November Contract Action Team Meetings

Monday, November 18

• Monday, November 18, 2024 6-7 pm Mount Vernon office 1810 Nth 18 ST Mount Vernon, WA 98273

• Monday, November 18, 2024 2-3 pm Best Western Plus Hotel 33175 State Rte 20, Oak Harfbor, Wa 98277

• Monday, November 18, 2024 6-7 pm Mount Vernon office 1810 Nth 18 ST Mount Vernon, WA 98273

• Monday, November 18, 2024 9-10 am  Mountalke Terrace Library 23300 58th Ave W Mountlake Terrace WA 98043

• Monday, November 18, 2024 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm  Zeek's Pizza, Lynnwood, 

• Monday, November 18, 2024 5-6pm Port Orchard Library,  87 Sidney Ave, Port Orchard, WA 98366

• Monday, November 18, 2024 10:30am - 11:30am Auburn Library : 1102 Auburn Way S., Auburn WA 98002

Tuesday, November 19

• Tuesday, November 19, 2024 12pm-1pm Bothell Library - 18215 98th Ave NE, Bothell, WA 98011

• Tuesday, November 19, 2024 4:30 - 5 pm Alfys Pizza 19121 US-2, Monroe, WA 98272

• Tuesday, November 19, 2024 10am-11am Seattle Library: University Branch (5009 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105)

• Tuesday, November 19, 2024 4:00pm - 5:00pm Des Moines Library: 21620 11th Ave S., Des Moines WA  98198

Wednesday, November 20

• Wednesday, November 20, 2024 11:00am-12pm Bellevue Library 1111 110th Ave NE Bellevue Wa 98004

• Wednesday, November 20, 2024 6:30pm-7:00pm Bellevue Library 1111 110th Ave NE Bellevue Wa 98004

• Wednesday, November 20, 2024 5:00pm-6:00pm Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Ave S, Seattle

• Wednesday, November 20, 2024 12pm-1:30pm Kent Panther Lake Library, 20500 108th Ave SE, Kent

• Wednesday, November 20, 2024 5:30pm Olympia Timberland Library, 313 Eighth Ave SE, Olympia, WA 98501

• Wednesday, November 20, 2024 1-2pm Snoqualmie Library 7824 Center Blvd SE, Snoqualmie, WA 98065

Thursday, November 21

• Thursday, November 21, 2004 10:00am-11:00am Burien Library - 400 SW 152nd Street Burien, WA 98166  2nd floor meetig room

• Thursday, November 21, 2024 4:300pm- 5:30pm 1409 SW 107th Street Seattle, WA 98146 - Meeting Room

• Thursday, November 21, 2024 3:30 pm- 4:30 pm Teamsters 38 Hall 2601 Everett Ave, Everett, WA 98201

• Thursday, November 21, 2024 9-11 am Silverdale Office, 2430 NW Myhre Rd, Silverdale WA 98383 

• Thursday, November 21, 2024 4-6 pm Westside Pizza, 540 Washington St, Sequim WA

• Thursday, November 21, 2024 4pm-5pm Seattle Library: Capitol Hill Branch (425 Harvard Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102)

• Thursday, November 21, 2024 10:30am-11:30am Greenwood Library - Branch Meeting Rm: 8016 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103

• Thursday, November 21, 2024 4:00pm-5:00pm Mercer Island Library - Small Meeting Rm: 4400 88th Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040

• Tuesday, November 19, 2024 12-1 PM Covington Library, 27100 164th Ave SE, Covington, WA 98042

Friday, November 22

• Friday, November 22, 2024 4:30pm-5:30pm Shoreline Library - 345 NE 175th St, Shoreline, WA 98155

• Friday, November 22, 2024 10-11am Kirkland Library Conference Room 308 Kirkland Ave Kirkland, WA 98033

• Friday, November 22, 2024 4-5pm Crossroads Mall Community Room 15600 NE 8th St Bellevue, Wa 98008

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Vivian Pitre

Vivian Pitre

Vivian Pitre has worked at the North City Safeway off 175th St. in Seattle for 6 years. She spent four years doing fresh cut work in the produce department, but didn't like how isolated the job was, so two years ago, she transferred to the deli department. She loves the interaction with customers. This is her first union job and she likes it. "It's a good job."

Vivian flagged down her Union rep during a site visit and wanted to know how long she had left until she made it to the journey payrate.

The Rep did some digging, and it turns out, Vivian should have made journey some time ago. This month, Safeway made it right. Not only is Vivian now making journey wages, but she was issued over $4,500 in back pay. That's wages she should have been earning all along!

Check your paycheck, check your union contract!

