Move to put Fred Meyer on Unfair List is tabled

Fred Meyer Inc. dodged a bullet July 13 when the Northwest Oregon Labor Council Executive Board tabled a request to put the retailer on its Unfair/Do Not Patronize List.

The citing was brought to the Executive Board by Cement Masons Local 555 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48.

Fred Meyer did not respond to the labor council’s citing as requested.

The construction locals have been conducting informational picketing at Fred Meyer stores for several months because the company is using nonunion contractors on its remodeling projects.

“Fred Meyer wants our union members to spend money at their stores and pharmacies, yet won’t let us bid their work and, in fact, hires contractors that provide little in the way of prescription drug benefits for their workers,” said Bob Childers, an international representative of the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association.

Fred Meyer is owned by Kroger Inc. of Cincinnati.

Three unions — United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, Bakers Union Local 114, and Teamsters — each represent workers at Fred Meyer.

“We’re sympathetic. Fred Meyer should be doing its remodeling work union,” said Local 555 Secretary Treasurer Jeff Anderson, who requested that NOLC table the motion. “But, we cannot support a secondary boycott that affects our members.”

Local 555 is in the midst of bargaining with Fred Meyer and other grocers in the Portland metro area and in Central Oregon. Fred Meyer bargains jointly with Albertsons and Safeway using labor consultant Food Employers Inc. Clerks, meatcutters and central checkout clerks at those stores have been working under an extended contract for more than a year.

Additionally, Local 555 is trying to bargain a first contract for non-food employees at The Dalles Fred Meyer. Those workers voted to join the union in November 2007.

Childers encouraged union leaders to notify their trust offices about the labor dispute and to consider changing pharmacies if nothing changes.

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