The Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28, which represents more than 50,000 members and their families across Washington, Alaska and Northern Idaho, says it will honor a grocery worker strike if one occurs. Joint Council 28 stands with the 2,600 members of Teamsters Local 38 in Everett along with the nearly 21,000 members of the UFCW statewide who, on a daily basis, keep the grocery stores in our communities running.
The Joint Council is hopeful that the parties can conclude these negotiations by reaching a mutually agreeable proposal that the memberships of both Teamsters Local 38 and the UFCW can ratify, and the Joint Council is available to assist the parties in reaching a settlement without a dispute. However, All Washington Teamsters and their families will support Teamsters Local 38 and the UFCW if the employers force them to take the option of last resort and go on strike.
“We are communicating with our members about the rights they have to honor a picket line if they encounter one during the course of their job, as well as their options for shopping should there be a strike,” said Tracey A Thompson Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117.
The current negotiations between the Teamsters, UFCW and the four major Grocery Chains (Safeway, QFC, Fred Meyer and Albertsons) have been going on for more than nine months.
“We encourage both sides to take advantage of the negotiations on November 18th and 19th to work together towards an agreeable solution,” said Rick Hicks, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 174.
Interesting that the teamsters would choose to threaten to strike when we are in the throes of a recession (I have heard the ads). Having a job with benefits is awesome for most individuals today. The union bias is always to “push the envelope” instead of working to make the situation sustainable for all.
Since the cost of living has decreased due to the reduction in housing costs ….. and there is relative uncertainty in the employment market ….. it is reasonable to anticipate that some union softening should be “the order of the day”.
The idea that all union workers should “put the screws” to those who are not union members in an effort to blackmail citizens into a symnpathetic stance is, and always has been, distasteful.
I would that this was a right-to-work state. The unionism that continually results in a combative approach to employment fosters a “we vs. they” mentality that ignores the greater good in favor of the unionistic fervor that is imparted by such tactics. Study, if you will, the ruinous results of run-away-union-pay-and-benefits as epitomized by gov’t unions in states and cities that are driving them broke (for example: this AM the state of Michigan asked to file for BANKRUPTCY because union wages, and more particularly union benefits and retirement programs, are bankrupting the state).