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I'm on strike

Started by hotdogPi, April 11, 2019, 09:21:54 PM

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hotdogPi

I work at Stop & Shop (a grocery store, for those of you not in the area). The union has decided to strike, as the contract that corporate made for the new year was taking away benefits, health care, and vacation time that we already had. In addition, the union is fighting for higher wages.

At 12:57 PM, I got a text that Stop & Shop would be going on strike at 1 PM. I didn't start work until 5. The store closed early at 8 PM (instead of 10); there were two managers running the whole store, as the managers are not unionized. After 8 PM, the only one in the store was Marty the Robot (yes, we really have a robot).

Many of the customers trying to get in the store were there for the Citizens Bank inside. As the bank is not part of Stop & Shop itself, we were fine with them going in. As were were open even during strike, we could not force customers not to enter, but we could persuade them.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.


Roadgeekteen

Nice! Do you think that the strike will work?
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

Max Rockatansky

Pensions and premium holiday pay are essentially dead in the retail world in general.  Granted the profits look good for Stop and Shop at the moment.  I'd be really leery getting into relying on Unions to save entry level jobs that could easily be replaced.  The whole retail industry is moving towards low pay entry level workers. 

KEVIN_224

Up to 5 different unions affecting the stores in CT, MA and RI here. I worked in Local 371 when I did Deli at the Berlin, CT store (#614) from 2013 to 2018. Local 919 involves the front-end cashiers, the service desk, bottle room and the cart pushers. I don't know anybody with the other 3 unions. CBS channel 3 of Hartford said the last strike with picketing employees was a good 30 years ago.

I find it very hypocritical that Stop & Shop can't help their employees...but had plenty of money to roll out their needless campaign with the Marty robot nonsense.


texaskdog

yeah as much as they value you they will probably fire everyone and start over.

jeffandnicole

So what is the store offering, and what is the union wanting?  Everyone seems to through out vague information such as the stores profit and industry averages, which is basically meaningless info.

KEVIN_224

This is the bullshit "Marty" robot they magically had the money to waste on...
[Store #614 in Berlin, CT...the one I had worked at]

hotdogPi

Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 12, 2019, 08:11:53 AM
So what is the store offering, and what is the union wanting?  Everyone seems to through out vague information such as the stores profit and industry averages, which is basically meaningless info.

The contract expired in February, and the company tried to make a new contract since January, one month before it expired. This contract would take away health care benefits and vacation time benefits. Even though state law says that time and a half on Sundays is being phased out, the union wants to keep it. There are also issues with pensions. I'm only a part time worker, so I'm not sure of the exact details.

There is another problem with wages: As an example, minimum wage in Massachusetts was $11 per hour last year and is $12 per hour this year. Someone making $11.55 last year (which requires working for 2 years) would only be bumped up to $12 starting in January, not $12.55, meaning that those working longer are not getting more money.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

US71

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 11, 2019, 09:56:47 PM
Pensions and premium holiday pay are essentially dead in the retail world in general.  Granted the profits look good for Stop and Shop at the moment.  I'd be really leery getting into relying on Unions to save entry level jobs that could easily be replaced.  The whole retail industry is moving towards low pay entry level workers. 

So is the hospitality industry.  My first motel job, I got holiday pay for Thanksgiving & Christmas if I worked.  A few years later, it was "we're expected to be here anyway so why should you get holiday pay?"  Then it became low man on the totem pole or whoever didn't have a family.

Year-end bonuses got cut back, too. That was around the time the owner,  Mr K,  started aggressively building more hotels
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

jeffandnicole

Quote from: 1 on April 12, 2019, 08:20:14 AM
There is another problem with wages: As an example, minimum wage in Massachusetts was $11 per hour last year and is $12 per hour this year. Someone making $11.55 last year (which requires working for 2 years) would only be bumped up to $12 starting in January, not $12.55, meaning that those working longer are not getting more money.

This has always been an issue with a rising Minimum Wage.  I remember when I first started working I was making above minimum wage, but when the minimum wage went above what I was making, my raise only bumped up to the new minimum wage.

In everyone's fight for $15 an hour, there's a much larger issue looming.  Let's say the minimum wage is now $10 an hour.  If the wage immediately bumped up to $15/hour, that's great for everyone working at $10 an hour. But what about those working $11 - $14 an hour?  Do they get an equal $5 bump?  And if they do, what about everyone working $16 - $19 an hour?  You can raise someone making $12/hr to $17/hr without bumping up the guy making $16 an hour already.

It's a tricky slope...one that companies have met with simply doing away with jobs. 

Now, to be clear - this doesn't appear to be the issue at hand here...I'm just pointing out the larger issue with a rising minimum wage.

bandit957

Around here, unions are so weak that people are just expected to work the longest hours at the lowest wages possible.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

PHLBOS

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on April 12, 2019, 08:18:07 AM
[Store #614 in Berlin, CT...the one I had worked at]

Such are also in at least two of the Giant stores near me in southeastern PA.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

roadman

Quote from: PHLBOS on April 12, 2019, 11:57:57 AM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on April 12, 2019, 08:18:07 AM
[Store #614 in Berlin, CT...the one I had worked at]

Such are also in at least two of the Giant stores near me in southeastern PA.
For a period, Stop and Shop also had "weigh and tag it yourself" scales in the produce section, which would generate a price tag for the customer to place on the bag.  They were eventually taken out due to reliability and maintenance issues.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

hbelkins

Quote from: 1 on April 11, 2019, 09:21:54 PMAs the bank is not part of Stop & Shop itself, we were fine with them going in. As were were open even during strike, we could not force customers not to enter, but we could persuade them.

With all due respect, if I was going to shop at a store and some striker tried to "persuade" me not to shop there, my response wouldn't be pleasant.

