Puget Sound grocery store workers ratify new contract with ‘substantial raises’

Good news for unionized grocery workers. They just ratified a new contract with big raises.

Pandemic hardships prompt Western WA grocery workers to bargain for improved store safety

Thousands of unionized grocery workers voted to ratify a new 3-year contract with six major chains in the Puget Sound region.

It comes just one week before their current contract was set to expire.

These workers were prepared to picket if they had to. That’s what happened in Colorado in the dead of winter. Grocery workers there were on strike for 10 days.

And the workers here believe that helped them make their case for what they say are life-changing raises.

“It’s going to mean $4- to $9-an-hour increases for workers all across Washington,” said Maggie Breshears, a longtime Fred Meyer employee and member of UFCW Local 21 bargaining team. “It’s just amazing.”

Breshears was all smiles on this day after thousands of her fellow unionized grocery workers voted to ratify a new, 3-year contract.

“I never thought we’d get this much in my time,” Breshears said. “I’m going on 10 years with Fred Meyer and this is the biggest increase.”

But she says they weren’t able to achieve such gains by themselves.

“Oh, no,” said Breshears. “UFCW locals in Colorado and California, we all kind of came together and agreed on a set of core values that we were going to fight for as our contracts came up this time.”

“Normal is not normal anymore,” said Karl Schroeder, president of Safeway/Albertsons, back in March 2020.

It came during a massive run-on — remember? — toilet paper.

“We have a very sophisticated supply line that operates like a well-oiled machine,” Schroeder said then. “We’re just having to make the machine larger right now.”

But UFCW Local 21 spokesperson Tom Geiger says those paying the price were the workers themselves. So they sought to be compensated far better than in the past.

“This contract is a big step toward being able to push those jobs back into a job that you can actually pay bills on, raise a family on,” he said.

Some customers agree.

“That’s a great way to show your employees that you value them,” said customer Aubrey Myers, “and you value the work that they bring to you and that you want to keep them.”

These workers tell us they made great strides toward pay equity across departments and a stronger commitment to deal with safety issues.

And it comes none too soon. Their current contract is set to end next week.

By Deborah Horne, KIRO 7 Reporter

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