I have been waiting for seven weeks for a grievance meeting and it has not happened yet. I have 27 years with Kroger and the manager suspended me seven weeks ago accusing me of a customer complaint that did not happened. everytime I contact my union rep he will not call or email me back to let me know something. I try to contact the union president and person who is in charge of the union reps still have not heard anything. the union president says he was to busy to talk to me. I have been loyal to Kroger I am never late to work never call in sick always do my work(though management says I have never done anything right in 27 years. if I am so bad as management says how have I stayed this long with Kroger? I am beginning to not trust anybody since this happened. does anybody know how long it takes to get a meeting. what is wrong with the ufcw union that they act like they do not have to help you?
the director of union representatives is supposed to call tomorrow.
Haha "supposed" xD
Don't hold your breath or expect anything. Chances are it ain't happening. In the miraculous event that it DOES, it'll be a brief "sorry, I can't help ya" line.
I have been waiting for seven weeks for a grievance meeting and it has not happened yet. I have 27 years with Kroger and the manager suspended me seven weeks ago accusing me of a customer complaint that did not happened. everytime I contact my union rep he will not call or email me back to let me know something. I try to contact the union president and person who is in charge of the union reps still have not heard anything. the union president says he was to busy to talk to me. I have been loyal to Kroger I am never late to work never call in sick always do my work(though management says I have never done anything right in 27 years. if I am so bad as management says how have I stayed this long with Kroger? I am beginning to not trust anybody since this happened. does anybody know how long it takes to get a meeting. what is wrong with the ufcw union that they act like they do not have to help you?
-****ty union not contacting you in a timely manner? check
-Ungrateful management not appreciative of anything you do? check
This is unacceptable. I would look on the local's website , find out who the executive board is, and let them know that you are having this problem. Tell them you will get a lawyer and file an unfair labor practice complaint with the NLRB if need be. They, and the company, are violating your timelines for grievance handling.
of course, that all goes out the window if you've already had your step 2 and it wasn't settled there. 7 weeks for an arbitration sounds on the short side, actually.
it is in the third step and I still have not had the meeting. the manager told me before I had to leave that I could freeze my pension and the union could get me a job at meijiers. when a manager says that you pretty much know that they do not want you anymore. I told the union rep this but I got the feeling that he believes management.
two weeks before I get suspended I get called into the managers office and told point blank that if I do not get my elms score up I would not have a job. I need say to management that she could not do this because the union has always said that they had a agreement with Kroger that they could not do anything to cashiers over elms. the manager told me that she could do anything to cashiers over elms and the union could not do any thing about it. I knew something was going to happened I just did not when or how it was goin to happened. I figured I would be suspended over elms I did not see the customer complaint coming when I did get suspended. if there were a customer complaint which I do not really believe. I was planning on retiring in about 16 months because there is so much stress working at Kroger now. I never had stress working at Kroger until about 3 years ago whe my store was turn into a marketplace. when we got into a marketplace you were on pins and needles not knowing when you could get suspended for any little thing. I would say a prayer every morning before I got out of my car that I would make it through another day at work until I could reach retirement.
elms? for real?? are you in the 70s, 80s on elms? i've heard complains from other stores that old contract ppl just don't give a damn about elms and simply won't improve. it's not that hard to meet the goal. relief help is supposed to be over 95% too. when i heard that i laughed.
i suspect they want to get rid of you because you're expensive.
There is Step 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the grievance procedure...you're not even in Arbitration yet. It will only go to Arbitration if the union decides your case warrants that and that will be another 8 month process after all the steps have been gone through. Sounds like they skipped step 1 and 2 and proceeded to step 3. To get to the step 3 meeting, 7 to 8 weeks sounds about right, sad but true. It takes so long because management and the union have agreed to extend their time limits, they can do that. When they ignore you...that is not a good sign, they are hoping that you will give up. Bug the crap out of the union, ask them to tell you who the customer was that complained about you and when. Was your union steward present when you were suspended? If they haven't been staying in contact with you during your grievance, chances are they standing with managemnet, job security. Sounds like the customer complaint is bogus to get around suspending you for your elms score because they have probably never written you up on that before. They could be singling you out for some other reason and using the customer complaint to get rid of you. It's ugly, do not trust anyone, including the union. There are a lot of office politics involved, the union usually sides with managemnet unless you can prove that the customer complaint was bogus. Twenty seven years is a long time, you deserved better then this, just like all the other employees who have been forced out of their jobs at no fault of their own. Best of luck because you will be fighting your own case!
Arbitrations take forever because they involve lawyers and a judge or magistrate to be the arbiter. first the lawyers have to settle on who is going to handle it, then they have to set a time when they're all available. It takes time and costs a lot of money, and both sides tread carefully because anything decided by an arbitrator is legally binding and sets a precedent.
they need to be more communicative about this.
And no, people shouldnt be disciplined for elms, ufcw contracts with Kroger do not contain production standards.
I could write a book on what they have done to me over the years. I know they want rid of me because I have to many years but there is other people with more time than me and they did not do anything to them. my elms is usually over 100 but it slipped to around 86 which is still good but to them. half of the time I do not get a bagger because the baggers wants to stay with their cashier friends and if you tell them you need a bagger they will not move. and those red vests are worthless. they will not tell the baggers to move around. I have talked to two lawyers for free advice and they both said that it was because of my age(I am 59). it was age discrimation. but I cannot do anything until I go through this union process. for the last 4 weeks Kroger has denied me unemployment. I never thought this would happen to me in all the years I have with Kroger. I have never had any trouble with managers except this one woman manager who is a she devil. I do not trust anybody at work. your co-workers will lie on you also. my union steward was present when I got suspended but he did not help me I felt like he was for management and he is only like 25 years old. I never thought I would not trust the union but I am that stage. the union is not like they were when first join the union. they are supposed to be working for us not the companies.
You are just now finding out that this is what the UFCW union is good for - nothing. (Except collecting your money.) The "E.L.M.S." program is a fancy but faulty "time/motion study" that measures nothing except how much worthless b...s... Kroger is willing to pay for and swallow whole.
I would call your representive and tell them that you're case isn't being handled in a timely manner and that you are going to contact the NLRB on the issue if they don't do something about it. Record when you call them and what time as you do. Send emails, be very noisy. It takes typically 2 or 3 write ups before you can be suspended. They owe you 7 weeks worth of backpay.
__________________
My Views and Opinions do not reflect that of the Kroger company. I'm an indivdual expressing my 1st amendment right.
95 is the labor standard on elms. i watch my cashiers' scores bounce up and down. even i bounce up and down. it can be hard because i'm not on a register much now so if i get a bad order then my score may be below 95.
unless you're consistently in the 80s, I wouldn't say anything to you. those that are at my store generally talk to much. but some of them bring in lots of 5s and get named in comments. it's just when they talk to the bagger too much that i'll generally give that bagger something else to do.
if you don't have a bagger, don't bag as you go, bag at the end. if the baggers won't move then page them by name even if they're standing right there chatting away.
i have a manager who complains we aren't engaging enough customers about surveys... we get 10 seconds from the time that receipt prints til we start the next order. if we're short two cashiers because they didn't give us enough hours and someone called out, we're going to fall into assembly line mode and just get the bodies out the door because they're backing up 5 deep and he's in panic mode.
