Less than two months after it agreed to a historic first contract with its union, New Seasons Market is slashing jobs and blaming it on the union-negotiated raises.
The company notified New Seasons Labor Union Feb. 17 that it’s eliminating the jobs of 72 workers at union stores.
“Following the ratification of the collective bargaining agreement, our ongoing labor costs have significantly increased,” the company wrote. “As a result, we have had to eliminate certain roles to ensure the long term sustainability of the business.”
About two-thirds of those layoffs come from eliminating overnight freight departments in the stores, three or four workers per store. The other third are assistant managers who are also represented by the union.
Workers were told not to report to work but will be paid through March 18 and will be on company health insurance through March 31.
Later the same day — and after months of a hiring freeze — the company posted that it’s hiring 43 25-hour-a-week grocery clerk positions. Under the union contract, workers being laid off have the option to transfer to any equivalent or lower open position for which they’re qualified.
“It’s definitely an attempt to take people out of higher pay scales, people who have put in their time and are appropriately earning more,” union co-chair Ava Robins told the Labor Press.
