The Future Of Work
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In May, over 150 UFCW 21 members and non-union workers convened the first Future of Retail forum, both in person and by video to connect people in Mt. Vernon, Silverdale, and Seattle.
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Summer 2019 General Membership Meeting
/Aberdeen
Monday, August 19
6:00 pm
Grays Harbor Hospital
West Campus
915 Anderson Drive
Conference Room E - 1st Floor
Auburn (New Time, New Room)
Wednesday, August 21
1:15 pm
Auburn Regional Medical Center
Plaza 1: 202 N Division St
AMC - 1st Floor
Cascade Conference Room
Bellevue
Thursday, August 22
9:00 am & 7:00 pm
Sheraton Hotel
100 112th Ave NE
Newport Room
Bellingham
Wednesday, August 21
7:00 pm
Quality Inn Baron Suites
100 E Kellogg Road
Olympus Room
Bremerton
Thursday, August 22
11:00 am
Harrison Medical Center
2520 Cherry Ave
Aspen Room - 2nd Floor
Brewster
Wednesday, August 21
5:00 pm
Three Rivers Hospital
415 Hospital Way
Hillcrest Admin. Bldg.
Commons Area
Centralia
Wednesday, August 21
10:00 am
Providence Centralia Hospital
914 S Scheuber Road
Cafeteria
Colville/Chewelah
Wednesday, August 21
5:00 pm
Nordlig Hotel
101 W Grant Ave, Chewelah
Meeting Room
Coupeville (New Time)
Wednesday, August 21
3:45 pm
Whidbey Health Medical Center
101 N Main St
Conference Room Trailer
Enumclaw
Monday, August 19
1:00 pm
Guesthouse Inn
1000 Griffin Ave
Meeting Room
Everett (New Room)
Thursday, August 22
9:00 am & 7:00 pm
Snohomish County PUD
2320 California Street
Room TC1-A
Federal Way
Tuesday, August 20
9:00 am
Hometown Office Suites & Svcs
33530 1st Way South #102
Classroom
Forks
Monday, August 19
2:00 pm
Forks Community Hospital
530 Bogachiel Way
Main Conference Room
Kennewick (New Building)
Monday, August 19
6:00 pm
IBEW 112
114 N Edison St
Meeting Room
Kent
Monday, August 19
9:00 am & 5:30 pm
Kent Commons
525 4th Ave N
Interurban Room
Lynnwood
Monday, August 19
7:00 pm
Snohomish County PUD
21014 63rd Ave W
Conference Room
Monroe
Thursday, August 22
3:30 pm
EvergreenHealth Monroe
14701 179th Ave SE
The Cafe Corner
Moses Lake
Thursday, August 22
5:00 pm
Samaritan Healthcare
801 E Wheeler Road
Classroom 401
Mount Vernon
Thursday, August 22
7:00 pm
UFCW 21 Office
1510 N 18th St
Conference Room
Oak Harbor
Wednesday, August 21
7:00 pm
Best Western Harbor Plaza
33175 SR 20
Oak Harbor Room
Olympia
Monday, August 19
12:00 pm
Kaiser Permanente
700 Lily Rd NE
Conference Room A
Tuesday, August 20
3:30 pm
Capital Medical Center
3900 Capital Mall Dr SW
Cafeteria
Wednesday, August 21
1:00 pm
Providence St. Peter Hospital
413 Lily Road NE
Cafeteria
Omak
Tuesday, August 20
2:30 pm
Mid-Valley Hospital
Family Medical Building
800 Jasmine St
Conference Room C & D
Tuesday, August 20
5:15 pm
Mid-Valley Clinic
529 Jasmine St
Break Room
Port Angeles (New Room)
Wednesday, August 21
4:30 pm
Olympic Medical Center
939 Caroline Street
Wendel Room
Port Townsend
Tuesday, August 20
12:00 pm & 5:15 pm
Pt. Townsend Senior Ctr.
