being with kroger closing on to three years now, I have definately formed my views on the UFWC. Some are good while others are not so good. Prior to Kroger, I worked for Wild Oats. During my time there, several employees tried to rally support for unionizing our store. At that time is was strongly against such a movement. I have also worked for several companies that require their newly hired employees to sign basically 'a contract' stating that they would not be involved in unionization activities while employed there. I am not so sure how this is legal.
Yesterday, there was heated debate over the 'practicality' of unionization in the USA. I realize that, yes, there is a decline in union population over the past - oh - 30 to 50 years. American citizens, plainly, do not put their trust today in such organizations. And so, corporate american begins to walk all over the american work force once again. An example of this would be outsourcing thousands to millions of jobs to countries like Mexico, India, China, etc. We all can surmise that the fundamental emphasis for any union would be fair wages. History has be recorded where people would form unions for better pay then would go on strike to get better pay. Yet I see numerous Kroger employees receiving their compensation at what is the national minimun wage base just bewilders me! I do understand the 'comfort umbrella' provided by our union. I, as an example, have used our uinion (while somewhat mildly so far) for employer/employee protection. Then on the flip side, I see the union not supporting employees as they should. Back to the lack of trust and respect.
Anyway, we can discuss the good, bad and ugly of unionization until we are blue in the face. Here is yet another thread. This is, by the way, just a internet public forum to spew off some words to whoever feels compelled to read it. There is no need for supporting evidence - but if you feel like adding it then go ahead. We all have different thoughts with different ways of expressing them. Some are well done (like this) while others might not be as well done (like the Statuses link). Regardless, its just a damn forum to burn off some idol time right!
Lets group hug .....
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I am no longer part of the oppressed, evil workforce of Kroger! Can you say "Hallelujah"
I have been with the union for 9 years now. I will say this... They help.
Why do people think the Union doesn't help? Why do people think the Union takes no action?
The biggest reason is because the Employer slows everything down. The employer drags their heels as long as they can, hoping to get matters dropped or forgotten.
Examples I have experienced first hand:
I worked as a department backup for three years, without receiving the actual pay rate for my job. It took two years of Union work to get myself and numerous others, their proper pay rate, and their back pay. I did not even know that the Union was doing this for me till my Rep came to me and said "Good News! We finally won!" They had to drag the case through mediation and arbitration and all that crap.
I worked as Department Manager for a few days while the department head was gone, and I did not get paid. My union Rep perused it for 1 year, before I finally received a payout on the money I was due. Again Kroger had drug their heels and forced the conflict to go through mediation and arbitration and did all they could to drag it out. I almost gave up on it, but knowing that was what they wanted is what kept me vigilant.
So when people have union issues and the Union Rep does not call them back within the day, or cannot produce results within the week, I hear so many people cry and sob that the Union doesn't care. The Union doesn't do their job. The Union is just a waste of money.
To which I say.. SUCK IT UP YOU WHINEY LITTLE-! Ahem.. Chill.
The Union has thousands of people just like you, who are being mistreated by the big corporate companies. This creates a backlog and slows stuff down. If Corporate treated its employees better, then the Union would achieve faster results on their cases, and less cases would fall through the cracks.
When dealing with Corporate, the key is patience. A year for resolution is normal, given how corporate handles things. The Union will keep working on your behalf, but they will also be working for other people as well between cases. They have to schedule meetings with Corporate to try and get things done, and this is all part of the process.
Interesting commentary, I'll break it down with three of mine:
The Good:
While it may not seem that way at first, the UFCW is practically the whole reason that Kroger hasn't completely turned to the dark side and run its operations similar to Wal-Mart. As much as Kroger tries to push programs such as Key Retailing, Best Practices, and QueVision down our throats, the union's presence is the only reason people haven't been fired for not adhering.
Imagine getting fired from your job just because you had an ELMS score in the 70's. Or if you failed two or three mystery shops consecutively. Or for not filling out the team stocking guide because you were busy helping customers. I sincerely believe Kroger would do it in a heartbeat but the union's presence keeps them from doing that.
The Bad:
Read FedUp's post for perfect clarification. The union takes forever in getting things accomplished because your pretty much given the wait line ticket. Of course, part of the blame goes through Corporate, who's stance is to basically ignore it and hope it goes away.
The other bad part is, depending on how you look at it, is paying union dues. And depending on who your union representative is, this could be tricky. The union rep when I first started basically had the attitude of "Pay your dues, leave me the hell alone, and we won't have any problems". He was recently moved up the chain and our new rep is a young guy who is an absolute bulldog. It just depends on how good or how worthless your rep is in how you view that.
The Ugly:
The ugliness in dealing with unions is the politics involved. The union dues that you pay each week goes toward supporting the UFCW and ultimately your union rep. The situations in Ohio and Wisconsin are leading to intense fearmongering that if the Republicans get their way in busting up all of these unions, eventually they will come after the UFCW and when that happens, we will all be working for minimum wage.
