On Wednesday, September 11, and Thursday, September 12, your Union Bargaining Committee met with representatives from Fred Meyer, QFC, and Kroger for our seventh bargaining session.
The employer has not changed their position at the bargaining table that they are only here to bargain for the Union contracts that have expired, which are the Portland Grocery and Meat Agreements and the Bend Grocery and Meat Agreements.
As a result, your Union Bargaining Committee updated its non-economic proposals to reflect the changes we want to see in the Portland Grocery and Meat Agreements. If the employer refuses to bargain over all of our areas at one formal bargaining table as we have done for years, then we must bring bargaining to every area within our Union’s jurisdiction – we will bargain in Eugene, Salem, Grants Pass, Vancouver, Longview, Medford, Coos Bay, Klamath Falls, Bend and every other city and town in Oregon and Washington that has a separate Collective Bargaining Agreement as they open. The employers will have to meet the members we represent where they live, and hear their unique problems and proposals. Make no mistake – we are determined to reach agreements that work for all of our members working at Fred Meyer and QFC within our whole jurisdiction. We will not allow the Employer to short change any of our members, no matter what they do in the store or where they live.
The employer did not make a proposal that put more money on the table, whether that be in the form of a wage increase, healthcare improvement or retirement improvement. Kroger continues to bury their heads in the sand, refusing to acknowledge how much the cost of living has risen, and continues to rise, in the Pacific Northwest. If you tried to buy groceries in recent years from Fred Meyer and QFC, it doesn’t help that Kroger admitted in court to price gouging its customers – unlawfully and unethically contributing to the rising cost of living, without passing on any of those profits to you, their employees.
Your Union Bargaining Committee is holding strong on its economic proposals – including improvements to your healthcare, improvements to your retirement, and significant wage increases, for all our contracts and areas.
We will be meeting with the employer to bargain again in October. We will keep you informed as soon as we have another bargaining update.
As always, please reach out to your union representative if you have any questions.