620 Tyler St
Board Room
Sea-Tac
Monday, August 19
7:00 pm
Angle Lake Family Resource Center
4040 S 188th St #100
Meeting Room Suite 100
Seattle
Tuesday, August 20
9:30 am & 7:00 pm
Phinney Neighborhood Center
6532 Phinney Ave N
Room 6 - Blue Bldg.
Thursday, August 22
9:00 am & 7:00 pm
UFCW 21 Office
5030 1st Ave S
Joe Crump Hall
Sequim
Wednesday, August 21
7:00 pm
Quality Inn
134 River Road
Breakfast Room
Shelton
Tuesday, August 20
12:00 pm
Mason General Hospital
901 Mountain View Dr
Persung Room
Silverdale
Wednesday, August 21
9:00 am & 5:30 pm
UFCW 21 Office
3888 NW Randall Way #105
Conference Room
South Bend
Monday, August 19
3:00 pm
Willapa Harbor Hospital
800 Alder Street
Evergreen Room
Spokane
Thursday, August 22
8:00 am, 1:00 pm & 4:00 pm
UFCW 21 Office
2805 N Market St
Conference Room
Tacoma (New Room)
Tuesday, August 20
2:00 pm & 5:00 pm
Tacoma General Hospital
315 MLK Jr Way
Chelsea Heights 1 & 2
Tonasket
Wednesday, August 21
12:30 pm & 2:00 pm
North Valley Hospital
203 S Western Ave
Orientation Room
Walla Walla (New Room)
Monday, August 19
1:00 pm
Providence St. Mary’s Medical Center
401 W. Poplar St
Luken Room
Wenatchee
Thursday, August 22
12:00 pm
Confluence Health
Central WA Hospital
1300 Fuller St
Conference Room J
New Leadership elected at UFCW 21
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An experienced leadership team. Our top leadership team of the union has over 80 years of combined experience with our union. Under their leadership, we have won and enforced some of the strongest contracts in the nation, partnered in community and with elected officials to improve lives for our members and others in our state. Our next challenge is to fully develop a new generation of leadership at each and every workplace. And we are well on our way – with now over 1,500 trained workplace leaders and on target to hit our goal of 2,000 by the end of the year. A strong union is about having racial, economic, and social justice, and we need thousands of workplace leaders to make that happen.
Read MoreCongratulations to our 2019 UFCW 21 Scholarship recipients!
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Scholarship Winners
Four-Year Scholarship of $4,000/year for 4 years - Laci Bowhay
Marilyn Savage, RN Memorial Scholarship: $3,000 - Brandon J LeGore
Health Care Profession Scholarship: $3,000 - Jennifer McMahon
Health Care Profession Scholarship: $3,000 - Danielle Macdonald
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Emily Marie Drozynski
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Melissa Resendiz Rivas
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Mawil Espino
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Hayley Nebel
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Chayton Fisk
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Simeon Barker
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Cindy Lao
Full-time Student Scholarship: $2,000 - Nibesh Mali
Workplace and patient safety, breaks & overtime protection bill #SHB1155 PASSED by wide margins
/After thousands of health care workers spoke up for workplace and patient safety, breaks & overtime protection bill #SHB1155 PASSED by wide margins in both the Senate and the House today! And thanks to the advocacy of our members and members of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW and Washington State Nurses Association, this version of the bill removed two bad amendments, so it will cover all hospitals and all nursing & technical staff and it won’t limit shifts to 8 hours.
Our members and allies rallied down in Olympia today to hold lawmakers accountable and were able to watch the final passage of this bill. Thank you to everyone who spoke up for this historic legislation! #BreaksAreALifesaver#UnionStrong #WAleg
Members Stand Up for Their Rights...
/Check Your Check
Liquor/Wine Manager Nora Bush from the Sequim Safeway noticed that her Sunday pay was incorrect on her paycheck. It was half the amount it should be on Sundays. She works every Sunday and realized this error dated back 14 months. With the help of her Rep, Nora took all her pay stubs to her store manager. The issue was sent to corporate and Nora received $1,200 in back pay.
