UFCW 3000 Member Story: Members Leaders Fight for Safety at the U-District Safeway

From Left to Right Prince Heart, Kevin Daly, and Sean Ricco at the U-District Safeway

The University District in Seattle has long had reputation of having problems with people experiencing mental illness and substance abuse disorders. Unfortunately the housing crisis has only made these issues more visible and at times more dangerous. Workers at the Seattle U-District Safeway have been dealing with a series of increasingly violent incidents at their store, especially in the liquor department.

Prince Hart, Sean Ricco, Kevin, Daly, and Solas McGregor decided to take action to highlight their safety concerns. They started a petition to discuss their concerns and ways to help solve the problem. After collecting a majority of signatures of their coworkers they “marched on the boss” to talk with store management about the probelm.

Out of their talks they got agreements to post a security guard in the liquor dept during operating hours, an additional security guard to sweep the store, have two members scheduled in liquor so no one is alone, and the use of walkie talkies for dept leads to enable quick communication of potentially dangerous situations. U-D district Safeway workers now have some additional tools to deal with potential violence in their workplace.

Safeway can’t directly control larger problems outside the store, but it is clearly the Employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace and have a plan in place to deal with violence in the workplace. And workers have a right to take collective action to make sure the Employer lives up to that responsibility, and to push management to do more when necessary.

If you and your coworkers are facing problems like these in the workplace, reach out to your Union Representative who can help create a plan of action to fight and win, just like U-District Safeway union members did!

Cascade Valley Hospital MSWs & Security Officers Bargaining Update

Our Union Bargaining team: Lisa Warriax – MSW, Carl Ramirez – Security Officer

“With every session we are one step closer. MSWs and Security Officers stand united in our proposals, and together we are making progress. There’s no such thing a s snow day for our Bargaining Team!”

On January 4 the newly accreted Security Officers and MSW’s Bargaining Team at Cascade Valley Hospital met for the second bargaining session with the Employer. During this session, we gave compelling testimony about working conditions, we firmly pushed back on the Employer’s proposals around uninterrupted meal breaks and daily overtime, and the Employer made significant movement on wages for Security Officers.

We met for our third bargaining session on January 18, despite the challenges due to inclement weather. While the Employer continued to reject our proposal to give everyone an initial wage increase upon being placed onto a wage scale, the Employer did agree to audit past job experience to ensure we are being paid commensurate to our past job experience. We also made considerable progress with our protective gear proposal for Security Officers. The Employer told us they will be looking for a vendor to supply protective vest for each security officer.

We must continue standing united for pay which is commensurate to our experience and will retain and recruit Security Officers and MSWs. We will meet the Employer again in mid-February.