Grocery/meat strike averted in Oregon

SPRINGFIELD - A massive grocery strike in the Willamette Valley and along the Oregon Coast just before the holiday season was averted with a last-minute deal Nov. 24.

"We set a date to walk (Nov. 22), and they (employers) realized we were just crazy enough to carry it out," said Rick Sawyer, a spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555.

A walkout would have affected approximately 5,000 union members at Fred Meyer, Albertsons and Safeway stores in Eugene, Springfield, Salem, Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Sweet Home, Coos Bay, North Bend, Florence, Lincoln City and Newport.

On Nov. 24, Eugene/Springfield grocery clerks approved a new five-year contract 396-116, a 77 percent majority. About 75 percent of meat cutters approved a similar contract, Sawyer said. There are approximately 1,000 employees in the bargaining unit. About 200 central checkout clerks at Fred Meyer were not affected.

Grocers operate under separate (but similar) collective bargaining agreements based on their location in the state. Sawyer said the Eugene/ Springfield proposal will be extended to those other jurisdictions. Voting was under way as this issue went to press, however, if the offer is rejected at any location, workers could still strike.

Eugene/Springfield grocery clerks and meatcutters had been working without a contract since February. Negotiations began in May, but went nowhere as Food Employers Inc., the organization that negotiates on behalf of Albertsons, Safeway and Fred Meyer, insisted on major concessions in health care insurance, pension contributions and wage increases.

As negotiations lagged and strike preparations intensified the week of Nov. 18, a federal mediator recessed the talks Nov. 22 (the day workers were set to walk out) after the sides agreed to seek help from the Washington, D.C.-based Joint Labor Management Committee (JLM). Local 555 extended its strike deadline 48 hours to see if a deal could be reached.

The JLM is comprised of chief executive officers and/or top executives of the grocers, and international presidents of UFCW, the Teamsters and the Bakery Workers Union. The executive director is Dave Barry, a former UFCW international vice president.

By 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23, the union's Bargaining Committee had yet to hear or see an offer. They went home that night prepared to strike the following day.

"They were livid. They thought the employers were being very disrespectful by dragging it down to the wire," Sawyer said.

Notification of a proposal finally came at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. By 9 a.m. the offer was open for discussion - and a vote - at a previously- scheduled union meeting. It was the first of two meetings held that day. More than half of the bargaining unit members voted, and of those, more than three-quarters supported the contract offer.

Health insurance and pension were key components in the negotiations, Sawyer said. All pension issues were deferred until Portland area negotiations open in the summer of 2003. The outcome at those talks will impact all UFCW members at union grocers statewide.

A compromise was reached on health insurance, with the union agreeing to begin sharing in the cost of premiums if they increase more than 8 percent a year. Any costs above that will be split evenly between employees and their employer. However, grocers did agree to tack on a couple more bonus payments over the length of the contract to ease the out-of-pocket cost to workers.

On wages, employees okayed two 25-cents-an-hour raises. The first raise was effective Nov. 24 and the second will occur Nov. 28, 2004. The pay hikes will take journey-level grocery clerk wages from $13.43 an hour to $13.93 and meatcutters to over $15 an hour.

Lump-sum bonuses ranging from 15 cents to 25 cents for all hours worked will be spread out over the length of the contract. The first bonus is retroactive to Feb. 17, 2002 and includes all employees. Only journey-level employees, those with two and a half years or more experience, will be eligible for future raises and bonuses. Sawyer said the bonus for a full-time clerk or meatcutter will be range from about $300 to $520.

The contract also lengthens the time it takes for employees to reach journey-level status from two and a half years to nearly four years.

The contract also contains first-time language for dues checkoff. Previously dues checkoff was available under a "letter of understanding" between employers and the union. Now it's a contractual obligation.

"I have to admit, it's one of the most complicated contract settlements I've seen," Sawyer said.

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