Don’t Waive Your Breaks
If you waive your meal and rest breaks, employers will continue to under-staff and many times you are working without pay during that time. Hundreds of Providence Regional Medical Center Everett RNs filled out missed meals/break period forms and turned them into Labor and Industries. Working together collectively the Nurses at PRMCE tracked their missed breaks and are on their way to winning their case, getting reimbursed for the missed breaks and changing their workplace. Contact your union Rep if missed breaks is a problem in your workplace.
All Working Hours ARE Equal
Terri Gorman is currently working in the Deli department at the Bremerton Safeway. She has worked at her store for 9 years accumulating over 11,000 hours. Safeway kept her at $10/hr because they said she had been jumping departments, and her accumulated hours started over each time she changed departments. With the amount of hours she had worked in the store she should be at the Journey rate of pay. Terri went to her union Rep about the new language in the grocery contract that says all hours are equal. Thanks to the new contract and Terri knowing her rights she is now at $15/hr and received $2,500 in retro pay.
Bully Boss Exposed
left to right: Amanda Tapfield, Linda Johnson, Danielle Wolfe, and Doris Kimball
At Planned Parenthood Contact Center in Tacoma, 20 members have been working for over a year in a hostile work environment due to a bully boss. When their numerous complaints were ignored, they took collective action. With the help of the union, they created a petition with a “Vote of No Confidence” and marched on their boss. Because of the collective action, their voices were heard and an investigation was launched. Management agreed to meet with members to discuss the findings of the investigation and solutions to the problem.
Standing Up for Disabilities
A Courtesy Clerk at the Issaquah Fred Meyer was approached by his manager, in front of customers, to talk about his job performance. He felt ambushed. With his mental disability, he needs support in confrontational situations. His co-worker confidant, was not working that day so he had to leave to seek support. Fred Meyer never called to see what happened, they just told him that he was terminated when he returned to work. When his Steward Mary Stoddard heard her co-worker got fired for an issue relating to his disability, she took action. Mary worked together with the union and got her co-worker his job back. Outstanding Stewards like Mary Stoddard let us know we are not alone in times of trouble.
Seniority Travels
Scott Eddy worked for The Markets and was laid off after the store closed. He remained unemployed for 22 months. When applying at Safeway, Scott informed them that he had been at Journey rate for The Markets. He was hired at Safeway starting at minimum wage. Our Skagit Grocery contract gives Safeway the option to bring in our members at 2 steps below Journey rate if they have been out of the unit for 0-2 years, but not at minimum wage. Because Scott knew his rights under the contract and informed the union we were able to correct Scott’s wages.
Your Voice Matters
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Being in a union is about having a voice—a voice at the workplace and at the bargaining table—but also a voice about the future of our cities, our state and our country. Yet, many of us are failing to exercise our “almost sacred” right, as John Lewis calls it, of voting.
Read MoreHigher Wages & Paid Sick Leave
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I-1433: The initiative would raise the minimum wage in Washington State to $13.50 by 2020, and allow workers to earn an hour of paid sick leave for every forty hours worked. Such a law will reduce wage inequality and boost the local economy, as well as responsibly reduce the chances of spreading illnesses in the workplace.
Read MorePersonal Health Assessment
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Eligible plan participants can earn funding up to $500 for employee-only coverage and up to $1,000 for family coverage by annually completing a variety of health-related actions such as the PHA. Your HRA helps you to avoid a higher deductible as HRA funds are used to cover the first eligible medical expenses covered by the plan in each calendar year.
Read MoreSummer Picnics
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Picnic at the Park: September 8 SOLD OUT
Thank you for your interest and support for this event. If you have tickets reserved to this event or were on the waiting list and tickets became available you will have heard via email.
