United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 reports that Portland-area grocery members voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike against Albertsons, Fred Meyer, QFC, and Safeway.
Since late May, the union has held strike votes among Portland-area meat and grocery workers and Fred Meyer central checkout and non-food department workers. Strike votes continue across Oregon and Southwest Washington in July and August, and a strike decision won’t be made until votes from across the jurisdiction are aggregated.
In contract talks that passed the one-year mark June 19, the employer group is proposing 25-cent raises, a cut in health contributions, and no response to union research showing that male workers at Fred Meyer earn on average $1.31 an hour more than women workers.
WE WON’T CROSS PICKET LINES!
Local 555 is asking community members to sign an online pledge to honor picket lines if a strike occurs: http://b.link/standwithus
There has always been different contracts for Food and Home. The Union has negotiated wages for both. Why now is this an issue? Stop muddling the issues. Decent wages are necessary but stop the fake issue of unequal pay. The Union helped make this a problem. The pay issue is not of which gender you are but under what Department you work for. Each person employed agreed to the wage they receive.