I personally think the employees could do fine at Kroger without the union, but it would take a radical change and people who would understand what is happening for it to ever work. One of the local grocery stores here uses what is called a "handbook" that lists exactly what you are paid, your benefits, and basically the rules to working there. If anybody here has ever taken business law, the handbook is just as legally binding as having a union, and there are no dues that you have to pay.
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"The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores."
My problem with the union is that senority is used instead of qualification for a job. And too many times long term employees can sit around and not do jack, and nothing get done about it.
And the political involvemen tof the union scares me. I don't trust politicians regardless of party, one damn bit.
The union protects lazy workers. After working for Kroger for over 20 years I've noticed that the ones who seem to use the union the most are the ones who do the least amount of work.
The union protects lazy workers. After working for Kroger for over 20 years I've noticed that the ones who seem to use the union the most are the ones who do the least amount of work.
The union protects lazy workers. After working for Kroger for over 20 years I've noticed that the ones who seem to use the union the most are the ones who do the least amount of work.
Unfortunately, trolls exist in all internet forums.
As to the Union protecting Lazy people.. Kroger could get rid of the lazy people if they wanted to. All it requires is a paper trail. If someone does not do the task set out for them, they get written up, and after so many write ups, they get fired. But, in order to do that for one employee, Kroger must do it for EVERY employee.
If you can sit there and tell me you have never worked a lazy day in your life, then clearly you are a cyborg. Everyone has off days. Wouldn't it suck to have an off day and get reamed for it?
The people with seniority who have been around longest, tend to be reliable. In a job market with a high turnover rate, reliability is pretty damn important.
Also, to state that those who use the union most are the laziest.. Well, that is just silly. People use the union when they feel slighted or threatened or mistreated. Anyone can pick up the phone and call. It isn't just the lazy folks, though I will agree that the lazy ones probably do call a lot. When you don't do well in your job and management tries to get you to do better, you feel threatened and call the union. But fact of the matter is.. If Kroger does it legitimately, the Union can't do anything. These lazy folks you seem to see around your store apparently are people that your manager doesn't want to replace.
This city was built first on agriculture, next railroading, then, by the early 20th century, factories. Between the earliest days of the unions and continuing upwards unto today, unions have been a fixture in this once strong place, and well deservedly so: in our hey-day, we had over thirty major factories here; Decatur was rivaled only by Chicago and Detroit. Accounts vary, but I've been here all my life and am something of a local history buff, and my personal op is that the best, happiest and certainly strongest days of what the unions did for my town probably peaked around the 1960s. This is likely indicative around the country as a whole, before the national corporate challenges and off-shores sell outs started happening.
But happen they did, and some places fared better than others. In Decatur, what was originally a strong brotherhood of solidarity gradually rotted away into a deep, pervasive 'FK you Jack, I got mine, get your own' attitude. We have a factory here known world-wide as Staley's; it is the Soy Bean Capital of the world, started in 1916. Strongly unionized, this company nearly single-handedly built the entire infra structure of Decatur for many decades.
In 1994, their union went on strike and was locked out. Non union hireess, 'scabs', were hired to replace them....and things literally got bloody throughout that tumultous year. A little four year old girl got a 'tire tack' ran through her foot as she walked into her daddy's drive way. There were a couple of unsolved homicides. A friend of mine in our apartment building, a guy who'd been out side contracted for plant security, asked me to borrow my GUN, for Christ's sake: the locked-outs were trying to following him home. Dude had never even worked for Staley's....... Mean while, union reps were quoted as saying cute things as "for every dollar Staley makes, I WANT TEN!" and "We will run this plant backwards, if that's what they want."
One locked out employee confessed to me that he'd been pissing in the grain.
By 2000, Staley's original pay roll of 1,700 was down to less than 500. Currently, it is now not even Staley's: a European firm named Tate and Lyle took over a few years ago.
I worked on a temp job with an older guy once, who described to me how he had worked for over ten of Decatur's factories. He went on to detail how every one of those places had shut down here, due to 'crazy union demands'....and then fled to to one state next door or another, and reopened their doors.
Both my Grandfathers worked the factories: one for Staley's, the other for another world-famous plant, Archer-Daniles-Midland, aka A.D.M. One guy was union, the other company; so I grew up with both sets of ideology on this issue. All I can tell you is, the union Grampa was ALWAYS going out on strike, it seemed, and always mad and upset and bitter....while the company G.P. was the polar opposite. ---Both retired handsomely, after raising good families they were able to nicely provide for, it must be said.
But right now, in 2011, Decatur Il. has Tate and Lyle, A.D.M., Caterpillar and Muellers as our only real remaining factories. They all offer both union and company jobs. T & L keep making rumblings about relocating out side of Chicago, while A.D.M. issues similar warnings of relocation; Caterpillar has openly expressed that they wish to centralize operations at their corporate head quarters in Peoria, Il. . . . . Muellers is barely hanging by a thread.
