UFCW 21 - A Voice for Working America

Seniority Counts

Carol Tucker works at Safeway. For years she had worked 40-hour weeks as a clerk in the video/customer service booth, but then her hours got cut unfairly.

After the store manager refused to fix the issue, a formal grievance was filed. One of the rules in the grocery contract requires managers to schedule the most hours to workers with the most seniority.

During the process of settling the grievance, Carol moved to a different Safeway where she could get enough hours. And eventually, she collected $1,000 for lost wages.

They Can’t Just Fire You

When Estela Lopez was fired for no good reason after 26 years at Draper Valley Farms (a UFCW 21 poultry plant in Mount Vernon), she knew it was wrong.

Estela knew that union members have “just cause” rights — that means an employer needs a valid reason to issue discipline, and they have to meet a set of legal standards for fairness. 

Estela contacted her Union Rep, and after a long battle with the employer and many months of back-and-forth, she was reinstated at her prior position and pay grade.

Meeting & Greeting New Members

Brandon Fish came to work at the Federal Way Macy’s after working at a non-union Macy’s in Arizona. He heard he had a union, but wondered what that meant — so he asked his steward, Nichole Booker. Nichole went over the contract with Brandon, and mentioned that if he left and got hired at another Macy’s within two years, he could get full credit up to the highest apprentice rate. He asked if this meant that he should get credit for his work in Arizona. The steward raised the question with her Union Rep, who contacted the HR manager.

It was worth asking the question: Macy’s agreed to pay Brandon over $2,000 for the difference in the rates of pay, and credit him hours so he got a raise.

Rest assured with a
Steward in Your Corner

After MultiCare management asked Yolanda Salazar and Elvira Ulloa in Housekeeping to add additional areas to their already busy cleaning schedule, it just wasn’t possible for them to get all their work done in the course of their normal shift.

That meant Yolanda and Elvira were not able to take their meal break or their last 15-minute break. They told their supervisor, but they were not compensated for their lost meal and rest break time.

The next step for Yolanda and Elvira was to take it to their steward, Garry Hawkins. He went back to management and reminded them of the meal and rest breaks required by the contract and state law, and asked that his co-workers be properly paid for their lost time.

After persistent pressure on management, Yolanda and Elvira were paid more than $800 for lost wages. 

Give it a Rest!

Jeannette Power-Cooper and her fellow Surgery Techs at Auburn Regional Medical Center had been missing meal and rest breaks, so she raised the issue with her Union Rep.

Both state law and all of our union contracts are quite clear on the issue — workers are entitled to meal and rest breaks. It’s a basic right, and in some workplaces, it can also be a matter of basic safety.

But many health care workers — like Jeannette and her co-workers — have been reporting that heavy workloads are pushing them to work through breaks. Even worse, they’re often not paid correctly for the extra work time.

After Jeannette raised the issue, an agreement was reached to address the situation by providing a lump sum of $8,100 to reimburse 9 Surg Techs for their unpaid breaks.

There should be a law...

Securing uninterrupted meal and rest breaks has become a problem for so many health care workers that we’ve taken the issue to the State Legislature in Olympia. This year, UFCW 21 joined with allies to try to pass a law requiring employers to provide uninterrupted breaks for health care employees.

The bill got further than ever, passing the House and almost getting a vote in the Senate. When we endorsed candidates for office this year, where they stood on this issue was a big part of our decision.