Grocery Store Workers Ratify New Contract
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“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 and Bargaining Team member
Read MoreMembers Stand Up for Their Rights
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While employers can fire most workers in Washington without any reason at all, they need a good reason if firing unionized workers. When Tika Kamara (shown with her kids), a Lab worker at Group Health North Shore was terminated without her employer following the rules, she contacted her union and pushed back.
Read MoreUFCW 21 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
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Every student should have the opportunity to learn. And if they seek a higher education, they should be able to go to school regardless of their ability to pay. That is part of the American Dream.
Read MoreDonations — Thank You
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Every three months UFCW 21 members come together at General Membership Meetings around the state – from Forks to Spokane and from Centralia to Bellingham and many places in between.
Read MorePersonal Health Assessment
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HRA Funding: More than half of our members have health care coverage through Sound Health and Wellness Trust and save up to $500 per member or $1,000 for a family by completing their Health Related Actions (HRA) every year.
Read MoreHigher Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Leave for All
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Until late June, we’re in the final push to gather signatures to put this initiative on the fall ballot. Contact your Union Rep or Steward to get a petition and get 10 people to sign it. A lot of people working together, that is what it means to be a union.
Read MoreTaking Care of Each Other
/One value of having a union at work is someone has your back. That’s part of what it means to be union – standing united to protect and support each other in times of need. Because we all deserve fair treatment and respect regardless of our age, income, gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion.
Our union has trained over 1,000 member leaders, your co-workers. These UFCW 21 leaders represent workplaces across the state to help make sure our rights are protected and workers aren’t bullied. The more workers stand together, the more our union will be a force for positive change that can push back against irresponsible and selfish corporations, CEOs, and politicians who use their huge wealth to influence policy.
Injustice, income inequality and racial inequities are still very much a part of daily life in America. While progress has been made, recent headlines show that injustices are still there. Women are paid far less per hour than men for doing the same work. That’s not right. People of color, especially African American youth, are disproportionately put in prison, victims of pollution, discrimination in hiring and police practices, and on and on. Just one example is from Flint, MI where people, disproportionately people of color, have been poisoned by drinking lead contaminated water. That’s not right. A front-runner for the President says that an entire group of people should be refused entry to the United States because of their religion. That’s not right.
Sue Wilmot (Checker, Safeway Bainbridge Island) joined by a MaryAnn Schroeder (Meat Wrapper, Safeway Seattle) right and left of the speaker, take part in a candlelight vigil opposing the growing anti-Muslim rhetoric in our society. Sue and others came together around the memorial site of the Japanese expulsion from Bainbridge as a way to raise awareness of a past time when fear led to hundreds of thousands of people with Japanese ancestry being rounded up and put on trains and jailed. That was not our finest hour as a nation and we today have the responsibility to resist reliving these dangerous decisions.
Some Good News
The good news is that people are standing up and taking action. UFCW members in Flint are coming together to support their community and UFCW 21 members here in Washington are supporting them through donations at our winter General Membership Meetings. UFCW 21 members have been marching in the streets to support Black Lives Matter and pushing against unfair hiring practices.
More good news is that most people in our society agree that injustice, income inequality and racist, sexist, and anti gay/lesbian/transgender policies and speech are bad. Most people in America agree that workers who want a union at work should have one without interference from their employer. However, most people believing something is not enough. People need to take action in order to resist and push back against fear and hatred.
Making Lives Better
When we take action in a union, we can make change for the good. When we work together to organize workplaces and achieve strong contracts that are enforced we improve lives. When we advocate for new and improved laws and take collective action with our community partners we can make things better for everyone. When we commit to action, we move our workplaces and communities away from fear and intolerance and toward economic, political and social justice. That is the mission of UFCW 21.
Members Stand Up for Their Rights
/United For Quality Care
When UFCW 21 health care members at Providence Everett joined together with OPEIU Local 8 members at the hospital on a common petition to Management for improved contracts and working conditions, they found greater strength than if either had acted alone. That is the story we know to be true and we need to repeat time and again. Taking action together works. This helped both groups of workers from two unions win improved contracts.