Your profile indicates that you're 20 years old and that you're a student. So I'm going to guess that your grocery job is a part-time thing. The notion that you should be forced to join a union to have a part-time job totally rubs me the wrong way. It's one of the problems I have with Kroger. They're unionized, and the high school kids who work at the Stanton, Ky. Kroger after school and on weekends have to join the union. I hear that the union dues eat up a significant part of their paychecks.

Well, not any more. Kentucky outlawed forced unionization year before last.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

bandit957

Quote from: hbelkins on April 12, 2019, 12:39:58 PM
Your profile indicates that you're 20 years old and that you're a student. So I'm going to guess that your grocery job is a part-time thing. The notion that you should be forced to join a union to have a part-time job totally rubs me the wrong way. It's one of the problems I have with Kroger. They're unionized, and the high school kids who work at the Stanton, Ky. Kroger after school and on weekends have to join the union. I hear that the union dues eat up a significant part of their paychecks.

A lot of the grocery workers around here look like they're at least 60.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

Scott5114

Quote from: hbelkins on April 12, 2019, 12:39:58 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 11, 2019, 09:21:54 PMAs the bank is not part of Stop & Shop itself, we were fine with them going in. As were were open even during strike, we could not force customers not to enter, but we could persuade them.

With all due respect, if I was going to shop at a store and some striker tried to "persuade" me not to shop there, my response wouldn't be pleasant.

If you went inside anyway, and the store was empty because all the employees were outside striking, your experience wouldn't be pleasant, either.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

kphoger

Quote from: 1 on April 11, 2019, 09:21:54 PM
there were two managers running the whole store

Quote from: Scott5114 on April 12, 2019, 01:37:46 PM
If you went inside anyway, and the store was empty because all the employees were outside striking, your experience wouldn't be pleasant, either.

Or the managers would treat you with respect, and you'd have a pleasant experience.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

jeffandnicole

Quote from: hbelkins on April 12, 2019, 12:39:58 PM
Well, not any more. Kentucky outlawed forced unionization year before last.

The Supreme Court outlawed forced unionization last year nationwide.


Rothman



Quote from: hbelkins on April 12, 2019, 12:39:58 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 11, 2019, 09:21:54 PMAs the bank is not part of Stop & Shop itself, we were fine with them going in. As were were open even during strike, we could not force customers not to enter, but we could persuade them.

With all due respect, if I was going to shop at a store and some striker tried to "persuade" me not to shop there, my response wouldn't be pleasant.

Your profile indicates that you're 20 years old and that you're a student. So I'm going to guess that your grocery job is a part-time thing. The notion that you should be forced to join a union to have a part-time job totally rubs me the wrong way. It's one of the problems I have with Kroger. They're unionized, and the high school kids who work at the Stanton, Ky. Kroger after school and on weekends have to join the union. I hear that the union dues eat up a significant part of their paychecks.

Well, not any more. Kentucky outlawed forced unionization year before last.

Pfft.  I'd rather have a bad union than no union at all.  At least with a union, workers can truly negotiate for their wages and benefits rather than have them dictated solely by employers.

The demise of unionization has resulted in the race to the bottom for how much we get paid.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

formulanone

#19
Quote from: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 01:57:44 PM
Quote from: 1 on April 11, 2019, 09:21:54 PM
there were two managers running the whole store

Quote from: Scott5114 on April 12, 2019, 01:37:46 PM
If you went inside anyway, and the store was empty because all the employees were outside striking, your experience wouldn't be pleasant, either.

Or the managers would treat you with respect, and you'd have a pleasant experience.

Simple math: if there's less labor units and an equal number of customers before the strike, there's going to be upset customers at the longer checkout lines. All the while, the manager tries to figure out how to key in the produce code for kumquats, or the customers get pissed off because nobody knew how thin Mrs Smith likes her Muenster cheese cut.

If the robot can't bale cardboard boxes, take out the trash, make change, nor figure out how to arrange produce, it doesn't belong in a grocery store.

ilpt4u

#20
Quote from: jeffandnicole on April 12, 2019, 02:00:11 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on April 12, 2019, 12:39:58 PM
Well, not any more. Kentucky outlawed forced unionization year before last.

The Supreme Court outlawed forced unionization last year nationwide.
Citation, please

If you are referring to the IL case, that was specifically for Public Sector, not Private Sector Unions, if memory serves

I am a dues paying IBEW member, full disclosure

I guess, technically, in IL, Union Membership is not forced per se in a Closed Shop, but if one chooses to not join the Union, that individual still must pay dues and the Union must represent said individual under the Collective Bargaining Agreement

Personally, my dues are a hell of a deal, that is reflected in both pay and also in retirement benefits as well as medical benefit cost. Every Local can be different

Quote from: Rothman on April 12, 2019, 02:02:54 PM
Pfft.  I'd rather have a bad union than no union at all.  At least with a union, workers can truly negotiate for their wages and benefits rather than have them dictated solely by employers.

The demise of unionization has resulted in the race to the bottom for how much we get paid.
Absolutely agreed

kevinb1994

I'm glad I don't live near a Stop and Shop anymore–I didn't get hired by them when looking for work where I grew up and used to live. I much prefer Publix (since May 2014, when I was on a short family vacation in Siesta Key) or Winn-Dixie (since moving here in late September 2017; they have their headquarters just down the road from here).

The last thing this country needs is anti-labor and anti-labor union ideology. I thought we were beyond this already. A working labor union is better than no labor union at all! C'mon people!

kphoger

Is this whole thread about politics?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kevinb1994

Quote from: kphoger on April 12, 2019, 04:12:08 PM
Is this whole thread about politics?

It could very well be, and in that case, it may end up being locked as a result.

bandit957

Might as well face it, pooing is cool



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