Dragging Their Feet

SERVING ORGANIZED LABOR IN OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON SINCE 1900
LABOR
PRESS
INSIDE
NORTHWEST
VOLUME 117, NUMBER 5
PORTLAND, OREGON
W
MARCH 4, 2016
Dragging Their Feet
I
DAN CLAY
Welcome
two new
additions
to our staff
n an effort to continually improve the operational goals of
UFCW Local 555, two exciting new additions occurred
last month in the leadership of your Union.
For years, Local 555 has had to hire an outside attorney
any time we needed advice on the various legal issues we
face on a regular basis. The leadership of the Local has also
been interested in updating the practices and procedures of
our Grievance Department, and keeping those up to date on
an ongoing basis.
Local 555 hired John Bishop last month to be our General
Counsel. Having John on staff will allow us to more quickly,
and efficiently, obtain legal advice. In addition, John will be
overseeing the work of the Grievance Department, with a focus on improving the operations of that department.
John graduated from Columbia Law School in 1985, and
has spent his entire career as a lawyer representing labor
unions and their members. John comes to us with a passion
to help working families, and an excitement to make a difference for the members of Local 555, and help them fight the
struggles they face in their workplaces.
Second, Local 555 hired Peter Diaz to be a Special Assistant to the President. Peter comes to Local 555 with 20 years
of experience in the labor movement, and has spent much of
his career organizing non-union workers. Most recently, Peter worked for the UFCW International Union, where he had
been the National Coordinator of the Walmart Program, and
then the Executive Assistant to the Region 7 (Northwest) Director. Peter has been tasked with building Local 555 a modern and successful Organizing Department.
Welcome to both John and Peter!
President
What’s this?
The outside pages, and Pages 8 & 9
are news from and about your
union. The inside pages are
produced by the Northwest Labor Press, and cover the labor movement
as a whole. If you like what you see, visit www.nwlaborpress.org.
hile I'd love to say that
contract negotiations will
continue soon, unfortunately it
is not soon enough.
Since adjourning from our
last bargaining session, Local
555 was able to obtain two negotiation dates with the retail
employers. But due to the difficulties of finding common dates
available, it could not be scheduled until March 24-25. In
hopes of continuing the negotiation process, and to not see further delays in negotiations due
to scheduling issues, your Union
gave the retail employers over
40 days we are available for bargaining through June. Unfortunately, the employers responded
with only two additional days
— April 21-22.
Yes, you read that right:
ONLY TWO MORE DAYS!
This is the same strategy the
retail employers used late last
year when the Union tried to
get additional dates scheduled.
Thinking that they could get us
to rush into a bonus-laden settlement if we did not have additional negotiation dates scheduled, your employers refused to
schedule additional dates beyond January 28, all the while
dragging their feet over language issues.
We told the retail employers
last year, on more than one occasion, that we needed additional negotiation dates, and that
if we waited until January 28 to
try to schedule more dates, negotiations would get pushed
back as calendars would be full.
But they refused and told your
Union we did not need additional dates.
Your employers keep telling
us that they want to get contract
negotiations done quickly, but
their actions have obviously
spoken much louder than their
words. Those actions have said
that the employers are only interested in getting a contract
done quickly if the members of
Local 555 roll over and agree to
a less than acceptable contract.
In previous contracts you
have forgone wage increases in
order to help maintain your
health insurance benefits. Now
your health insurance plan is
stable and funded, and actually
doesn't need any new money.
This should mean no need to
forgo wage increases, yet
your employers think that you
would be OK with no wage increases in this contract. This is
not acceptable! For years, many new members have seen minimum wage
climb faster than their apprentice wages in the contract.
Everyone knows it’s time to fix
this problem once and for all.
Yet your employer wants to ignore the problem and pay
new retail workers only the
mini-mum. This is not acceptable!
The employers have not increased funding to make your
retirement benefits better in
decades. They added money to
your retirement plan four years
ago, but that new money didn’t
make your retirement benefits
better. It was required under federal law to protect your retirement plan. We proposed they increase benefit funding in this
contract, but your employer said
they would not agree to increase
benefit funding. This is not acceptable!
Your negotiations committee has been continually advocating for you at the barg-aining table — fighting for you to
INSIDE
UFCW Local 555 MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | Pages 2 & 15
Meeting Notices | Page 15
Mike Marshall
Executive Director
get a better contract. Apparently,
your employers are not taking
them seriously. It’s time for
everyone to stand up and let the
employers know their proposals
are not acceptable and that you
deserve better!
Staff are going through
stores talking with members and
asking them to sign on to a
pledge to support the negotiations committee and the original
goals developed by the steering
committee. Let your Union
Representative know you want
to support the pledge next time
you see them in your store. The
negotia-tions committee is also
asking members to support contract negotiations by wearing a
button with the current theme on
it. Buttons — and stickers to
place on the buttons — can be
obtained from your Union Representative.
Support your union by participating in these and future activities and actions planned in support of contract negotiations.
Your involvement does make a
difference. Together, we can
change this offer!
OUR MISSION:
Providing leadership,
representation and
education to better
the lives of all
working people
PAGE 2 |
March 4, 2016 | NW Labor Press / UFCW LOCAL 555 LEADER
JEFF ANDERSON
Secretary-Treasurer
The impact
that unfair
scheduling
has on lives
A
cross Oregon, workers are
employed either too few
hours to make ends meet — or
too many hours to balance work
and other obligations.
America’s workforce is
changing. Each year, our workforce is increasingly composed
of dual income-earning couples;
single parents; older men and
women with caregiving responsibilities; and women, many of
whom have young children.
These changes make it even
more important to make sure
our jobs accommodate our responsibilities outside of work.
