bargaining updates.

On the Call we will discuss the negotiation process, how members can get involved, our unity work with other locals across the region - over 100,000 grocery store workers strong, and answer questions from members!

This year, we bring our Grocery Store Negotiations Kick-Off to each of our 200+ union stores as part of our strategy to get as many members involved, informed, and activated as possible! 

Grocery Store Workers have continued to show up for our customers and communities through some of the hardest conditions and circumstances imaginable. It’s time to celebrate our dedication to each other and kick-off this negotiation cycle united and strong! Look out for fellow union members, leaders, and Reps handing out buttons, union swag, bargaining information, and taking pictures in workplaces the week of November 8-12. It’s time for our employers to Respect, Protect, and Pay essential grocery store workers! 

Prepared & Ready

Preparations for next year’s contract negotiations start now. Union grocery store workers are more involved and active than ever before as we partner with Teamsters Local 38 here in Washington and other UFCW locals across the Western U.S. Together we are the power of over 100,000 grocery store workers.

telephone town hall call - introduction to the 2022 grocery negotiation

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As a union grocery store member if UFCW 21 you get to have a voice about your wages, benefits, workplace safety, scheduling and more. We have a contract, a signed and legally binding document with your employer that governs most of this. And every three years we get to renegotiate that contract and have the opportunity to make improvements.

On Monday, October 4th we will be holding a live Telephone Town Hall to update everyone on the basics of this process that will be happening in 2022 but has already begun with many thousands of you filling out surveys to say what is most important to you.

Hope you can join us on Monday at 7 pm to find out more. Informed and active members in the workplace allow our union to negotiate for protecting our high quality, low cost health care, secure our retirement pension, and push for improved wages and workplace safety training, adequate staffing on the schedule and more.

The call is at 7 pm Monday 10/4

We will call you, all you need to do is answer to join the Town Hall call

if for some reason we miss you or call does not come through, you can call in at: 1-888-652-0386 and enter Meeting ID: 6333

Grocery Store Member Bargaining Team Meets

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Grocery Store Member Bargaining Team Meets

Contract Negotiations to Begin on March 12th

Our Union member bargaining team gathered this week to make final preparations for the 1st bargaining session with our employers in the upcoming contract negotiations that will begin in March.  These negotiations are our opportunity to improve and protect our wages, benefits and working conditions. Work over many months, meetings with members, getting a record number of member surveys, and holding a great kick off with leaders from stores across the region have all helped to pull together a strong bargaining team and to prepare a series of our initial proposals to improve our jobs in our union grocery stores. UFCW 21 and Teamsters 38 will be negotiating together again this year. The bargaining team is made up of members from across the region and from all banners, as well as a diverse representation of various departments, experience levels, and each of the contracts that will be renegotiated.

Actions:

You are all invited to join a live Telephone Town Hall on the evening of March 12th and we will relay what happened on the first day of bargaining and answer member questions. You will receive a phone call in advance with details.

Meet Your Grocery Store Bargaining Team:

Amy Dayley Angell, QFC #891 (Ballard), Front End Checker

Cassy Wolle, Fred Meyer - Port Orchard #655 (Grocery), CCK Checker

Scott Shiflett, QFC #838 (Inglewood), Meat Cutter

Christina Harris, Fred Meyer - Lake City #179 (Grocery), Bakery Clerk

Cliff Powers, Safeway #402 (Oak Harbor), Produce Clerk

Eleanor Knight, Albertsons #4483 (Auburn), 4th PIC

Irene Garcia, Fred Meyer - Auburn #19 (Retail), Home Clerk

Jeannette Randall, Safeway #1923 (Roxbury), Front End Checker

Jeff Smith, Fred Meyer - Snohomish #681 (Retail), Non-food receiving Clerk

J'Nee DeLancey, Town & Country #211 (Ballard), Beer/Wine Manager

Jordan Washington, QFC #803 (Meridian), Deli Clerk

Kyong Barry, Albertsons #483 (S Auburn), Front End Supervisor

Maggie Breshears, Fred Meyer - Greenwood #122 (Grocery), Personal Shopper

Maroot Nanakul, Safeway #464 (Bear Creek), Front End Checker

Michaela Strain, QFC #819 (Bothell), Meat Wrapper

Paul Ames Reinhold, Metropolitan Market #157 (Uptown), Cheese Kiosk Clerk

Richard Waits, Haggen #15 (Burlington), Deli Clerk

Robin Hillistad, QFC #858 (N Seattle), HR Specialist

Sam Dancy, QFC #825 (Westwood Village), Front End Supervisor

Sue Wilmot, Safeway #1252 (Bainbridge Island), Front End Checker

Wendy Garrett-Drake, Albertsons #469 (Mukilteo), Personnel Coordinator/Bookkeeper

