Here's the text. Two 8 1/2" X 11" pages.
To
my fellow Central Indiana Kroger workers and union members
by George Fish, Produce Department
Stocker, Kroger J-100, Indianapolis,
and proud member of UFCW Local 700
I’m writing you on
my own initiative as a fellow Kroger worker and member of UFCW Local 700, a
rank-and-file worker like you with some things on my mind concerning our
upcoming contract renewal in May 2025.
· Back in 2000, a
minimally “livable wage” was defined by the Indiana Economic Development
Commission to be $10.00 an hour. Today,
because of the increase in the cost of living, especially the inflation we’ve
experienced since COVID, that minimally “livable wage” would be $18.22 an
hour—more than the top of the non-department-supervisor wage set in our last
contract of $17.60 an hour!
· In fact, our
$17.60 an hour tops causes us to lose money—because the purchasing power of
that $17.60 an hour is only $9.66, or as you can plainly see, noticeably less
in purchasing power than $10.00 was in 2000!
· But more. As union members, we certainly want more than
a minimally “livable wage”: we want,
say, 30% over such a minimum, which would bring the wage we justly require to—$23.69
an hour!
· Wages under the
2022 contract increased by only 10%, while inflation of prices reached
25%! Yes, fellow workers, we’re losing
money under our present contract, which is why we must demand much more
of the union and Kroger in our upcoming 2025 contract!
· As you can see,
fellow workers, we can justifiably demand $24 an hour or even more, so that we’re
not losing money at Kroger by working!
I’ve informally
surveyed as many of my fellow union workers at the store I work at as I could,
and they’re all in agreement: in our
next contract we definitely need more money!
Other things they (and I) agree we could use would be a COLA (annual
cost-of-living-adjustment, so that our wages don’t fall behind increases in the
cost of living), paid sick days (as you know, right now we have none, so
that if we’re sick we’re SOL). Other
good suggestions from our fellow workers were Kroger matching 100% our 401(k)
pension contributions, more time off and vacation time, speeding up the
seniority requirements to get more leave time, part-time workers having the
same benefits as full-time ones, so that Kroger can’t play part-timers off of
full-timers, a defined path to full-time status for part-timers, an end to
contract givebacks to Kroger, and a demand that really resonated with my
African American fellow workers, Martin Luther King’s Birthday and Juneteenth
as designated paid holidays! All these
things I personally think are good demands we should be insisting on in our
next contract, and of course, there may be others. So, I urge all of you, fellow workers, dialogue
among yourselves on what you want to see in our upcoming May 2025 contract. Remember, May 2025 is not all that far
away. And yes, maybe we should think
about, and dialogue about, using the strike option if we must.
(OVER)
Last, I’d like to
say, even insist, brothers and sisters, we are the union! We, the rank-and-file are UFCW Local
700, and also, the whole of the International UFCW! It’s not just our union reps, or the
officers, or the shop stewards, it’s all of us. And whatever we can gain, we can gain best
by dialoguing among ourselves and determinedly standing together! Yes, despite what it will say, Kroger can
afford it, can afford to do much better.
After all, in its proposed merger with Albertson’s, it’s buying out
Albertson’s with cash! Also, Kroger CEO
Rodney McMullen makes a whopping 502 times in pay alone what the average
Kroger worker makes! Kroger has done
very well under the inflation, we ourselves feel it when we buy our groceries
at Kroger,
even with employee
discounts, so it can definitely do better by us, the backbone of the Kroger
system—and its profitability!
We should also
change, I think, that provision in our union contracts that states that we, the
union workers, will not interfere in the “ordinary business decisions” of
Kroger—because so many of those “ordinary business decisions” affect us
directly and adversely! From obnoxious
managers to massive shortages of workers in all our departments, to no
provisions made when workers are off sick or on vacation so that the rest of us
have to double up on the work, to using only part-timers when full-time workers
are needed—these are “ordinary business decisions” that affect us vitally
in our work at Kroger! And yes, our say
in such should be recognized in contract! We aren’t just flunkies to be ordered around
by the managers!
That’s what I have
to say to all of you, brothers and sisters.
So, in ending, I urge you do not only dialogue with me, but with all our
fellow Kroger workers and union members as well, dialogue among ourselves, and let’s
get a decent contract this time around!
My fellow workers, feel free to e-mail me at georgefish666@yahoo.com. Put “Union Contract” in the subject matter
bar, so it won’t get lost in my Spam filter.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, my fellow union
brothers and sisters!
No comments:
Post a Comment