We Continue Our Fight Against the Kroger/Albertsons Merger as the FTC Trial Enters Final Week, More Trials to Follow

UFCW 324 Members' Rally Was Covered on ABC 7 in LA September 13, 2024

Dear Grocery Store Members,

Since the trial of the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit to stop the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons began on August 26, workers have been at the courthouse, talking to the media, and talking to customers about how damaging this would be for workers, customers, and our communities. We've been doing this work for nearly two years and we'll continue to do it until we finally put a stop to this disastrous merger.

The federal court case is expected to conclude on Tuesday, September 17, and the judge could make a decision on whether or not to approve the FTC's request for what is called a "preliminary injunction" as early as the first week of October. If the injunction is granted, the merger would be put on hold until after a full court case on the merits of the merger is done.

Meanwhile, on Monday, September 16, the Washington State Attorney General's lawsuit to block the merger will begin its trial in Seattle. The Colorado Attorney General's lawsuit to block the merger is scheduled to start on September 30.

The outspoken work of grocery store members and our community partners, as well as many enforcement agencies like the FTC and Attorneys General, have all been central to the successful efforts so far to stop the proposed mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons.
 

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Kroger's Q2 Earnings Call

Kroger held its 2nd quarter earnings call on Thursday, September 12, and it showed what we've been saying all along: Kroger is doing just fine, and doesn't need this merger to compete. Same store sales were up 1.2% (higher than expected) and the company pointed to higher online sales and increased loyalty households as drivers of stronger sales and growing private label brands as a driver of increased profitability. Notably, these areas—ecommerce capacity, customer loyalty and private label manufacturing—are ones that C&S Wholesale Grocery (the proposed buyer of 579 divested stores if a merger were allowed) lacks, underscoring concerns that C&S would not be able to operate those stores in a sustainable way.

Kroger also discussed strong profits in the pharmacy sector and acknowledged pharmacies as a leading cause of loyalty. We've pointed out time and time again that C&S has little to no experience managing pharmacies that are a lifeline to our communities.

Also of note, company officials claimed that shrink (the loss from theft or other causes) has been improving, though is still elevated, and that OSHA incident rates are currently at record lows. Members, who actually work in the stores, paint a very different picture of understaffed stores with high rates of shoplifting rates and significant health and safety risks.
 

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In the News

UFCW Locals 7, 324, 400, 770, 1564, and 3000 have held press conferences, store actions, webinars and interviews to raise our concerns to the public through more than a thousand media stories from coast to coast since the very first day Kroger and Albertsons announced their proposed plan to merge. Time and again grocery store workers, sharing their experiences, have proven to be a critical part of those news stories.

Most recently, several stories around the FTC trial have been noteworthy:
 

• Stop the Merger Rally of UFCW 324 highlighted on ABC 7 in California
• NPR - All Things Considered - Shoppers and workers that stand to be affected by a Kroger-Albertsons merger weigh in
• New York Times: A Trial Asks: If Grocery Rivals Merge, Do Workers Suffer? - Front page of the Business section
• Reuters: Surging grocery prices in focus as US tries to stop Kroger deal
• AP: Kroger and Albertsons defend merger plan in federal court against US regulators' objections
• Cincinnati Enquirer: Deleted texts, grocery prices: CEOs testify in Kroger-Albertsons merger case

You can find more of the most recent news coverage on the Stop the Merger website news page >>

Protecting the jobs and collective bargaining strength of union workers and keeping choice and price competition for our customers are key reasons for our long-standing and loud opposition to the proposed merger. We recently launched a Stop the Merger customer petition to continue to build public support that has already garnered thousands of signatures! Please help spread the word about our petition by sharing www.nogrocerymerger.com/petition.

We hear from customers all over the country that Kroger and Albertsons' proposed mega-merger threatens our communities with store closures, food and pharmacy deserts, thousands of laid-off unionized grocery store workers, and higher prices.

You can take action by encouraging your co-workers, family members, fellow shoppers, friends, and others in the community to sign the petition to show Kroger and Albertson that they are opposed to this disastrous proposal.

Sign and share the petition >>

In solidarity,
The Stop the Merger Coalition

Telephone Town Hall Call: Stop the Mega-Merger Update

On Monday, September 9 please join us at 5:30PM for a live telephone town hall on the topic of Kroger and Albertsons’ proposed mega merger and our ongoing efforts to stop it.

Despite what the companies are saying, this proposed merger threatens lay-offs, store closures, and higher prices as well as undercuts our strength in collective bargaining negotiations.

During the call, we will take members’ questions live on the topic of the proposed merger, discuss the ongoing federal court trial taking place in Portland regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit to block it, as well as prepare for a rally in Seattle the first day of the trail by our Attorney General to block the merger on September 16.

We will plan to call you at 5:30PM on Monday, just answer the phone and you will join us.

If, for some reason you don’t receive a call by 5:35pm, or get disconnected during the call, you can join us by dialing directly: 888-652-0384 And enter meeting ID 8143.