We are members of UFCW Local 400 ACT! (Activist Contract Team!) and we also work at Giant and Safeway stores in DC, Northern Va., and Md. We are working to build power as part of a communication network in our stores and in the community. We are mobilizing in the hopes that we can secure a fair contract from our employers, Giant and Safeway, in our negotiations which began in early January of 2012. Our contracts expire at the end of March and by then we hope that we’ve been able to negotiate a contract that will enable us to take care of ourselves and our families. We appreciate your support and we recognize that it’s customers supporting us, like you, that will make all the difference in our negotiations.
I am very willing to support those of you in the union. But many many of the employees at Safeway are non-union members, hired on a part-time basis. I believe this is done so that the company can avoid paying benefits and guaranteeing their rights. What are you doing to support those workers? Why are these companies allowed to hire non-union members in a union environment thereby reducing both your bargaining power and the rights of the part-time employees, and what can we do to assist all grocery store employees in obtaining fair contracts for their labor?
Donna, We aren’t sure what state you are shopping in currently. If it’s Virginia, that’s a right to work state and union membership is optional there so in the example that you cited it would be because they are choosing to not join the union. Many companies have shifted to hiring more part time workers, as we point out in one of our recent pieces about reduction in hours. We believe that this is a way to avoid providing benefits and compensation to the workers and believe us when we say that a number of our part-timers are working multiple part-time jobs while they’d prefer to work full time. This does have an impact on union density of course and the employers likely know that, whether that’s the motivation or not, we won’t speculate. Having a work force that is nearly 80% part-time has a huge impact on any business and the community as a whole. We believe there should be more quality full time jobs and that these should be career positions if people want to stay there. Regardless, we are working hard in this negotiation to ensure that all union members are entitled to their fair share of their hard work on behalf of our employers. Thanks for supporting us and these are good questions for your store manager as well if you’d like to ask them. We’d be interested in his or her response.
Thanks! I’m in Maryland. I agree – I think the owners know that by hiring a plethora of part-timers they can avoid paying benefits and also can weaken the union position. If they had their way, they would likely hire nothing but part-time workers. I realize that they also have to turn a profit, but this is hard on the employees and I see that it can weaken employee training, commitment and opportunity to the detriment of the employees and the customers. In today’s economy people will take whatever jobs they can get! Yes, I will approach the store manager in a friendly, neighborhood-like way and chat with them about the number of full vs part time employees. If there are any particular additional questions customers should address to store managers I’d like to know what they are. Grocery staff members work hard, we rely on them for so much, and I want them to know that we customers appreciate their dedication and service to the communities we share.
Donna, thanks for your well-thought out post. There are some other pieces we’ve written that might give you some ideas but the key issues in this negotiation for us are pensions, hours, and benefits. Wages are important as well. The key for us is that customers like you–reminding your store manager that you support us through a difficult time–will make the difference. It’s critical for management at the store level to know that we have customer support because the work that we do is focused entirely on service to our customers. Thank you again for all that you are doing. It means so much!