July 22 Contract Update

Management continues to drag their feet in these negotiations. It might be useful to talk a little about why your employers are trying to delay a contract as long as they can. It has a lot to do with their greed and desire to sacrifice your security, health care, and job just to make a few more pennies:

•  Management is paying historically low contributions to your health care – they are paying less now, in real dollars, than they did 10 years ago – and they know that any new contract will require them to pay more. Every day they delay is another day they don’t have to pay that increased amount.
•  The same goes for wages. If they can delay, they delay your increase in pay.
•  They are trying to bankrupt our health care plan. Because of their historically low levels of contribution to the health care plan, we are spending $10 million a month more than we are taking in. If we continue, our health plan goes bankrupt.
•  They are playing chicken with you. Management is trying to intimidate and scare you into an inferior contract. They think that if they drag this out long enough, frighten you about losing health care, pay, and retirement, you will settle for less.

 
Their goal is to divide us and wear us down so we’ll accept a bad deal. As long as we stick together and stand up to management, we can win a contract that protects our benefits and wages.
 
Now for the good news: Recent polling by the International Union shows consumers are overwhelmingly on our side. When given information about the contract fight, three-quarters of consumers say they support grocery workers and would honor a strike if it were called.
 
So not only do we have right on our side, we also have the customers. This is a powerful advantage, as long as we use it effectively. That means sticking together and not letting management stampede us into an inferior deal.
 
If you have more questions, visit our website or your Union Representative.