Grocery workers at Fred Meyer and Quality Food Centers stores in Oregon have voted to authorize an unfair labor practices strike, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 said Saturday night.
Workers plan to go on strike beginning Friday morning if union leadership and management don’t reach an agreement on key bargaining issues.
“Fred Meyer and QFC have repeatedly violated their legal duties to negotiate in good faith with Local 555, with the most blatant example being Fred Meyer’s refusal to provide information necessary for the union to negotiate a new agreement and to process grievances,” UFCW Local 555 President Dan Clay said in a statement. “The way these employers have violated the National Labor Relations Act has left grocery workers no choice but to take action.”
Miles Eshaia, a spokesperson for the union, said workers voted to walk out after Fred Meyer and QFC stonewalled the union’s attempts to prove that certain workers uniformly are not being paid the hourly wage they’re supposed to be receiving under the current contract. The two sides have been in contract negotiations since July, according to the union.
“Our position is that [the companies] are failing to pay certain departments the correct amount,” Eshaia told The Oregonian/OregonLive Sunday. “They’re not giving us the information to prove it, which they are required to do.”
Kroger, which owns Fred Meyer and QFC, did not respond Sunday to a request for comment.
Last month, when negotiations for a new contract bogged down, Fred Meyer released a statement that said, “The company and union had been making progress and came to a tentative agreement on safety, which has been the union’s stated priority.”
“Our goal, as always, is to reach an agreement that provides a solid compensation package of wages and benefits for our associates while keeping groceries affordable,” Fred Meyer President Dennis Gibson said in the statement.
Eshaia said Sunday that 97% of the union vote backed an unfair labor practices strike. He would not provide specific numbers of votes cast or say how many workers would be involved in the potential strike.
An unfair labor practices strike is different — and often easier to resolve — than the better-known economic strike for concessions such as pay increases or benefits. Workers in an unfair labor practices strike cannot be permanently replaced, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
The union and the companies are scheduled to continue negotiations Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Eshaia said that grocery-store workers have had to endure difficult conditions throughout the pandemic and said the workers are hoping they will receive public support if they opt to strike.
“We’re hoping shoppers will not cross our line, if it goes up,” he said. “We hope the community will honor our strike. We would appreciate that.”
— Douglas Perry