Taking a Break is Good for Everyone
For health care workers breaks are not only an issue for our own health and safety but for all of our patients and co-workers too. In many hospitals and clinics people work through breaks and/or get disciplined if they report missing one. For two years our members at Capital Medical Center have taken action together and documented problems, pushing a grievance and recently winning new contract language for taking breaks and documenting missed breaks. The new language secures all employees’ right to take a paid 15 minute break for each four hours of working time and requires employees to record any missed meal/rest periods without any retaliation. Way to go Capital Medical Center members!
Another Job Saved by Strong Contract & Action
“People believing something is not enough. People need to take action in order to resist and push back against fear and hatred…When we commit to action, we move our workplaces and communities away from fear and intolerance and toward economic, political and social justice.”
Renee Gebre is a cashier at Safeway (1845 Greenwood). Every day grocery store checkers process WIC checks (a federal program to help moms with lower income get better nutrition for their kids). One day Renee made a mistake when processing a WIC check and was suspended. Our agreement with Safeway is that there must be two written warnings before a suspension for this type of violation. After contacting the employer’s labor relations, the suspension was reduced to a written warning and Ms. Gebre was paid for the hours of work she missed for her suspension.
Steward Trainings Keep Growing our Union
Eight members from PCC, led by Deli worker Atsuko Koseki (second from right) were recently trained up to be Stewards. Though PCC workers negotiate their contract independently, when they heard that the vast majority of UFCW 21 grocery store workers were soon to be going into their own contract negotiations, these PCC workers wanted to be trained up as Stewards and help as much as possible for everyone to achieve better wages, benefits and working conditions. Great work Atsuko and all the other PCC Stewards who went through the training pictured here.
New Initiative for Statewide Paid Sick Days & Higher Minimum Wage
/UFCW 21 members Ariana Davis, a grocery store worker at Safeway, and Jane Teske, an RN at Providence Everett, both spoke at the press conference in the Secretary of State’s Office in Olympia on January 11 to file a petition for a new state law. We need higher wages. Especially for those with the lowest incomes in the state who find it next to impossible to make ends meet. We also need to have access to paid sick days when we are ill and be allowed to use paid sick days without getting disciplined.
Why are we working on this Initiative?
For years we have pushed for a higher minimum wage on the lowest wage scales as well as proposed paid sick days without discipline. Neither proposal had gotten very far in most contract negotiations. UFCW 21 members successfully fought to pass higher wage laws and paid sick leave in cities across the State–like Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, and Seatac. The decision was made that 2016 is the right time to push for this change in our state law to help everyone.
Higher Minimum Wage Raises Entire Economy
The promise of America should be for everyone, not just the wealthy few. Yet over the years our economy has swung more out of balance. While the richest 1% and big corporations made record profits, working families have been left behind. Recent studies have shown that a fair wage for working families benefits the economy. Individuals would have more money to spend, training costs are reduced, employee turnover rates go down and customer service goes up. Supporting workers in their fight for a living wage will ultimately benefit our entire community.
Paid Sick Leave for All – Better Health, Stronger Communities, Improved Workplaces
At least one in four grocery store workers say they have come to work sick in the last year because sick leave was not available when they needed it. Many health care workers who have paid sick days don’t use them because they get disciplined when they do. Grocery store workers and health care workers and others are on the front lines of food and patient safety. It is important to the health of our entire community that these workers have paid sick leave so workers aren’t forced to go to work sick.
PETITIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE BY EARLY MARCH. SIGN IT TO PUT THIS INITIATIVE ON THE BALLOT FOR VOTERS.
The Benefits of Being UFCW 21 Members
/Your union (UFCW 21) is the largest private sector union in the state of Washington, with over 46,000 workers in grocery stores and retail, health care, service sector, and other industry jobs. Our collective voice is what gives workers the power to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
