Cake decorators at Fred Meyer and QFC bakeries ratified new contracts Dec. 23 that increase wages and expand bereavement leave. The contracts with Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) Local 114 cover 93 workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Journey-level cake decorators were making $20.15 per hour and received a $2.50 raise, or 12.4%, after ratification. By the time the new contracts expire Jan. 2, 2028, they’ll make $25.03 per hour.
Trainees start near minimum wage and get 10-cent raises every three months, then jump to journey-level after 4,160 hours, or two years of full-time work.
BCTGM Local 114 Secretary-Treasurer Taylor Almond said cake decorators in Southern Oregon previously started at the state’s minimum wage for non-urban counties, which is $14.05 per hour, but now will start at the state’s standard minimum wage, currently $15.05 per hour. Northern Oregon and Southwest Washington trainees start at 30 cents above Portland and Vancouver minimum wages.
In the past, an employee who was hired on at a higher trainee step would have to complete a backlog of hours for the prior step requirements before they could move up on the step scale, leaving them stuck in limbo with no raises for an extended period. The new contract ensures trainees will get raises without having to clear a backlog.
The last contract expired June 30, 2024. Almond said negotiations took so long because management put bargaining with Local 114 on the back burner while in negotiations with UFCW Local 555, which represents other grocery store employees and ratified a new contract in October 2024.
The new contracts don’t give retroactive raises, but workers who have been on the job for at least six months will get a ratification bonus of $1,250, which is roughly equal to 40 cents for each hour worked since the last contract expired.
