submitted by UFCW 5
Union President Says Members Prepared for a Strike
Bay Area grocery store workers will step up their campaign to win a new contract with Safeway Stores next week with actions at two of the company’s largest stores.
When: Monday, February 28 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Where: 1701 Santa Rita Road, Pleasanton and 525 El Camino Real, Menlo Park
After months of little progress at the bargaining table, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5 is teaming up with local unions in Colorado, Washington State and throughout California to pressure Safeway and other grocery employers to reward pandemic-weary workers with contracts that reflect the sacrifices that they continue to make and the risks they continue to take.
While Safeway continues to enjoy expanded profits resulting from the ongoing pandemic, the company has thus far been unwilling to seriously address legitimate issues raised by members, and as a result, strike preparations are underway, says Local 5 President John Nunes.
“Safeway workers deserve and expect to be rewarded for their ongoing hard work at significant risk to themselves and their families posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their hazard pay was hard-won but short-lived. It is well past time that the company deliver some justice and share their bloated profits with the workers that have struggled to create them,” said Nunes.
Workers are demanding better wages, more full-time opportunities, health care improvements, and stronger enforcement of workplace health and safety standards.
“I don’t understand why it has to be such a battle every three years,” says Safeway worker Samantha Webster. “I don’t understand the mindset of these companies and how they can appear to not properly value the employees who are the key to their success and the drivers of their profits, particularly in light of what we have been through for the past two years.”
The union will expand its store site actions to additional Safeway locations in the coming weeks as well as to Lucky and Save Mart stores where negotiations also remain unresolved.
