July 23, 2010

Slight Progress on Wages and Benefits

At the July 19th & 20th bargaining sessions, we made the slightest of progress on health care, wages, and benefits. The employers slightly modified their wage proposal by converting one of three 20¢ bonuses to a wage increase in the third year for journey-rate grocery employees. They are still proposing freezes to the wage scale for meat workers, and for all workers below the top rate. They are still proposing even more hours before you make it to the top rate, and they are still proposing cuts to Sunday Pay, Holiday Pay, and more.

Management’s proposals fall far short of a fair deal. However, the fact they have moved our way a little shows our actions in the stores are working.

Standing Up for the Bill of Rights, Standing Up for Health Care

Article 3 of the Grocery Store Workers Bill of Rights says: “We have a right to an affordable health plan that helps us stay healthy and takes care of us when we are ill.” That sentence pretty much covers it.

In the coming weeks we will be presenting the Bill of Rights to more store managers across Puget Sound. If your store has already presented the Bill of Rights, join others as they present it to their manager. If your store hasn’t presented it yet, sign up with your Union Rep to participate in the presentation. By standing up and taking action together for the Bill of Rights, we show our employers that we will be firm for a fair contract and beyond.

At right: Union members have presented the Grocery Store Workers Bill of Rights at the Belfair QFC, Bellingham Fred Meyer, Everett Safeway, and dozens more stores...

Health Care Remains a Top Issue in Bargaining

Grocery store workers value their health plan. The current plan provides quality, affordable health care that is accessible for workers and their families. A key question at the bargaining table this year is:

“How can we maintain the benefits we all value, and keep costs affordable?”

Keep it Affordable

Our union bargaining team has said all along that we need to keep the plan affordable for workers. Instead, employers have proposed higher premiums, higher deductibles, and higher out-of-pocket costs.

Employers need to pay their share. The cost of the plan is lower now for the employers than it was in 2003. This is very unusual and it is only reasonable for the employers to pay enough over the next three years to maintain a quality, affordable plan. In exchange for employees paying $2 more in weekly premiums, the employers have now proposed spending an additional 10¢ total for three years. But our health care plan needs more than that to stay affordable. If the employer doesn’t pay their fair share, workers will be stuck paying more.

We will protect our health. We will continue pursuing wellness programs that keep us healthy and keep health care costs lower. These include incentives for taking the Personal Health Assessment, maintaining a primary care doctor, pursuing preventive care, and simply keeping our contact information current. By taking these straightforward steps we can do our part to keep our deductibles affordable and keep ourselves healthy.

The Path to Success The plan will not be affordable unless the employers do their part and pay more. We’re willing to do our part to reach a compromise, but the employers need to do theirs. And paying 10¢ more per hour — as they have proposed — is nowhere close to what it will cost to fund the plan. That’s just going to leave us paying more

Keep it Accessible

Our union bargaining team has proposed to maintain the level of access in the plan for workers and their families. The employers continue proposing that new workers’ spouses/domestic partners would have to wait for 24 months to get coverage. They also are proposing that instead of workers being able to shift up in coverage to the SoundPlus plan after 3 years, they would have to wait for 6 years. Times are tough and workers should not be forced to wait longer for coverage.