United Food & Commercial
Workers Local 555 is proud to
being partners with The Oregon
Working Families Party, which
is currently gathering hundreds
of surveys across Portland and
talking to workers about the impact that unfair scheduling has
on their lives.
The 27th annual Labor Bowl Challenge for Muscular Dystrophy will
be held Sunday, April 17, from noon
to 2:30 p.m. at Sunset Lanes, 12770
SW Walker Road, Beaverton. Registration opens at 11 a.m. The event is
coordinated by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)
Branch 82 and the Northwest Oregon
Labor Council, and includes a silent
auction. Since its inception in 1989,
union members have raised nearly
$400,000 for MDA. For more information, or to sign up and receive
fundraising packets and instructions,
call Jim Falvey, president of Letter
Carriers Branch 82 at 503-493-5903.
To donate silent auction items, call
Kyle Ellerbe at 503-223-3177 or
email [email protected].
We are hearing from workers
like Jessica. Jessica lives and
works in Portland, and is often
sent home early. When she does
get scheduled to work she has to
work back to back shifts with
less than seven hours between
each shift. Her schedule makes
parenting and childcare difficult.
Worse, there are few opportunities for advancement at her
workplace or a process to request a fair schedule. She feels
trapped because she cannot even
look for a second job to make up
the hours she needs because her
employer expects 24/7 availability from her.
Rather than adapting to the
realities of today’s workforce,
American employers, especially
major corporations, have been
going in the wrong direction —
increasingly treating employees
as a cost to be contained rather
than a resource for success. For
example, in the growing service
sector, instead of using modern
technology to deliver schedules
that allow us to care for our families and meet business needs,
corporations are playing games
with working peoples’ time, and
forcing moms and students to
scramble in increasingly random and uncertain work schedules.
Our public policies have not
kept up. That’s why we are talking to hardworking Oregonians
and reaching out to decision
makers to ensure that we all
have a workweek we can count
on — one that allows all of us to
Labor Commissioner Installs NW Labor Council Officers
Secretary Treasurer Jeff Anderson (brown jacket) and Local 555 Union Rep Sam Gillispie (right) are
sworn in as Executive Board officers of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council Jan. 25 by Oregon Labor
Commissioner Brad Avakian. Anderson serves as first vice president and Gillispie is an at-large
member on the Board. At the Feb. 22 NOLC meeting, a vacancy was declared for Council President.
Anderson was nominated to fill the role. A second nomination will be held March 28.
take care of our families, be
healthy, and get ahead.
On March 3 (after this issue
went to press), Portland City
Commissioner Steve Novick
held a town hall at the Center for
Intercultural Organizing to talk
about the impacts of unpredictable scheduling on workers
and families, and to discuss options for creating stable jobs for
all Portlanders.
UNION CONTRACT
ENFORCEMENT THROUGH
JANUARY 2016:
Grievances Filed: 64
Members Returned to Work: 38
Monies Recovered: $3,570.00
NW Labor Press / UFCW LOCAL 555 LEADER |
March 4, 2016 | PAGE 15
PAGE 16 |
March 4, 2016 | NW Labor Press / UFCW LOCAL 555 LEADER
UFCW 555
MEMBER
SPOTLIGHT
“We will do whatever it takes to get hard dollars and NOT bonuses in this
contract!”
Checkers at Gateway Fred Meyer
Eugene Packard and Joseph Frierson are both long time
members. They work at the Damascus Safeway as courtesy
clerks. They have both worked hard for this company to help
make it what it is today, a strong successful company. They
feel unappreciated when they see what their company is
wanting to offer them for their loyalty and their hard work, a
15 cent bonus. Together, we will change this offer.
“As a union member who
works 40+ hours a week, I
feel that shouldn't be paid a
wage that is unbefitting the
work put forth. Working for
a company that under pays
their workers not only hurts
the employees who work at
the store, but the store itself
also suffers.”
Drue Bernstein
UFCW Local 555 Member
“I would like to take this time to thank our Union staff and the
negotiations committee on their hard work on trying to get
me and all our brothers and sisters in Local 555 a contract that
we can live with. I have worked for Albertsons for over 29
years, good times and bad. I truly love our store and my management team I work with. We all try to take care of our customers. I wish our boss’s bosses (the company) thought as
much of me as my store and the customers we all serve.”
Stephen Joachim
UFCW Local 555 Member
PAGE 8 |
March 4, 2016, 2016 | NW Labor Press / UFCW LOCAL 555 LEADER
NW Labor Press / UFCW LOCAL 555 LEADER | March 4, 2016 | PAGE 9
UFCW 555
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
“I stand behind my
negotiations team!”
“I would like to thank Local 555 and the negotiations team
for their time and hard work. They are trying to make my
life and my children’s’ lives a little better. When I was in the
military, hard work was rewarded. I feel my store and customers are very important for my success. I wish my company felt I was part of their success.”
Deanna Stephens
UFCW Local 555 Member
Robert Buss
UFCW Local 555 Member
“I really like my Union benefits! The medical is very affordable, and I can look forward to a pension when I
reach my retirement age. I'm
also thankful for my ABC
dollars helping to pass first
day sick pay!”
Trudi Bennett
UFCW Local 555 Member
“I'm so happy to be a union member and be able to contribute to the ABC program.”
Judy Peterson
UFCW Local 555 Member
“I joined the union to help make a difference. I felt like my rights were being violated all
the time and I didn’t really know how to deal with it. Joining the union helped me to
have a voice and I enjoy helping others when they need a voice. I joined to help make
my workplace better and become more knowledgeable about my rights and to know
what I can do with them. I continue to learn more and more every day. Joining the union
was a great decision. It has helped me more and more.”
Leshawn Rodriguez
UFCW Local 555 Member