So: are unions good or bad? I've formed an uneasy compilation of opinions, pro and con, based on what I've grown up seeing in my city. One thing I think any one can agree on, tho, is, greed, lack of reason, inflexibility and refusal to change EVEN A LITTLE isn't good for an individual, a company, a community......and certainly not a COUNTRY.
I have a friend who works across town for Bergners, a non-union clothing retailer. He has worked there for over 3 years and is still classified (incorrectly) as a summer temp employee. He works on average 30 hrs a week and over 40 in the holiday season. Because of his classification he recieves no benefits what so ever (no medical, no pension etc etc). He is also paid temp wage rate.
Think this can happen at Kroger? It can with no union.
My friend has no recourse. He loves his job, but there is nothing he can do short of quitting and finding another.
I agree with the above poster that the union does save the asses of lazy and unreliable bastards every day, but they give us more power than me vs huge company.
I'm happy to know that if on the off chance that I hurt my back slinging gallons of milk everyday and go on weight restriction they won't take away my dept or can my ass... because they can't.
The union gives the company rules to follow. And that rules.
the only good that the union has done for me is give me good benefits at a really cheap price(5.00 a week for full time/2.50 a week for part time)
what i hate about the union is that EVERY EMPLOYEE IS ON THE SAME PAY SCALE.
I dont accounting at my store, and i only make 8.15 and hour. 8.15 AN HOUR.
i handle over 100,000 dollars in cash a day in the morning, and thats all i make? wouldnt kroger want to pay the person more who is handling ALL THE CASH IN THE STORE? its stupid.
whats worse is that there are baggers who JUST BAG that make over 10.00 an hour. thats rediculous. publix accountants at store level make almost 13.00 an hour where i live, which makes more sense....pay your bookkeepers more, they are less likely to dip their hand in the cookie jar, if you know what i mean.
the only thing the union has done for me, is keep the laziest employees around, make it where the only excuse you have to use is "im trying the best i can" and any performance based accusation you bring to management will be shot down by the union.
also the union is idiotic at the way they pick their store reps, our last 3 store reps have been cashiers, that were found out to be stealing THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EACH. BUT ONLY GOT FIRED AFTER BEING FOUND TO OF TAKEN SMALLER THINGS. i believe one was fired for taking a 10 dollar money order, even though we knew she had been stealing pick ups from the safe when she floor suped, and hundred from the tills at night, but kroger was too lazy to get her for that, so all she got was a easy termination, but she probably stole 2 years worth of salary while she was working, so im sure she wont be missing krogers anytime soon.
I recently had a talk with a Kroger union rep because I forgot to re-register with the union due to Michigan's new right to work law. When I tried to ask about not being part of the union, she advised against it because she said the union would work with Kroger to get me fired. Talk about blackmail. I've worked there just over a year and worked hard, but apparently it's too much to ask to keep a bit more money for myself rather than having the union take a percent of my paycheck when I need that money to help pay off my insane student loan debt.
When I tried to ask about not being part of the union, she advised against it because she said the union would work with Kroger to get me fired. Talk about blackmail. I've worked there just over a year and worked hard, but apparently it's too much to ask to keep a bit more money for myself rather than having the union take a percent of my paycheck when I need that money to help pay off my insane student loan debt.
When I asked about it to my union rep (who's also part of the executive board of the union, mind you), they called me stupid and said something was wrong me. They said they could do whatever they felt like. This was right before the right-to-work law went into effect, and the contract was ratified a week later.
They said the union doesn't have to print up a union book, and you'd be an imbecile to try and get out of the union.
I believe this is because of the union has never had this happen in michigan before, the ability to opt out of the union is new to them. Look at other right to work states, they have people that are not in the union and nothing happens. It's just a scare tactic, to the union your either against them or your with them.
I believe this is because of the union has never had this happen in michigan before, the ability to opt out of the union is new to them. Look at other right to work states, they have people that are not in the union and nothing happens. It's just a scare tactic, to the union your either against them or your with them.
Well, now it's impossible for anyone to get out of the union. They said they talked with their lawyers beforehand to make sure they could still collect dues and force people to join/stay to collect the dues (that's all they care about, imo).
I recently saw a post on fb regarding recent attempts by someone to initiate a union shop at Kroger's. I started my work life by working for Kroger Grocery Company in Flint Michigan at the age of 16. I worked for them from 1966-to 1976. At that time we were unionized. Our starting pay for "bag boy" was $1.25/hr. As a "Clerk-Cashier" at the time I resigned I was making $11.50'hr. We were working in Flint where the average pay for someone working in the auto plants was $10-16,000. That means we were making more than the auto plant workers. We had a strong union at the time and the benefits were excellent. When I left Krogers to become a Registered Nurse I dropped to $4.50/hr. By 1980 Kroger "sold" the Michigan stores to a man named Kessel. They sold Kroger products and of course broke the union by closing the stores. Employee's pay was dropped to $4.50 -6.00/hr. In the last 5 years they have reopened Kroger stores. It does not surprise me that they would fight any attempt to have a union in any of their stores.