Wil Peterson, Fred Meyer - Everett #95 (Grocery), CCK Checker

Todd Crosby, President, UFCW 21

Faye Guenther Secretary Treasurer, UFCW 21

Steve Chandler, Principal Officer Teamsters 38

Joe Mizrahi, Staff Director, UFCW 21

Mia Contreras, Executive Vice President, UFCW 21

Tammi Brady, Recording Secretary, Teamsters 38

Samantha Kantak, Executive Assistant, Teamsters 38

Jim McGuinness, Attorney, UFCW 21 and Teamsters 38

Members Approve New Contract

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UFCW 21   -  UFCW 367  -  Teamsters 38

For 1st Time in 15 Years, Grocery Store Workers Pass New Contract Before Expiration:
Includes Better Wages, Protects Health Plan, Shores up Pension, and More 

For the first time in fifteen years, grocery store workers in the Puget Sound area and the big national chains reached a tentative agreement before expiration of their contract. This new contract protects the health plan, shores up pension funding, and improves wages and working conditions. Grocery store workers have been active in pushing for stronger contracts in negotiations, taking actions to pass higher minimum wage and paid sick leave, and protecting their union grocery jobs from expansion efforts of non-union grocers. In addition, these workers have deepened partnerships with scores of community organizations committed to our shared vision for a better Puget Sound region.

The week of vote meetings concluded last night. The new contract, passed by a strong majority of members, includes the following:

  • Increased funding by employers to maintain workers’ high quality low cost health plan.
  • The opportunity to earn higher wages through transfer and promotion rights and 3 years of wage increases for those at the top of the wage scales.
  • Continue to guarantee raises above the current minimum wage on the wage scales to ensure raises for workers coming up the scale.
  •  Substantially increased funding to continue to secure the pension plan for the future.

Another part of our 2016 plan to “Rise Together” is to pass I-1433, the higher statewide Minimum Wage and Paid Sick and Leave law. This initiative campaign will phase in a higher minimum wage to $13.50 over four years and provide up to 7 days of Paid Sick Leave. UFCW 21, 367 and Teamsters 38 are all supporting this effort.

“This contract is a big step forward toward a better life for thousands of workers in our region,” said Ariana Davis, a Safeway worker from Renton. “We have been able to protect our health benefits, secure our retirement, and make many other improvements to pass our new contract before it expires. We hope this sets a new tone for negotiations in future years. As workers who have been taking action since the last negotiation in 2013, we will continue to take action together between now and our next bargain."

Grocery Bargain CONTRACT VOTES SET

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CONTRACT VOTES SET 

Tentative Agreement Reached Fully Recommended by Union Member Bargaining Team

As you may know, a fully recommended tentative agreement was reached in negotiations on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. See the information below for times, dates, and locations for union members to review the tentative agreement, get questions answered, and vote. You may vote at whatever location is most convenient, at any time when polling is open at that location.

These votes are open to UFCW 21 grocery store workers in King, Snohomish, Kitsap, Mason and Thurston Counties at the big chains as well as the independent stores. This includes all workers at Safeway, Albertsons, QFC, and Fred Meyer (including CCK and General Merchandise), as well as workers at stores with an interim (or “me too”) agreement, such as Metropolitan Market, Town & Country and other independent stores. 

You can come by at any point during the scheduled times and take as long as you like to review the contract offer and ask questions before casting your vote. You must be present at a vote and a current union member in order to cast a ballot.

Come by at any point between 8:00AM - 12 NOON and 4:00PM - 8:00PM at the following locations to review the offer, get questions answered, and cast your vote.

 

Sunday, April 24

Bellevue        
Meydenbauer Center
Rooms: 404-406, 11100 NE 6th Street, Bellevue, WA  98004

 

Monday, April 25

Everett/Lynnwood
Lynnwood Convention Center, Rooms 1DEF
3711 196th St SW, Lynnwood 98036

 

Tuesday, April 26

Sea Tac
Seatac Hilton
Emerald Ballroom, 17620 International Blvd., Seattle 98188

 

Wednesday, April 27

Bremerton   
Kitsap Convention Center
Ballroom D, 100 Washington Ave, Bremerton 98337

 

Thursday, April 28

Seattle        
Best Western Executive Inn
Seafair Ballroom, 200 Taylor Ave N, Seattle 98109

 

Olympia        
Southsound Manor
Logan Room, 455 North Street SE, Tumwater 98501